Projecting the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s achievements in the education sector and in job creation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has made an intense pitch of Kerala turning a future higher education hub and a land of opportunities for the youth, if the LDF continues in a similar vein.

Speaking to a mammoth crowd of predominantly youngsters at the Democratic Youth Federation of India’s ‘Yuva Maha Sammelanam’ here on Sunday, he said that the past five years were spent in laying the foundation for this, the fruits of which will be visible sooner.

Mr.Vijayan spent the better part of the speech in comparing his government’s record in these sectors over the past five years to that of United Democratic Front’s performance in the previous tenure.

“Though the Kerala model has been much lauded in the past, it had fallen into a rut. During the previous UDF government’s tenure, five lakh students had shifted out of our schools, while during the LDF’s tenure 6.8 lakh students have been newly enrolled, thanks to improvement in infrastructure and academic standards. All of these were funded through KIIFB, which the Opposition had initially dismissed as a pipe dream. Now, the higher education sector is set to witness even bigger changes. Cutting edge courses have been introduced. Many students have been going outside for higher studies.This is set to change with Kerala becoming a higher education hub,” he said. He said that the government plans to provide digital skills training to 50 lakh youth so that they can match up to the changing work culture. More than 55,000 youth and 200 companies have registered with a job portal launched by the government recently. The overnment has also set a record by providing employment for 1,57,911 persons through the PSC. Mr.Vijayan accused the ‘right-wing’ media and the opposition of trying to mislead the public on this and several other issues. But, the public who are aware of these tricks did not fall for it, he said. He said the recent controversies including the one around deep sea trawler deal was a result of the opposition’s frustration at local body poll results.

Flays Rahul

Hitting out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said that Mr.Gandhi, who is a ‘good tourist’, is never seen campaigning in States where the Congress is in direct fight with the BJP.