Kerala Govt makes preamble to the Constitution part of school textbooks
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 17: For the first time in the history of the state, the revised school textbooks in Kerala will include the preamble to the Constitution of the country.
The CPI(M)-led Left Government has decided to incorporate the preamble into textbooks of class 1 to 10 as part of its efforts to instil constitutional values in the minds of children, official sources said here on Wednesday.
General Education Minister V Sivankutty, who is also the chairman of the State Curriculum Committee, announced the significant decision here yesterday.
The State Curriculum Steering Committee recently approved 173 new textbooks for Classes I, III, V, VII and IX as part of the curriculum reforms implemented after a decade.
"It is the first time that the preamble of the Constitution is included and printed at the start of every textbook," Sivankutty said.
The minister said the LDF government has made it clear since the beginning that the southern state would pursue reform activities upholding constitutional values.
Jayaprakash R K, the director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), said many NCERT textbooks already carry the preamble to the Constitution, but it is for the first time that Kerala is coming out with such an initiative.
SCERT is an autonomous body entrusted with the planning, implementation, and evaluation of all academic programmes from pre-school to higher secondary levels.
"The Preamble will be part of all the revised textbooks in the state. It will also be made a part of the teachers training. This will help both teachers and students understand the core of the Preamble to the Constitution," he told PTI.
If the medium of the textbook is Malayalam, the preamble would be in Malayalam. It will be in Tamil in Tamil textbooks and in Hindi in Hindi textbooks, he said.
Asked about the reason for the government to make the preamble part of the school textbooks, he said the objective of the initiative is to create awareness about the significance of the Constitution among youngsters.
It is a time when the country is witnessing widespread discussions about the Constitution and its values, and the move would help the children understand its significance from a younger age.
Teachers would be given training to impart the meaning and message of the Constitution and its preamble to the children during the time of their teaching, the official further said.
Though it may be tough for the children to understand the concept of the Constitution in the lower classes, they will be able to understand its basics by the time they come to at least the fifth standard, the SCERT Director added.
Hailing the state government's decision, senior Left Leader and former finance minister T M Thomas Isaac said it is the response of the state against attempts to "communalise education."
"The revised school textbooks of Kerala will include Preamble to the Constitution. The curriculum will be gender sensitive. Lessons on Pocso rules, democratic and secular values and scientific temperament will be included. That's our response to the attempts to communalise education," he said in his handle on social media platform 'X'.
According to General Education Department sources, the revised textbooks would reach students weeks before schools reopen for the next academic year.
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'Go back to your own country': Indian-origin taxi driver attacked in Dublin
London, Aug 5 (PTI): An Indian-origin taxi driver based in Ireland for over 23 years has become the latest to be targeted in an unprovoked attack in the capital Dublin, with local police (Gardai) launching an investigation into the violent assault.
Lakhvir Singh, in his 40s, told local media that he picked up two young men in their 20s on Friday night and dropped them at Poppintree, in the Ballymun suburb of Dublin.
Upon arriving at the destination, the men are said to have opened the vehicle door and struck him twice on the head with a bottle. As the suspects fled, they reportedly shouted: "Go back to your own country".
"In 10 years I've never seen anything like this happen," Singh told ‘Dublin Live’.
"I'm really scared now and I'm off the road at the moment. It will be very hard to go back. My children are really scared," he said.
A Dublin police spokesperson said Singh was taken to the city's Beaumont Hospital with injuries determined as not life-threatening.
"Gardaí are investigating an assault reported to have occurred in Poppintree, Ballymun, Dublin 11 at approximately 11:45 pm on Friday, 1st August 2025. A man, aged in his 40s, was brought to Beaumont Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injury. Investigations are ongoing," the spokesperson said.
The incident followed an Indian Embassy advisory, also issued on Friday, expressing safety concerns following recent attacks in and around the capital Dublin and urging Indian citizens to take safety precautions.
"There has been an increase in the instances of physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland recently,” states the advisory.
“The embassy is in touch with the authorities concerned in Ireland in this regard. At the same time, all Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially at odd hours," the statement reads, adding emergency embassy contact details as 0899423734 and cons.dublin@mea.gov.in.
It came in the wake of a brutal attack on a 40-year-old Indian man at Parkhill Road in the Tallaght suburb of Dublin on July 19, described as “mindless, racist violence” by locals.
The Gardai had opened an investigation into the case and Indian Ambassador to Ireland Akhilesh Mishra was among those who took to social media to express shock over the attack.
“Regarding the recent incident of physical attack on an Indian national that happened in Tallaght, Dublin, the embassy is in touch with the victim and his family. All the requisite assistance is being offered. The embassy is also in touch with the relevant Irish authorities in this regard,” the embassy said in a social media post days after the incident.
A Stand Against Racism protest was also held by the local community in condemnation of what was described as a "vicious racist attack" and to express solidarity with migrants.
Last week, Dr Santosh Yadav took to LinkedIn to post details of a “brutal, unprovoked racist attack”.
The entrepreneur and AI expert stressed that it was not an isolated incident and called for “concrete measures” from the governments of Ireland and India to ensure Indians feel safe to walk the streets of Dublin.
His post revealed that a group of six teenagers attacked him from behind as he walked to his apartment in Dublin.
“This is not an isolated incident. Racist attacks on Indian men and other minorities are surging across Dublin — on buses, in housing estates, and on public streets. Yet, the government is silent. There is no action being taken against these perpetrators. They run free and are emboldened to attack again,” reads Yadav's post.
Fine Gael party Councillor for Tallaght South, Baby Pereppadan, was among those who expressed concern following last month’s attack.
“People need to understand that many Indian people moving to Ireland are here on work permits, to study and work in the healthcare sector or in IT and so on, providing critical skills,” he said.
Another violent anti-Indian attack in Ireland
— Journalist V (@OnTheNewsBeat) August 5, 2025
Taxi driver Lakhvir Singh was attacked with glass bottles while doing his job pic.twitter.com/mtkwhLWISx
