THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:The government is working on a plan where state-run universities will have a unified schedule for admissions, exams and declaration of exam results, Education Minister C Raveendranath said on Tuesday.
Raveendranath told the Assembly the government was in the process of developing a software with this in mind. The Higher Education Council has been entrusted with the job of tackling the vexing questions surrounding equivalency certificates issued by universities for similar courses conducted by other universities, he said.
Several members, during the debate on education-related Bills, had alleged widespread foul play and glitches in issuing or denying equivalency certificates.Amid UDF’s objections, the House on Tuesday passed the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (Amendment) Bill, the Kerala University (Alternate Arrangements Temporarily of the Senate and the Syndicate) Bill and the Kerala University (Amendment) Bill.
Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged the two Bills pertaining to the Kerala University were politically motivated and a government ploy to wrest control of the Senate and Syndicate.“The government is setting a bad precedent. It will create a crisis in higher education,’’ he said. The Kerala University (Alternate Arrangements Temporarily of the Senate and the Syndicate) Bill was meant as a temporary arrangement to prevent administrative paralysis in the university, the minister said. ‘’The procedures for the election have been kicked off,’’ he said.
The Opposition also raised objections to the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (Amendment) Bill intended to extend the service of a teacher to the end of the academic year if his/her date of retirement falls within that academic year. UDF MLAs said it would affect the job prospects of new teachers.
The retirement, if extended, should be up to the end of the semester only and not the end of an academic year, they said.However, Raveendranath defended the Bill saying that the ‘semester’ was not an ‘academic limit,’ but merely a limit from the examination point of view.