Kerala CM Pinarary Vijjayan attacks Self-Financing Colleges
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today criticised self-financing educational institutions saying many of them have become commercial establishments. Functioning of the self-financing colleges has become a major debate in the state after the death of 18 year old Jishnu Pranoy, who was found hanging in the bathroom of his college hostel. Inaugurating the state-level public education protection mission at Malayankeezhu in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr Pinarayi Vijayan said many of them even think that running an educational institution was more profitable than doing liquor business. The CM has also blamed then Congress-led UDF government who had opened up the education sector in Kerala for self-financing stream in early 2000. The Chief Minister said that according sanction to start self-financing institutions without guidelines had resulted in the present situation.
Stating that it is the public sector schools that maintain high standards, Vijayan said that the government had initiated various steps to improve infrastructure in state-run educational institutions. Plans were on the anvil to make hi-tech classrooms in schools and steps were on to revive the teaching method from standard one to 12, he said. Providing education to students of all strata, cutting across caste, religion and financial barriers was one among the several salient features of public sector schools, Vijayan said adding 'Kerala model of education has even garnered world attention'.
The death of Jishnu, a first year Computer Science student at Nehru College of Engineering and Research at Pampady in Thrissur district, had caused widespread protests across the state and social networking sites with allegations of harassment by the college authorities and the state government declared a crime branch probe in to the incident. After the incident, lots of students came out in public talking about the harassment they are facing in various self-financing colleges in the state.
Last week, senior Congress leader A K Antony also came down heavily on Kerala's aided and self-financing education sectors, saying such institutions have become centres of corruption in the state. The former Kerala Chief Minister also urged the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau to start its anti-corruption campaign from the campuses of such educational institutions.
(With inputs from PTI)
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