Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 13 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will be on a two-week visit to Europe in October during which he will meet experts for a possible tie-up in the education sector.

The CM, along with a delegation of ministers and senior officers, is expected to interact with a team of experts from Finland who was in Kerala in connection with development in education.

According to sources, the chief minister is scheduled to visit London, Norway and Finland.

Incidentally, the visit comes at a time when the state is passing through an extremely rough patch financially.

For the netizens, the chief minister's proposed Europe visit has brought back memories of his Netherlands trip to learn management of the flood crisis called project 'Room for River'.

Defending the chief minister, state Finance Minister K.N.Balagopal dismissed the criticism as "needless", stating visits of this nature are required to study the latest developments in the world.

A media critic on condition of anonymity said such visits are needed but not before taking a stock of the previous visits.

"If there is going to be a tie-up in the education sector, we should not forget that there is an unprecedented rush in the number of students flying abroad for education. In the past, if many were going abroad to do master's courses, today after Plus 2 , students are getting admitted for undergraduate courses abroad and that should be definitely a concern. In the best interest of all, the present state government should stop rhetoric and come clean on what has been achieved on all fronts as this Vijayan government is in office now for more than six years," said the critic who did not wish to be identified.