Kerala Higher Education Circular Sparks Political Debate Over Commercialization of Education

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The higher education department’s recent circular granting relaxations to aided autonomous and self-financing colleges on starting new courses and increasing enrollment has stirred a political back and forth. The order, issued on Friday, waives the need for self-financing autonomous colleges and aided-autonomous institutions to procure a no-objection certificate (NOC) for new self-financing courses or increase seat intakes in existing self-financing courses. Aided-autonomous institutions, however, would need to inform the government in advance. The circular also requires self-financing colleges to renew their NOCs only once every three years, instead of the current annual basis. The issue took a political turn with Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan stating that the move opens the higher education sector up to commercialisation. Denying allegations of corruption, Higher Education Minister Roji M John responded that the circular was aimed at fostering academic autonomy. According to the order, government and aided colleges must procure an NOC for starting new courses or permanently increasing seats in already existing courses in the aided stream, but they need not renew the same. Unaided or self-financing colleges will require an NOC for every new course. After completing admission procedures, each college should report the updates on new courses and increases in seats to the government. Demanding an urgent withdrawal of the order, Pinarayi said the move surrenders the sector in the hands of profit-oriented corporate-style private managements. “Granting permission to increase seats at will, without any study and bypassing existing regulatory frameworks, paves the way for the commercialisation of education,” he wrote in a Facebook post.