THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the government is going ahead with plans to develop its properties in Delhi, the Kerala Education Society - which runs four senior secondary schools at Canning Road - has approached the government seeking additional land to expand its educational facilities. In a letter to the Chief Minister, the Society said the government should earmark a portion for the school while considering the development of Kapurthala Plot.
The Kerala Education Society, Delhi, was set up as an initiative of many prominent leaders, including the state’s first Chief Minister EMS Namboodiripad and senior Left leader A K Gopalan. The attempt was to promote education along with Kerala culture and Malayalam language among the children of Malayalees living in the national capital. Currently, the Society runs four senior secondary schools with 95 per cent grant-in-aid given by the Government of National Capital Territory, Delhi. These schools are linguistic minority institutions and Malayalam is compulsorily taught till Class X, the society pointed out in its communication to the state government.
The first school started by the Kerala Education Society is situated on the land adjoining the Travancore House premises. The Kapurthala Plot was handed over by the Maharaja of Travancore in 1939 to the Government of India for wartime use. The Kerala Government has been repeatedly demanding the return of this plot, and in 1965, a portion measuring 2.164 acres was returned by the Union Government to be put in possession of the Kerala Education Society for running the Kerala School, they said in the communication to the government. Following a legal suit filed by the state government in 1988, demanding the return of the remaining portion of Kapurthala Plot, the Supreme Court ordered to deliver the property to the state.
“There is no justification, under any circumstance, in developing Kapurthala Plot without earmarking adequate space for the requirement of the Kerala Education Society Senior Secondary School situated in that plot. The demand for the return of this plot from the Union Government was primarily accepted by the Supreme Court to meet the requirements of the school,” the communication said.Society general secretary P K Ravindranathan told ‘Express’: “We have plans to introduce higher education facilities here in the near future once we get the property. That’s why we urged the government to consider our demand. We have sent this communication to the government and all MLAs. Once we get a favourable response, we can go ahead with the move.”