Author and former diplomat TP Sreenivasan was publicly slapped when he tried to reform Kerala's education sector in his capacity as the vice chairman of the state Higher Education Council. Will the present incumbent, Dr Rajan Gurukkal, eminent historian, be shown the door for his attempts to reform?
Dr Gurukkal has stirred a hornet's nest with his admission in a recent interview that Kerala’s higher education sector is in a pathetic state. He held the mediocre teaching and the stubborn clerical communities as most responsible for the rot in the system as they collectively resist any attempt to reform or change. The brunt of this is borne by Kerala's students, who have been pushed into the abyss of mediocrity and rendered incapable of competing with their counterparts elsewhere.
Coincidentally, Gurukkal's remarks preceded the news that 75% of the students in 22 of the state’s 128 engineering colleges flunked the final B Tech examinations held by the Kerala Technical University. Two years ago, it was revealed that barely 1.08% of Kerala’s students made it to the IITs, whereas the average rate for most states was 8-10%. This is despite that the University of Kerala and 13 colleges of the state won the highest grading (A ) from National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), last year. Only two colleges had this grading three years ago. However, less than 15% of the more than 1500 colleges attended by 13 lakh students have even basic NAAC grading.
Gurukkal’s comments have come against the backdrop of an unprecedented rise in the number of youngsters leaving Kerala for other states and abroad for higher studies and the state government and the Council's new reforms initiated in the higher education field. However, one glaring omission from Gurukkal’s otherwise comprehensive critique, in which he also slammed the union leaders, was the critical culprit—the political leadership that patronises and protects the vested interests in the system.
Though what Gurukkal said has been widely known for many years, people in authority rarely say it openly, at least until they leave their offices. The reason is also no secret. Why antagonise the establishment run by the organised political parties, teachers, employees and students? The fate of those who question the entrenched powers too is quite well known. Only those who no longer vie for favours or very few........