KOTTAYAM: In a bid to refurbish its service delivery mechanism, Mahatma Gandhi University, has chalked out a student grievance redressal mechanism ‘Vidyardhi Samparka Paripadi’ and a mobile application (M-App) to speed up the dissemination of university-related information.
Pro-Vice Chancellor Sheena Shukkur told reporters here on Wednesday that the initiative will be implemented along the lines of the much-famed Mass Contact Programme of the state government.
Eying to improve the rating in the imminent NAAC accreditation process, the programme will be formally launched by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at an official function to be held at the university Assembly Hall on September 5. He will also launch the M-App initiative, which would provide university-related communication via mobile phone.
The students can log onto the university website to file complaints with respect to academic matters. The students’ portal will generate a complaint register number, which can be used to track the progress of the complaint. The students will be contacted directly by the Vice Chancellors’ office to inform the outcome of the complaint.
A separate team has been constituted in the VC’s Secretariat under the direct supervision of the private secretary and headed by the assistant private secretary.
According to Sheena Shukkur, the registration to the programme has already commenced and the university has received over 500 complaints so far. “Special meetings of policy making bodies will be convened to resolve the issues involved immediately before September 5. Issues related to degree certificates, mark list, condonation, grace marks, equivalency certificates and official transcripts form the majority of the complaints received in the university,” she said.
The students can also file a complaint offline to the Assistant Private Secretary to VC, Students Grievance Cell, Vice-Chancellor’s Secretariat, P D Hills, Kottayam 686560.
The programme, intended to be a continuum, is envisioned to take the university to a “Zero Complaint” organisation, said Sheena.
The move attracts more attention in the wake of the Right to Services Act being implemented by the state government.
M-App will enable the public and the students to get information relating to the university through Android phones.
Syndicate members Satheesh Kochuparambil, P K Firoz, Professor C H Abdul Latif, Professor N Jayakumar, K S Indu and Public Relations Officer G Sreekumar attended the press conference.