THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the University of Kerala’s School of Distance Education (SDE) recently obtained approval from the University Grants Commission (UGC) for offering a total of 22 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for a period of five years, the university’s lackadaisical attitude towards the timely revision of syllabus has proved to be a major drawback.
According to sources in the university, while regular students will be offered the latest courses as per the revised syllabus for 2021-22, the distance education students are still continuing with the 2017 syllabus, most of which is outdated. While the syllabus of regular courses was revised twice, the distance education courses were slowly sidelined by the varsity. “For the past many years we have been seeking permission from the university to revise the syllabus and study material. However, the setting up of the Sree Narayana Guru Open University (SNGOU) had dissuaded the varsity from encouraging its own distance education programmes,” said a senior academic associated with SDE.
A prohibitive clause in the SNGOU Act had disallowed other universities from offering courses in distance mode once the new university comes into existence. However, the government was finally forced to allow other universities to go ahead with distance learning courses for 2021-22 as SNGOU could not obtain UGC approval for its courses. The government allowed the relaxation to ensure that nearly one lakh students in the state, who do not get admission in regular colleges, are not denied the opportunity for higher education. However, the government’s green signal to other universities, including Kerala University, came at the eleventh hour, giving no time for revision of syllabus or study material.
Meanwhile, it is also pointed out that SNGOU would offer a lesser number of UG and PG programmes in its initial stages compared to the distance education courses being offered by universities such as Kerala and Calicut. This means that once the clause in the SNGOU Act that prohibits distance courses in other universities comes into effect, students will have no other avenues to pursue courses that are not offered by the newly set up university. “It is reliably learnt that SNGOU will be offering only 12 UG programmes and five PG programmes initially. Besides, no Science-based PG courses are being offered by the newly set up university. This, at a time when state universities such as Kerala and Calicut offer up to 12 PG programmes, including in Science subjects, in distance education mode,” said a source.
“With uncertainty still prevailing over the commencement of courses by SNGOU, the University of Kerala should take proactive steps to revise the syllabus of its distance education courses that have been given a fresh five-year term. As syllabus revision and preparation of study material takes around a year, any delay would amount to injustice to students enrolled in such programmes,” the academic warned.