KOCHI: Controversies seem to continue to haunt Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (SSUS).
The university recently expelled eight post-graduate students who were found to have not cleared their graduation examinations.
The move comes after varsity regional centres reported to vice-chancellor (in-charge) M K Jayaraj that nearly 30 ineligible students had gained admission to the masters course.
R S Sasikumar, chairman of Save University Campaign Committee, alleged collusion between teachers and varsity officials which helped ineligible students gain admission. "It is a usual practice to allow students who appear for the final year degree examinations to write the entrance tests for the post-graduate courses. However, they should present certificates proving they have cleared the qualifying examinations to confirm their admission. But a good number of students who got admission to SSUS's MA courses had failed their BA final semester examinations," he said.
As per rules, students who failed in graduation have to write the supplementary examination conducted the next year. "But the varsity allowed these students to continue to attend MA classes that began in September. The varsity even conducted a special examination for these students. All the students who appeared for the examination got pass marks and were allowed to continue the course. This was done to prevent a fall in the number of students in a class," alleged Sasikumar.
"The university took such an extraordinary step to save teachers from losing their jobs due to a drop in student admission," he added.
As per rules, every university scrutinises students' certificates before admitting them to the course. But in SSUS, the deadline for the submission of the certificate was set on December 31.
Jayaraj said candidates were expelled based on the reports by the admission department. "The university syndicate will take a decision on the action to be taken against those responsible for admitting ineligible students to the postgraduate programmes. It is learnt that the ineligible students were admitted as part of the spot admission," he said.
Though the university had denied the allegations, it took an about-turn after receiving the report from regional centres.
Earlier, it had said that students awaiting results of the sixth-semester undergraduate exam were permitted to appear for the entrance exam for postgraduate programmes. They were allowed as the results of the sixth-semester exams were not published at the time of the notification of the entrance test. Only those who had cleared the qualifying examinations held in April or May 2021 will be eligible for postgraduate admissions in the new academic year, the university said.