Thiruvananthapuram — Kerala's General Education Minister N Shamsudheen on Saturday ordered the withdrawal of permission granted to conduct the Mayilpeeli scholarship examination in government schools across the state, and the examination has been ordered to be stopped, according to a press release issued by the minister's office and reported by news agency ANI.

Source: ANI via NewKerala

The minister has also directed the Director of General Education to submit a detailed report on the circumstances under which the permission was granted. The General Education Department had earlier granted permission following an application to conduct the scholarship examination for upper primary and high school students in association with Mayilpeeli magazine, which is published by Balagokulam. ANI named the applicant as the National Teachers' Council, while Careers360 identified the organiser as the National Teachers' Union (NTU) and said the test is the Young Scholar Exam 2026.

According to ANI, the approval was issued by a Joint Director on behalf of the Director of General Education, with conditions that the examination should not disrupt regular classes and that no special fee should be collected from students. The department had maintained that permission was granted in accordance with the rules, but the approval was reportedly issued without the Education Minister's knowledge, and Shamsudheen intervened after the decision triggered criticism over the Balagokulam association and its alleged political implications.

Careers360 reported that the school-level exam was held on October 30, and the sub-district and district-level tests were scheduled for November 14 and 22. It said the minister sought an explanation from the Director of General Education and that his office later confirmed the order permitting the exam had been cancelled on his directive.

Source: Careers360

The withdrawal followed sharp political criticism. Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan alleged — in claims reported by Careers360 — that the UDF government was joining hands with the Sangh Parivar to turn state-run schools into its 'laboratories', and alleged the permission was part of a deliberate attempt to introduce communal ideology. He demanded that the Education Minister apologise and that the nomination of NTU general secretary T Anoop Kumar to the state school curriculum committee be cancelled. These are the Opposition's allegations; the government has not been reported as accepting them.

The Students' Federation of India (SFI) also criticised the original approval, with state secretary PS Sajeev questioning in a social media post whether the minister was aware of it, ANI reported. BJP sources, meanwhile, criticised the political row and the government's decision to withdraw the order, saying associations linked to all political parties routinely make similar academic interventions, according to Careers360.

What happens next will turn on the Director of General Education's report into how the permission was granted. The minister's office has said the examination is stopped and the permitting order cancelled; there was no immediate report of the later test rounds, scheduled for November 14 and 22, being rescheduled.