Govt sabotage merit, social justice in Higher Education: Chandy

Thiruvanathapuram, Aug 9 (UNI) Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly Oommen Chandy today alleged that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government had sabotaged merit and social justice in the higher education sector and the delay in completing the admission procedure in the Professional Colleges had helped the educational lobbies in other states.

Talking to newspersons here, he said the other states have already completed the admissions in the professional colleges, where as the allotment schedule and fee structure was yet to be announced.

Stating that there was utter chaos in professional education, Mr Chandy alleged that the government had now decided upon four types of fees for the students in the merit list. It included the Justice P A Mohammed Committee fee, government fee, NRI fee and the fees according to the agreement with the managements, he added.

''The LDF had said that the admission would be based purely on merit and in this regard 50 per cent of the seats would be under government fees. But the agreement that the government made with the managements makes it complicated, with no seat coming under the government fees,'' he said.

Noting that the crisis in the higher education sector has worsened, he said even though the students had registered the options, it was cancelled in view of the High Court verdict making Justice P A Mohammed Committee fee applicable for management quota seats in the Self Financing Professional Colleges. The HC intervened after the Government made an agreement with the managements on the fee structure surpassing the Justice P A Mohammed Committee.

The Ordinance to amend the provision in the professional college law to empower the Justice P A Mohammed Committee to revise the fees from time to time would only lead to more legal wrangles, he said and asked the government to solve the crisis at the earliest.

UNI