One of the common things school classrooms all over the world, from Japan to Alaska or Greenland to Madagascar, have is the blackboard. But in Kerala, blackboards in classrooms of Government schools are turning into green, the flag colour of the Muslim league, thanks to a programme conceived by legislators of that party to which the Education Minister belongs.
like in the issues concerning a circular asking woman teachers to wear green-colour blouses for a function and the recent act of transferring a Dalit school principal in Thiruvananthapuram for not being properly respectful to Education Minister PK Abdurabb, the colour change of class room boards has already triggered a controversy.
Blackboards in classrooms of certain schools in the Assembly constituencies of Thirurangadi, represented by Abdurabb, and Tirur in Muslim-majority Malappuram district have reportedly been blanketed in dark green colour though the Education Department has not issued any order in this regard. An official said the department had no plan to issue any such order.
However, the Muslim league has already come up with justification for the colour change of classroom boards. C Mammutty, Muslim league MlA from Tirur, said the board colour was being changed from black to green as part of upgrading Government schools to international standards.“That is one thing. Also, green is a vision-friendly colour, isn't itIJ” Mammutty asked, adding that many modern educational institutions were having boards in green colour instead of black. The colour of classroom boards is being changed as part of the development works carried out at schools using the local area development fund of the legislators.
One of the schools where this “green upgrading” has been carried out is the GM UP School at Kakkad in Abdurabb's constituency. Principals of several schools said that they had not got any information regarding such a change from anyone. The guardian of a student of the school at Kakkad said the PTA had not discussed any plan for the colour change.
Former State Education minister and CPI(M) Politburo member MA Baby said, “Only reasonable and scientific changes could be brought in the education sector. Such steps should be adopted only on the basis of a democratic process. In the present case, no such basic norms had been adhered to,” he said.Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan said that such an order would be issued only by people without any intelligence if at all such an order had been issued. “No such order has come into my notice. Even if such an order is passed, it cannot be implemented in the context of widespread opposition,” Achuthanandan said.
The “green affinity” seen in the State's public education sector after Abdurabb took over as Education Minister has landed the Muslim league in serious troubles several times. An official circular, directing woman teachers to wear green-colour blouses for a particular function, had stirred a hornets' nest in the State in July, 2012.
A Muslim management school in Areacode, Malappuram had faced trouble after a woman teacher from the Muslim community was suspended from service in March, 2013 allegedly for refusing to obey an order to wear green coat over the saree while attending school. The teacher had to approach the High Court to get herself reinstated in service.
Minister Abdurabb is presently in the middle of a controversy over the penalization of a woman school principal, a Dalit, allegedly for showing disrespect to him when he had reached her school to inaugurate a programme. However, the issue is likely to be settled in the coming days as the Government has assured to look into an appeal she has submitted to the Chief Minister.
