Govt convenes meeting of Vice-Chancellors

Thiruvananthapuram: Amidst several complaints of harassment of students in self-financing educational institutions, Kerala government has convened a meeting of Vice-Chancellors of Universities to discuss the issue on February 2.

State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a Facebook post said a situation would be created in self-financing institutions to enable students to study without fear.

The government cannot interfere in the affairs of self-financing educational institutions directly, he said adding "Only through Universities it can intervene" and that is why a meeting of vice chancellors have been called on February 2 to resolve the issues related to these institutions.

The State Education Minister C Raveendranath also would take part in the meeting.

Stating that profit was the main motive of self-financing institutions, Vijayan said, "in recent times their eye is on profit only."

Apparently referring to the incidents of alleged harassment in Nehru College of Engineering at Pambadi in Thrissur and Toms College of Engineering at Kottayam, Vijayan said, "Students get scared now when they hear the every names of Chachaji (Nehru) and Tome."

"Society was shocked to hear the incident of suicide of a student at the Nehru College," he said adding the government understands that students’ community was dissatisfied with the situation in self-financing institutions.

The government objective was to ensure equal opportunity for students from all sections in the society to study, he added.

Vijayan had on January 27 also criticised self-financing educational institutions saying many of them have become commercial establishments.