Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Students Union (KSU) has announced a state-wide education bandh on Tuesday (June 25). The move came against the backdrop of the police action against KSU activists who staged a protest against the shortage of Plus 1 seats. 

In a press release, KSU state president Aloshious Xavier stated that they are organising a state-wide bandh on Tuesday in educational institutions, including professional colleges across the state, in response to the government's perceived negligence in resolving the Plus 1 seat crisis, despite the commencement of the academic year. He also accused the government of using police force to suppress their statewide protest programs.

KSU had recently escalated its protest against the government. The police intervened to halt a march to the Regional Deputy Director’s (RDD) office in Kozhikode, where officials were blocked from entering by the protesters. The police arrested and removed the demonstrators. Even, CPM-backed Students Federation of India (SFI) criticized the Education Minister V Sivankutty on the matter. 

As the Plus 1 classes began on Monday, 3,22,147 students secured admission to higher secondary schools across the State. However, KSU highlighted that numerous students with good marks were still unable to secure seats. The Muslim Students Federation (MSF) also protested against the same.

KSU and MSF had expressed their dissatisfaction by waving black flags at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Kozhikode the other day, criticising the government's perceived inaction on the seat shortage issue. MSF also protested by locking the office of the Director General Education (DGE) regarding the plus one admission issue in Malabar.