THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 295 students at the Travancore Engineering College in Oyoor, here, are staring at an uncertain future with the management planning to close down the institution.
The students who have been on the path of protest over the past few weeks allege even after the intervention of the Kerala Technical University the management was neither refunding the fees remitted by the students nor arranging an alternative. Around 30 faculty members have already submitted their resignation owing to nonpayment of salaries over the past few months, said the students.
“The problem started when faculty members availed mass leave citing nonpayment of salaries. Then the management informed the KTU it was finding it difficult to run the college owing to financial constraints and the institution may have to be closed down. But we students are in a dilemma. We don’t know what to do. Many of us had joined the college by taking education loans. If the college is shut and we have no alternative we fear some of our friends or their families might take the extreme step,” said S R Gokul Nath, a second-year Electrical Engineering student.
He said when the enquiry was conducted about alternatives the students were informed they would have to pay the admission fee and semester fee as demanded by the new institution. ‘’We have already paid a year’s fee in advance at the Travancore College.
But the college management is not bothered about returning the advance fee collected. The management says as there are only 38 students in five branches in the first year, it will not be able to run the college suffering huge financial loss. We are planning to meet the Justice R Rajendra Babu Committee which is looking into the fee regulatory and admission supervisory-related matters to inform our plight,” said Gokul.