KOCHI: The Kerala Self-Financing Engineering Colleges Management Association (KSFEMA) office-bearers on Thursday revoked the decision to go for an indefinite strike by closing down the colleges in the State in protest against attack on colleges under the association.
"We have held a discussion with the education minister Professor C Ravindranath and he assured the association that he would look into the issue and take all possible steps to solve the crisis in the sector. Following this, the association has decided to stop its protest by holding mere token strike on Thursday which was announced Wednesday," said KSFEA president Jory Mathai.
Though the association office-bearers denied to confirm if there were any lapses that occurred on the part of the Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre at Pampady in Thrissur where a student committed suicide in the wake of alleged torture of the management, they said a five-member ethics committee formed to look into the affairs has been asked to submit a report in this regard within 10 days. Based on the report, the association will decide whether it should take any disciplinary action against the management of the Nehru College or not, they added.
However, Jory Mathai confirmed that the management action of not reporting the alleged 'copying' reportedly done by the student, who later committed suicide, in an examination to the University authorities was a lapse from the management. He also said the ethics committee will also look into all the charges levelled against the college authorities from various quarters.
The association also said they would issue a circular to the members of the association to desist from charging fine for unnecessary trivial issues on the campus which affect the reputation of the colleges, if any.
The self-financing colleges in the State have witnessed a spate of violence following the suicide of Jishnu Pranoy, a student of Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre Pampady, last Friday.