The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Vice-Chancellors promise to support Government policy on education

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 19, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Vice-Chancellors promise to support Government policy on education

Special Correspondent

Chief Minister says the Government was for merit and social justice in the higher education sector

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vice-Chancellors of the Universities in the State have promised to cooperate with the efforts of the Government to ensure social equity in the State, Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan said here on Sunday.

Talking to media persons after a conference with the Vice-Chancellors on the proposed law to govern the self-financing professional colleges, the Chief Minister said that the Government emphasised merit and social justice in the education sector.

The United Democratic Front (UDF) Government had promised that two self-financing colleges would be equal to one Government colleges in terms of seats available under the Government quota. However this promise was not kept. As a result, many students could not join courses on account of heavy fees and some had committed suicide. "This should not happen again. Higher education should be within the reach of the common man."

Referring to the proposed legislation that provided for reservation to socially and educationally backward sections, Mr. Achuthanandan noted that the Government could take a strong step towards ensuring social equity within one month of its coming to power.

Earlier, addressing the conference, the Chief Minister said that the Vice-Chancellors had an important role to play in ensuring social justice in the higher education sector. The universities played an important role in laying the foundation for the development of the State. "We should be able to structure modern education to suit the interests of the State and the country. We should keep the presence of a large number of overseas Keralites and the State's links all over the world and its history of service in view. This called for most modern education systems. The education facilities, at the same time, should be affordable to the common man."

Mr. Achuthanandan said that the biggest challenge in the education sector today was the issues related to admissions and fees in professional unaided colleges. The law brought by the previous Government could not be implemented properly. There were complaints that the previous Government had not intervened strongly in the matter, though there were opportunities for such intervention at the time of issuing non-objection certificates and affiliation. The Kerala University had recognised only colleges that agreed to follow the rules stipulated by the State Government for admissions and collection of fees. However, the current situation was such that even those agreements could not be enforced.

The managements, the Chief Minister recalled, challenged the laws aimed at merit-based admissions and social equity. They charged heavy fees for all seats on the basis of a Supreme Court verdict. Hence, the Government decided to bring a new law on the basis of the 93rd Amendment to the Constitution. It had provision for reservation for educationally and socially backward sections of society. It also had provisions that would bring higher education within the reach of the ordinary people. "The policy of the Government is that higher education should not be denied to those who are not rich. Such a stand was required to ensure academic standards."

Calling for the support of the Vice-Chancellors in the Government's efforts to solve the issues through legislation and talks, he said that the full cooperation of the universities was required to carry out its policy.

Education Minister M. A. Baby said that the Vice-Chancellors had agreed that only Government fees would be charged for 50 per cent of the seats in the self-financing colleges run by the universities.

The Vice-Chancellors had also assured that they would uphold quality and standards in the higher education sector. The Government had asked the universities to prepare dependable calendars for conduct of examinations and declaration of results. Delays in declaration of results affected students seeking admissions outside the State, Mr. Baby said.

All the six Vice-Chancellors in the State and Additional Chief Secretary P. J. Thomas attended the conference.

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