Students of Maharaja College demand removal of principal for comment on girls
KOCHI: A meeting convened by district collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla on Monday to find a solution to the ongoing crisis at Maharaja’s College failed to make any headway.
The meeting, which was attended by representatives of teachers’ and students’ organisations, did not yield the desired result as leaders of the SFI continued to insist on removal of the principal.
The three-hour meeting was attended by Fort Kochi sub-collector Adeela Abdullah, assistant police commissioner K Lalji, college principal N L Beena, teachers’ representatives, leaders of students organisations and PTI members. The SFI leaders adamantly demanded the dismissal of the principal for withdrawing their protest.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the collector said talks with the students' organisations would continue. According to him, all those attended the meeting condemned the act of burning the principal’s chair.
The SFI also demanded that inmates of the boys’ hostel at the college, which was declared unfit by the PWD, be shifted to the staff hostel until the ongoing renovation is completed. Meanwhile, the hostel warden said the staff hostel was fully occupied.
The collector said the governing council of the college would be consulted to allot four rooms in the staff hostel to accommodate 22 students. He said the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) was instructed to initiate steps to resolve water shortage on the campus.
It all started when a section of students and teachers took exception to the principal’s alleged comment that girls were coming to the college to 'cosy up to boys’. Last week, the SFI staged a protest march on the campus, during which a group of students burnt the principal’s chair. Subsequently, the SFI leadership suspended three students.