Naveen Nair - Suicide of engineering student blows the lid off the rot in Kerala’s private colleges
The alleged suicide of
Jishnu Pranoy, a first-year engineering student in Kerala on January 6, has
opened a can of worms in the state’s self-financing private college sector. A campaign against the
18-year-old’s death has snowballed into a statewide campaign against private
self-financing engineering colleges, encouraging several students from private
colleges to come out with horrific accounts of physical, mental and sexual
harassment by college managements that are being widely circulated on social
media.
Pranoy was a student
at Nehru College of Engineering in Thrissur district. According to the college,
Pranoy hanged himself inside his room after he was allegedly caught cheating
during an examination. However, his classmates and senior batch mates are
unanimous in saying that the boy was badly beaten by the college management for
questioning why the examination was being conducted by a private agency instead
of by the college itself.
Several complaints
Kerala has 156
engineering colleges of which 119 are run by various private trusts and
individuals. The self-financing colleges have mushroomed across the state in
the last decade or so. Set up in 2014, the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological
University, oversees the functioning of all these colleges.
Following the Pranoy
case, several complaints from other private colleges have been made to the
university, which has since ordered a review of these colleges, and also
appointed an ombudsman to look into complaints. The complaints
indicate that some private colleges seem to be run like personal fiefdoms of
their directors-cum-owners.
“From the complaints
we have now received from parents and students we understand that some colleges
were engaged in physically and mentally harassing students in the name of
discipline, which is not acceptable,” said Professor Abdul Rahman, pro
vice-chancellor, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. “So we have set out
a fact-finding mission and will submit a report to the state government for
further action.”
The State Youth
Commission, a quasi-judicial body, which is also in the process of gathering
evidence and statements from students and parents of private colleges, is also
expected to step in with stringent recommendations. “We have come across
some shocking evidence of harassment while making visits to colleges following
complaints,” said Chintha Jerome, chairperson State Youth Commission. “At the
moment we have officially registered complaints against three colleges,
although with every passing day students and parents are calling us from many
places. So the commission has decided to issue strict guidelines and recommend
that the government enact a new law to prevent this harassment.”
Jishnu’s death:
Suicide or murder?
Students at the Nehru
College of Engineering say that Jishnu Pranoy was beaten up by staff members at
the behest of the college management for questioning why a private agency was
conducting the examination… read more:
