Vijayan seeks roll back of Keralam circular allowing colleges to increase seats without govt nod, warns of commercialisation

LoP in the Keralam Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday alleged that the state government's move to allow autonomous aided and self-financing colleges to increase seats without prior approval would lead to the commercialisation of education.

Pinarayi Vijayan questioned whose interests the government was protecting by granting such sweeping concessions. (HT_PRINT/File)Demanding the immediate withdrawal of the government circular permitting the move, Vijayan said the decision had been taken under pressure from the managements of private colleges.

The CPI(M) veteran said a September 11 circular issued by the Higher Education Department had made prior government approval mandatory for introducing new courses and increasing seats in government, aided and autonomous colleges.

He contended that the government had now relaxed the norms, despite the existing provision ensuring strict scrutiny and regulation at the government level, by "succumbing to the misguided pressures of the managements". "The current provision that no government no-objection certificate (NOC) is required for starting unaided courses and increasing seats in autonomous aided and self-financing colleges is shocking," the former CM said.

He said allowing colleges to increase seats at their discretion, without assessing the necessity and disregarding existing regulatory mechanisms, would pave the way for the commercialisation of education. "This ill-conceived collusion is taking place despite the assurances given before the Supreme Court that self-financing courses would not be allowed in aided colleges on a large scale," he contended.

Vijayan questioned whose interests the government was protecting by granting such sweeping concessions immediately after representatives of college managements met the Higher Education Minister. He alleged that doing away with annual inspections and allowing colleges to inform the government about seat increases only after the admission process was over amounted to "a clear conspiracy to sell seats by taking bribes by subverting the provisions of merit and reservation".

He claimed that such measures would effectively dismantle government regulation and undermine the educational rights of ordinary people, particularly the poor. Vijayan demanded that the government order a comprehensive legal inquiry into the alleged dilution of the September 11 circular's provisions under pressure from private college managements.