Pinarayi Demands Immediate Withdrawal of Circular Allowing Autonomous Aided and Self-Financing Colleges to Add Courses and Seats at Will

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has demanded the immediate withdrawal of a new circular issued by the Higher Education Department, alleging that it seeks to hand over the higher education sector to private managements with corporate interests for profiteering under the cover of autonomous status.

He said the existing provision allowing autonomous aided and self-financing colleges to start unaided courses and increase seats at their discretion without obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the government was shocking.

Granting permission to increase seats arbitrarily without conducting any study on requirements and effectively rendering existing regulatory mechanisms powerless would open the door to the commercialisation of education, he said. He alleged that the move violated assurances given before the court that self-financing courses would not be widely permitted in aided colleges.

The government must clarify whose interests it is protecting by announcing such major concessions immediately after a meeting between management representatives and the Higher Education Minister, Pinarayi said.

He alleged that scrapping annual inspections and allowing colleges to inform the government only after admissions amounted to open support for undermining merit and reservation policies and selling seats in exchange for hefty fees.

The measures would remove government controls and undermine the educational rights of ordinary and poor people, he added.

He also demanded a comprehensive legal examination of the alleged improper moves behind the government's decision to overturn existing regulations and yield to the demands of college managements.