THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Communist Party of India(Marxist) has hardened its stand against Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who in his capacity as the Chancellor of Universities , is trying hard to saffronise higher education, undermine the functioning of State-funded universities and render the State Assembly ineffectual by refusing assent to bills passed by the House.
Opening a powerful front against the State Governor, CPI(M) State secretary M. V. Govindan called for a “popular resistance” against Khan who is nearing the end of his term.
The party, Govindan said, would mobilise students, teachers, university employees, parents, writers , opinion leaders, intellectuals besides the general public to oppose Khan’s ‘trespasses’ on secularism and federalism. Needless to say, the decision would further strain the already fraught State-Centre relations.
The Governor’s nominee for a top post at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University had crossed all limits by offering tribute to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue M. S. Golwalkar before assuming office.
The Supreme Court, it may be mentioned had criticized Khan for filibustering the enactment of laws passed by the Assembly without giving any reason. The Kerala High Court had also slammed the Kerala Governor for infringing on the laws enacting the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in State-funded universities. But the Governor is hell bent upon implementing the saffronist agenda, ignoring the rebuffs from both the apex court and the Kerala High Court.
In another development, the high Court has refused to stay the Chancellor’s order appointing Ciza Thomas as the interim Vice-Chancellor of Digital University Kerala.
The order has come on a petition filed by the State Government challenging the Chancellor’s decision. The bench of Justice A. A. Ziyad Rahman has directed the respondents , including the Chancellor, to file statements within three weeks. The Court also adjourned the case to January 17, 2025, to be heard along with the State Government’s petition challenging the appointment of K. Sivaprasad as interim VC of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University.
In its petition against Ciza Thomas, the State has contended that the Chancellor’s decision was in blatant violation of the Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation, and Technology Act. The petition has argued that the State had the authority to recommend the names for appointment as VC in the event of a temporary vacancy.
Moreover, the Chancellor had rejected the names of four others which had been proposed by the Secretary, Electronics and Information Technology (B) and appointed Dr. Thomas.
The University Act, the State argued, did not grant the Chancellor unfettered authority to appoint a person of his choice as interim Vice-Chancellor pending the appointment of a regular Vice-Chancellor.
Meanwhile, the implementation of the four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP), introduced by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), is facing many hurdles. First and foremost, many teacher education institutions lack the wherewithal for the reform. As many as 201 elementary teacher education institutes are faced with the prospect of closure with the phasing out of certificate and diploma programmes.
Incidentally, many teacher education institutions in Kerala are standalone institutions, which will need to change into multi-disciplinary higher education institutes (MHEIs). This is essential as the four-year integrated BEd (or ITEP) offered by the MHEIs) will become the minimum qualification for school teachers by 2030 under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. (IPA Service)
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