PM address: Education channel lets down Kerala students

A state-run educational TV channel in Congress-ruled Kerala failed to air Narendra Modi’s Teachers’ Day address, triggering a controversy. While the BJP called it a deliberate move, channel executives said there was a technical snag.

A state-run educational TV channel in Congress-ruled Kerala failed to air Narendra Modi’s Teachers’ Day address, triggering a controversy. While the BJP called it a deliberate move, channel executives said there was a technical snag.

Hundreds of students had assembled at the city’s Cotton Hills Girls’ Higher Secondary School for the programme, but at 3 pm they were told that the telecast had been called off due to some problems with service provider edusat.

“Education department officials had given last-minute instructions to the channel to skip this. It is a sad day for the state,” said Kerala BJP president V Muraleedharan. Congress ally Indian Union Muslim League holds the education portfolio in the state.

Children in a majority of government schools, which depended on the Victers channel as they didn’t have a Doordarshan subscription, could not watch the programme.

Though the Kerala government made it clear that it was not compulsory for schools to carry live the Prime Minister’s message to the children, many institute managements showed the event by making their own arrangements.