THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Entrance examinations to all professional courses, except engineering, will go online from this year, said Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel here on Tuesday. The engineering entrance will go online from next year. He made the announcements while briefing reporters on the achievements made by the government in the higher education sector.
Jaleel said the higher education sector in the state has witnessed positive changes since the LDF Government came to power two-and-half years ago. “The government aims to ensure quality in the higher education sector. As a first step, the government will provide financial support to the universities and other institutions. All the functionalities in the educational institutions are going digital. This in itself is a major change.
“Since this government came to power, 29 government colleges have received NAAC accreditation. The government will start new six arts and science colleges soon,” said Jaleel. He said the government has appointed 703 teaching staff and 436 non-teaching staff in the government arts and science colleges across the state. “The promotion of teachers in government colleges has been resumed after 10 years. A government order has been issued in this regard.
“The move is expected to benefit 85 per cent of teachers. Similarly, KIIFB has granted `672 crore for the research purpose of Cusat, MG, Kannur and Calicut universities” the minister said. Jaleel said the government is in talks with the universities to ensure odd semester examinations are conducted by colleges and even semester exams by the universities.
Jaleel said the government will give concession in fees to students under minority section who are pursuing civil service coaching. “The government will provide `10,000 as tuition fee and `20,000 as hostel fees. The government will also construct 3,038 houses with a total cost of `131 crore to the underprivileged women free of cost under the Imbichi Bava Housing Project,” he said.