Thiruvananthapuram became a hub for international scholarship as the Vakkom Moulavi
Foundation Trust (VMFT) hosted a landmark global conference from January 8–10, 2025 at the
Department of Islamic and West Asian Studies of the University of Kerala. Titled “Tradition,
Dialogue, and Dissent in the Princely States: Vakkom Moulavi and His Contemporaries,”
the event brought together scholars from India and across the world to explore the life and legacy
of one of Kerala’s pioneering social reformers and his connections to princely state reforms and
global Islamic currents.

The conference also emphasized the role of past reformers in shaping
progressive policies, highlighting how their contributions can serve as a guide to addressing
contemporary social concerns through a secular approach.

VMFT is committed to creating knowledge systems that contribute to policy discussions by
critically examining Kerala’s past reform movements. While the focus of the conference was on
Vakkom Moulavi, his ideas were explored in the larger context of Kerala’s diverse reform
movements and the reformist currents in the princely states—an area often overlooked in
mainstream Indian history. The foundation believes that Kerala’s early reformers laid the
groundwork for the state’s progressive transformation, and their ideas continue to offer valuable
lessons for contemporary social change. Kerala has increasingly become a center of interest for
international scholars, and VMFT has played a crucial role in facilitating this engagement. By
bringing together thought leaders from across the globe, VMFT has positioned itself at the
forefront of intellectual debates on what we can learn from Kerala’s rich history of social reform
movements and how these insights can shape future policies.

On September 28, 2024, VMFT hosted a significant public meeting in Trivandrum, Kerala, to unveil an
important report on education inequality in the state. The report, titled “Separate and Unequal?
Language, Curriculum and Management in Kerala’s School Education System,” presents a
comprehensive analysis of the growing divide within the state’s education system, drawing on multiple
data sources. Dr. Heidi Layne, a researcher from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, released the
report and delivered a keynote address, sharing insights on Finland’s focus on education quality and
teacher professionalisation. The VMFT report also carries a section on Finland’s acclaimed education
model.

The report’s findings paint a stark picture of Kerala’s education landscape. Once celebrated for its
common curriculum and publicly funded school system that guaranteed universal enrollment, Kerala’s
school system has undergone rapid transformation in just over a generation. Private unaided schools,
offering different curricula, including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), have proliferated across the state, while the majority of government and aided schools still follow the State Board curriculum. This shift has created a multi-tiered system where quality education is differentiated by type of school, curriculum and language of instruction and access to this depends on the socio-economic status of students.

“Language acquisition is not a step-by-step process of generalization, association, and abstraction, going from linguistic data to the grammar, and that the subtlety of our understanding transcends by far what is presented in experience.”- ― Noam Chomsky, On Language

Although revered and rebuked in equal measure, Chomsky’s theories cannot be ignored. Setting the
base to our talk, we were pleased to have with us Dr. George. C. Vilanilam, Professor of Neurosurgery,
Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum. Dr. Vilanilam has an MS
in general surgery, and a FRCS in Neurosurgery. He has an MBA in hospital management and Diploma in
Medical Law and Ethics. He is also associated with the Madhavan Nayar Center for Comprehensive
Epilepsy Care.
The talk that happened at VMFT, K.M. Bashir Memorial Building, Thiruvananthapuram, on 24th August,
was divided into 3 parts; a presentation on language and brain development by Dr. Vilanilam, followed
by a presentation on education models by Dr. Bashir, and a riveting Q&A session. Dr. Vilanilam delved
into the science behind language absorption and how the brain aids this process. He further states that
the perspective to language is varying and has many facets. His talk focused on the neurobiology and
medical professional’s perspective of language. As per Dr. Vilanilam’s research, there are 7164 languages worldwide, with Papau New Guinea having 840 languages and India being 4 th  in place with 453 languages and dialects.