Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

HEC meeting boycotted

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The governing council of the Kerala State Higher Education Council (HEC) will meet on April 30 to discuss the final draft of the note on introduction of the grading system for degree courses in the State. If the governing council ratifies the draft it will be sent to the State government for its approval.

Representatives of the Kerala Students Union (KSU), the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) walked out of a meeting of students organisations called by the HEC on Tuesday preparatory to the finalisation of the draft.

KSU State president Hibi Eden said at the meeting that his organisation had grave concerns about certain clauses in the Act that brought the council into existence. Later, Mr. Eden announced that the KSU was boycotting the meeting, terming it an attempt to push through a pre-decided agenda.

The representative of the ABVP said while his organisation welcomed experiments and reforms in the education sector, there was no use calling for discussions on grading after a decision had been taken on this subject. In his address AIDSO leader Shajar Khan said the council was yet to explain in a satisfactory manner why the system of awarding marks had to be changed. The introduction of the grading system, which was an evaluation system, should be the last step in a series of reforms that should begin with a change in curriculum. The new undergraduate curriculum proposed by the HEC would destroy theoretical knowledge and would kill research, he added.

SFI State president P. Biju said a robust mechanism to address student complaints on grading should be set up. HEC vice-chairman K.N. Panikkar and member secretary Thomas Joseph participated.

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