The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Higher education curriculum to be revised

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 12, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Higher education curriculum to be revised

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Government will set up an expert committee for revising the higher education curriculum, Education Minister M.A. Baby has said.

Replying to questions in the Assembly on Wednesday, Mr. Baby said this was decided at a meeting of the Higher Education Council held recently. The Government would not encourage unaided courses in colleges. Such courses would be restructured in a phased manner without affecting the conduct of the ongoing courses.

The Government was committed to protecting the democratic rights of students, teachers and non-teaching staff.

Steps would be taken to end the shortage of college teachers in a time-bound manner.

No change in timing

No decision had been made to change the school timings or the summer vacation schedule. The holidays declared by District Collectors would be applicable to school teachers too.

The Government was not in favour of shift system. Schools should comply with the directives of the Human Rights Commission in conducting assembly.

The Government had specified that SSLC certificates should not be laminated. If anyone had laminated the certificate, duplicate copy would be issued from the Pareeksha Bhavan on submitting an application, he said.

Health clinics

Minister for Cooperation G. Sudhakaran said that health clinics would be set up in all public health centres, taluk and district hospitals in association with the Health Department. The clinics in the cooperative sectors with clinical laboratory, X-ray, ECG and scanning facilities would offer services at concession rates for the patients in the BPL category and free-of-cost for the indigent patients. Onam markets would be set up under the aegis of the Consumer Federation from July 20 to August 31 for selling 32 essential items.

Leased land

Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran said that Harrison Malayalam Plantations was possessing 59,623 acres of leased land in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Kottayam and Wayanad districts. A committee appointed by the Government was examining whether the company had violated the lease agreement. The committee would present its report to the Government this month-end. If the company violated the lease agreement, the Government would retrieve the land and action would be taken against Forest and Revenue officials if they had committed any lapse, he said.

Law Minister M. Vijayakumar said the Kerala State Legal Service Authority had spent Rs.4.34 lakh during the past one year to provide legal assistance to the poor. Permanent Lok Adalats would be set up in Ernakulam and Kozhikode, he said.

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