KANNUR: Former Vice-Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi University, Cyriac Thomas has called on the Government to take the initiative for ending the dispute over the professional colleges Act through consensus.

Inaugurating a seminar, on `Social Justice in the Higher Education sector,' organised by the pro-Communist Party of India (Marxist) Vidyabhyasa Samrakshna Samithi here on Monday, Dr. Thomas said consensual approach was the best way to defuse the present situation over the Act and that it was the Government's duty to be `magnanimous' in its efforts to end the stalemate.

The Inter-Church Council had already made it clear that it was ready for talks on all issues relating to the self-financing college issue except provisions in the Act that concerns minority rights.

Left Democratic Front convener Vaikom Vishwan had also announced the LDF's willingness for talks over the issue, Dr. Thomas said.

"The Government and managements should work for protecting the fundamental rights of students," he said. Dr. Thomas said it was a violation of political morality on the part of the Opposition to oppose the enactment on the self-financing colleges outside the Assembly after supporting it inside the House.

Terming education as the best treasure of the State, he said the State could not afford to lag behind in the higher education sector. Stating that self-financing institutions were a reality, Dr. Thomas said that the Government should take institutional measures to ensure that they functioned as per law.

"It was wrong to treat all self-financing institutions as those violating law," he said. "The original sin that led to the present crisis in the higher education sector in the State was the sanctioning of no-objection certificates during the UDF rule led by then Chief Minister A.K. Antony to all applicants without considering their credibility," he said.

Touching on the subject of merit and social justice, Dr. Thomas said that more than 50 per cent of the students who got admitted under merit quota were coming from affluent families. This called for the importance of considering both the marks of the entrance examination and Plus Two

examination as criteria for admitting students to professional courses, he added.

The managements of the self-financing institutions should understand that the self-finance concept in the State had been introduced to end the exploitation of students by college managements in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and not to repeat the same kind of exploitation here, he said.

Stating that the Government should fix a viable fee structure that would allow the institutions to survive, Dr. Thomas proposed 15 per cent free scholarship each in merit quota and management quota to ensure merit and social justice in the higher education.

Delivering his introductory speech, Kannur University Vice-Chancellor P. Chandramohan said though strong social control over self-financing colleges was essential, the Government should take the initiative to increase access to higher education.

Samithi district chairman P. Jayarajan presided over the function. District Congress president Sunny Joseph and CPI(M) district secretary M.V. Govindan were also present at the seminar.

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