For decades, Kerala - one of India's most literate states with a 95.3% literacy rate - took justifiable pride in its educational achievements. Schools reached the remotest corners of the state. Generations of doctors, engineers, nurses and civil servants carried the state’s reputation across India and far beyond. Even today, with Gross Enrolment Ratios in universities often exceeding 40 per cent against a national average of around 30 per cent, Kerala remains among the country’s leaders in tertiary education.

Yet somewhere along the way, the higher education system began losing the confidence of the very people it was meant to serve.

Warning Signs Have Been Visible

The warning signs are now too visible to dismiss. Students are leaving Kerala in large numbers. University campuses have become increasingly politicised. Degrees do not always translate into jobs. 

The Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) remains controversial. Vice-Chancellor appointments have repeatedly landed in courtrooms. Institutions once associated with academic distinction have often found themselves caught up in ideological battles.

New Minister's Resolve

Against this backdrop, the arrival of the new United Democratic Front (UDF) government led by the Congress party has generated cautious optimism. Much of that hope rests on the appointment of Roji M. John as Higher Education Minister. Articulate, energetic and academically inclined, he has so far signalled a willingness to confront problems that many in the sector have preferred to skirt around.

The same sentiment was visible in Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar’s policy declaration to the Assembly on May 29. The government pledged to strengthen higher education, improve quality and build institutions that could genuinely function as centres of excellence. Jawaharlal Nehru Scientific Centres will be established to nurture scientific temper among students. The larger objective, it said, was to make education a driver of Kerala’s knowledge economy.

In a media interview recently, John acknowledged what parents, teachers and students have been saying for years. Kerala is losing its students. Not only to Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune, but increasingly to destinations overseas. What was once largely an elite phenomenon has become commonplace across districts and social classes.

That trend cannot simply be explained away as aspiration or caused by globalisation. It reflects a deeper unease about the state’s academic ecosystem. “We have a responsibility to find out why they are leaving Kerala,” the minister said.

Perhaps even more significant was his willingness to discuss private and foreign universities, a subject that has long triggered ideological reflexes in Kerala. The debate has often been trapped between two extremes. One side treats all private participation as exploitation. The other imagines privatisation as a cure for every institutional weakness. Neither position is particularly convincing.

Open-Minded on Foreign Varsities

“We are open-minded on foreign universities. It is our responsibility to provide what our students need in Kerala,” John said. That is a notable shift in emphasis. The focus, at least rhetorically, appears to be moving from ideology to outcomes.

The government’s policy declaration pointed in the same direction. It spoke of improving research, innovation and academic quality while making Kerala’s institutions more competitive.

The governor’s address also carried a politically important promise: free undergraduate education in government colleges. Greater access is unquestionably welcome. But affordability alone is unlikely to stem the outflow of students. What many young people are seeking is not merely lower fees but stronger institutions, better opportunities and qualifications that carry weight in an increasingly competitive world.

The FYUGP illustrates the problem. The idea itself was not unreasonable. Multidisciplinary learning and longer undergraduate exposure are hardly radical concepts. The difficulty lay in implementation.

Many colleges lacked the faculty strength, infrastructure and administrative preparedness required for such a transition. What was presented as innovation often felt like improvisation. Teachers complained of heavier workloads without adequate support. Students struggled to navigate shifting credit structures and course requirements. Universities themselves frequently appeared overwhelmed. John has acknowledged the criticism, describing the rollout as having taken place “without adequate preparatory work”.

Politicisation of Education

Kerala’s universities also suffer from a problem that politicians rarely discuss candidly: excessive politicisation.

Student politics has contributed significantly to Kerala’s democratic culture. Many accomplished public figures emerged from campus activism. Political awareness is not the issue. The problem arises when every appointment, nomination and administrative decision becomes an extension of partisan competition. At that point, academic credibility inevitably begins to erode.

Over the years, university governance increasingly came to be shaped by factional alignments, ideological patronage and public confrontation. Litigation stalled appointments. Institutions functioned under temporary Vice-Chancellors. Administrative continuity suffered. Public confidence weakened. A less confrontational relationship between the government, Lok Bhavan and university authorities could itself help restore a degree of stability.

Yet the most pressing challenge remains employability. For decades, Kerala produced graduates faster than its economy could absorb them. The old mantra that a degree would naturally lead to a respectable career has steadily lost credibility. Employers routinely complain about gaps in practical skills, communication, technological adaptability and workplace readiness.

This is more than an educational problem. It is a developmental one. Universities cannot continue functioning as certificate-issuing entities disconnected from labour market realities. Kerala needs institutions that combine intellectual depth with practical competence, liberal education with employable skills, and academic rigour with innovation.

To its credit, the new state government’s policy declaration recognised this reality. It emphasised skill development, industry-linked learning and stronger connections between educational institutions and emerging sectors of the economy. Whether those aspirations translate into measurable reform remains to be seen.

Conversation is Changing

What is encouraging at present is that the conversation itself appears to be changing. There is a greater willingness to acknowledge problems that were too often buried beneath political posturing and institutional inertia.

That, however, does not guarantee success. Reforming higher education will demand political courage, administrative competence and sustained investment. Resistance will come from entrenched interests of every ideological persuasion.

Still, after years of drift, denial and confrontation, Kerala’s higher education sector finally appears to have something it badly needed: the possibility of honest introspection. That alone makes the campus landscape look considerably more promising than it has in a long time.

(The writer, who is based in Kochi, is a former UN spokesperson and a contemporary affairs commentator. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at edmathew@gmail.com/ tweets @edmathew)