Left-affiliated students and teachers’ organisations are up in arms against the government’s decision to grant academic autonomy to 13 colleges in the state.
Members of the Students Federation of India (SFI) on Tuesday organised several protest marches in all district headquarters of the state.
During the march taken out in the capital, SFI activists burnt Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb in effigy outside the state secretariat.
“By granting autonomy to colleges and empowering them to admit students, decide the fees and conduct examinations, the government is facilitating their conversion into commercial establishments,’’ SFI state president Shiju Khan said.
Left-affiliated All Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (AKPCTA) has also flayed the government decision on autonomy. “Autonomy is a ploy on the part of the government to slowly withdraw from the higher education sector. By granting autonomy, the colleges will be empowered to raise tuition fee and make higher education out of the reach of financially-backward students,’’ AKPCTA state secretary K L Vivekanandan said.
He said the Common Allotment Process followed by universities to ensure transparency in admissions will be undermined by the colleges and this may lead to denial of reservation benefits to students.
“It will also lead to a pre-1972 situation where the onus of paying salaries to the teachers will rest with the managements and not with the government. Already in many autonomous colleges outside the state, only guest lecturers are recruited to fill vacancies and they are being paid a paltry amount,’’ Vivekanandan said.