The recent senate meeting at Kerala University offered a stark portrayal of the tumultuous state of affairs within the CPI(M)-led Govt's education sector

One step forward and four steps backward seem to be the driving force of the CPI(M)-led Government if what happened during Friday’s senate meeting of the Kerala University is any indication. The meeting was convened by Mohanan Kunnummel, the temporary vice-chancellor of the university to elect a representative for the search committee formed to find out the new vice-chancellor for Kerala University.

Interestingly, all universities in the State have been functioning without full-time vice-chancellors for last year following the Supreme Court verdict that all the appointments of vice-chancellors made by the CPI(M)-led Government violated the laws of the land and the norms prescribed by the University Grants Commission.

The senate meeting of Friday was convened by the vice-chancellor and he was expected to preside over the session. But R Bindu, the minister for higher education, rushed to the stage and usurped the chair meant for Mohanan Kunnummel. When the latter reached the Senate Hall for the meeting, he found himself to be without a chair while the minister claimed that she, as pro-chancellor, would preside over the meeting. Though the vice chancellor showed t her the rule book that stated that the pro-chancellor had no role in the meeting as the Chancellor was very much present in the State, the minister (spouse of CPI-M polit bureau member A Vijayaraghavan) did not budge even an inch leaving Mohanan high and dry.

“Minister Bindu turned out to be a right buffoon the party commissars were looking for in their bid to subvert the meeting. They did not want the meeting to take place and this lady played her role well. This will go down in history as the best comic interlude by a minister of higher education whose role is to elevate the standard of higher education to new heights,” said R S Sasikumar, president, of Save University Forum, an apolitical outfit working to restore the quality of the State’s higher education.

The subversion of Friday’s senate meeting would lead to a delay in selecting the ideal candidate for the post of vice-chancellor. This comes at a time when universities outside the State are busy switching over to four-year bachelor’s degree courses in tune with the National Education Policy. The delay has cost the State dear as most intelligent and efficient students are leaving Kerala for higher studies and they are unlikely to return.

K N Balagopalan, the State Finance Minister, in his budget speech 2024-2025 presented early this month proposed revolutionary changes in Kerala’s higher education sector. On the anvil were red carpets for private universities and off-shore campuses of reputed foreign universities. The CPI(M) leaders declared that the day would not be far off when Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and even the London School of Economics opened their branches in Kerala so that the students would benefit from world-class education here. But the minister and the party bosses made a U-Turn within two days and declared that they would not open the doors for private as well as foreign universities. “It was only a proposal and not a decision. If the stakeholders are not happy, we will drop the idea itself,” Balagopalan told the media following outbursts by the leaders of the SFI, the students wing of the CPI(M).  

In Kerala, the SFI leaders, who would not have passed the Plus Two examinations had they been born anywhere outside the State, decide the persons who should be appointed as vice chancellors of universities and as faculty members. This is not an exaggerated statement. Where else on earth you would come across student leaders who demand only persons of their choice be appointed as VCs and teaching faculty?

The manifesto of the SFI has promised the students that they would insist that all university examinations should be held only after 1 PM and there won’t be any examinations during the pre-lunch hours. The charter that has been submitted to the university has one more interesting demand: the staff council should have a student representative and the college authorities should not interact with the parents/guardians of students! The day is not far off when they will ask for the right to prepare question papers for the semester examination.

Militant trade unions have always played havoc with whatever progressive measures adopted by the CPI(M)-headed Governments in the past. Those days are over as it is nouveau riche like Elamaram Kareem who leads the trade union wing of the party. The children of trade union leaders are enrolled in high-end public schools in Ootti and Kodaikanal while offsprings of party workers continue toiling in Government schools.

Leaders of SFI are entangled in cases ranging from murder, attempted murder, sexual offences and above all mass copying and fake degree certificates. There were many instances of students who had failed in their bachelor’s degree examinations passing out of postgraduate courses from colleges in the State. Did you hear the pangs of Goddess Saraswati?

(The writer is a special correspondent with the Pioneer, views are personal)