Commission recommends fund for students’ welfare in SF Colleges

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government should set up a fund from the caution money deposit collected from self-financing college managements and use it to rehabilitate students who suffer due to abrupt closure of the colleges. This is one of the key recommendations of a Commission which was tasked with studying problems in the self-financing education sector and suggesting remedial measures.

The commission, headed by Justice (retd) K Dineshan, submitted its report to the government here on Wednesday. Besides rehabilitating students of colleges who face abrupt closure, the fund could be used to compensate the loss and injury caused to students due to mismanagement, maladministration, harassment and human rights violation on the part of the managements.

“The government may introduce a scheme, to render financial support to students from economically weaker sections on merit-cum-means basis. The financial support can be rendered as scholarship or stipend or loans, including honour loans,” the Commission recommended.

The commission proposed doing away with the minimum score norm mandated for internal assessment. Instead, a combined minimum which takes into account internal assessment marks and final examination has been proposed. Regarding CCTVs on college campuses, the commission asked universities to examine grievances in case the managements install CCTV in violation of right to privacy.

The commission also recommended prohibition of the practice collecting fees in advance for future semesters, collecting fees for entire course if a student leaves the college mid-way and withholding original certificates of students. Prohibition on the imposition of fine on students by managements has also been recommended.

The commission also recommended setting up of a separate committee for regulating admission and determining tuition fee for students in professional colleges other than medical and engineering and all non-professional colleges or courses by enacting a law to that effect. Takeover of all government-controlled self-financing institutions and integrating them with government colleges is another proposal of the commission. Students of such colleges will have common procedure for admission and uniform rate of fees.

The commission urged the government to take immediate action to ensure rules and regulations are framed for fixing staff strength, qualification, pay scale and other allowances for staff. Senior academics RVG Menon and KKN Kurup were the other members of the Commission.

Key suggestions

Constituting district and state-level ombudsman to deal with disputes between students

The system of internal assessment may be regulated

Make PTA compulsory in colleges and constitute a tribunal to resolve disputes between management and employee to study the issues in colleges

Ban on campus politics unrealistic: Commission

Even as the Kerala High Court banned campus politics, Justice K Dineshan Commission has said it was ‘unrealistic’ to impose prohibition on politics citing certain violent incidents. The Commission, constituted to study the issues in self-financing colleges, said it was of the firm view that there should be elected students union in every college. “It is the prerogative of the legislature to impose reasonable restrictions on the exercise of rights under Article 19 (1) of the Constitution. Now, the restrictions have been imposed by private managements and those restrictions have been sustained by the court, it said.  The commission recommended the legislature to pass a law upholding the “rights of all concerned” .