THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “If there are Christian employees in your school, who draw government salary but do not pay income tax, a report of the same should be submitted within two days to the office of the Deputy Director of Education.”
This was a strange directive that the state syllabus schools under Areacode educational sub-district in Malappuram received recently from the Assistant Educational Officer (AEO)-in charge. Confusion prevailed as panic-stricken heads of schools rang up higher officials of the department to enquire if the directive, that could create communal polarisation, was genuine. To their surprise, the communication dated April 22 was issued by senior superintendent Shahina A K who is presently holding the charge of AEO, Areacode.
The letter, accessed by TNIE, cited a directive from the Deputy Director of Education (DDE), Malappuram, as the basis for the inquiry.
The root of the controversial inquiry lay in a complaint filed by a Kozhikode native Abdul Kalam K to the Director of General Education (DGE) in November last year. The complaint to the internal vigilance wing of the directorate alleged that Christian employees were drawing salary from the government but were not paying income tax.
According to sources, income tax exemptions granted to Catholic clergy, which were struck down by the Madras High Court in 2019 and endorsed by the Supreme Court last year, could have prompted the complaint. Soon, the internal vigilance wing shot off letters to all 14 DDEs across the state on February 13 seeking details of such employees. Most of the DDEs, in turn, passed on the directives to the AEOs under their jurisdiction.
“It was the DDE of Alappuzha who alerted the DGE’s office about the damage potential of the query. The DGE office soon issued a letter on February 20, directing all the DDEs to put the process on hold until further directives,” said a senior official of the General Education Department. However, the communication had already been passed on to AEOs by that time.
When contacted, Malappuram DDE-in charge Geetha Kumari said her office as well as the Areacode AEO’s office were not aware of the revised communication from the directorate to put the process on hold.
Notably, while the Malappuram DDE-in charge gave the directive to all AEOs in the revenue district on March 4, the Areacode AEO-in charge, in her letter to schools, said it was based on a directive issued by the DDE on April 20.
After the matter courted controversy, the government swung into action. General Education Minister V Sivankutty ordered the suspension of two officials in the directorate — Manoj P K and Apsara — who issued the initial directive to the DDEs on February 13. The Malappuram DDE-in charge and the Areacode AEO-in charge have also been placed under suspension pending an inquiry.
“Directives have also been issued to lodge a complaint with the state police chief against Abdul Kalam K who came up with a complaint that could create communal hatred,” Sivankutty said.
The minister also directed the General Education Secretary to inquire into the entire incident and submit a report within a week.
Meanwhile, teachers' associations have cited the lack of coordination among officials in the directorate as the reason for the fiasco.
"Education department officials carry out their work in a clerical fashion by forwarding orders without even examining the content. It is high
time that professional training is imparted to the officials, especially on handling such sensitive matters," said Indulal AV, general secretary of
Kerala Aided Teachers Association.