Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Minister V Sivankutty on Saturday said that once Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes his roadshow in the state capital, he should ask the Union Education Minister to make available textbooks for students of classes 8, 9 and 11 for next year in Kendriya Vidyalayas in the state.

Sivankutty, the state general education minister and LDF candidate from Nemom Assembly constituency, said that according to news reports, the social studies textbook of class 8 and revised textbooks of classes 9 and 11, for the next academic year, have not yet reached the Kendriya Vidyalayas.

This points to a serious failure on the part of the central government, he said in a Facebook post.

The minister said that it was also a setback for those who mocked the Kerala government for delivering textbooks for the next academic year even before the schools were closed.

He claimed that the central government was unable to make available on time even the revised National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks.

Sivankutty said that those who are unable to deliver books even to the Navodaya and Kendriya Vidyalayas, which are run by the central government, are alleging there is a lack of development in Kerala.

He said that it is the right of the children to get textbooks for free, and the same was being denied to them due to the "unnecessary delay" in the distribution of books by the Centre.

"There is no doubt that this slow pace of the Centre will affect the education of children," he added.

The minister, in his post, urged the central government to take strong measures to ensure that textbooks are made available to students as soon as possible.