Kerala Rejects UGC Draft Curriculum, Citing Autonomy and Academic Quality Concerns

The Kerala government has formally rejected the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) draft Learning Outcomes-Based Curriculum Framework (LOCF) for undergraduate programmes, citing concerns over academic autonomy, subject gaps, and ideological influence.

State Higher Education and Social Justice Minister R Bindu announced the decision after an expert panel appointed by the government reviewed the draft. In a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and UGC Acting Chairperson Vineet Joshi, the state urged the commission to withdraw the framework and undertake a comprehensive revision.

According to the minister, the draft goes beyond UGC’s constitutional mandate by prescribing detailed syllabi, course structures, and reading lists, which Kerala argues should remain within the purview of universities.

Nationwide Resistance Growing
The rejection comes amid mounting criticism from academics, student organisations, and researchers. Over 900 scholars, including Padma awardees and Bhatnagar Prize recipients, have signed petitions citing “serious flaws” across disciplines such as mathematics, sciences, economics, and engineering.

Mathematics Curriculum Under Scrutiny
Subject experts highlighted major omissions in the mathematics syllabus, including real analysis, algebra, and applied mathematics, while outdated topics like analytical geometry and mechanics were retained.

Courses such as Mathematics in Music were criticised for being misleading, as they relied on Class 10-level concepts despite referencing advanced areas like Fourier analysis and Markov chains. Similarly, the Mathematics for Machine Learning module was found to devote little attention to machine learning itself, focusing instead on basic set theory and vector spaces.

Concerns of Ideological Bias
The expert panel also flagged ideological elements in the draft, citing references to VD Savarkar in political science courses and the framing of corporate governance through “Ram Rajya.” Kerala has argued these inclusions compromise academic neutrality.

Reiterating its stand, the state government has called for the UGC to withdraw the draft framework and initiate a thorough revision that upholds academic rigour, neutrality, and institutional independence.