The high percentage of pass in this year’s SSLC examination has brought yet again to sharp focus the disparity in facilities for higher studies in the southern and northern districts of Kerala.
When the southern districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alapuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, and Ernakulam have excess number of seats for higher education, there is a shortage of seats in Malabar districts such as Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasargod.
Although the government has been adopting temporary measures every year to close the disparity by increasing the number of seats by 10% to 20%, this has remained an annual farce affecting the quality of higher education.
“The gap between Malabar and the rest of the State is wide and visible both in number and quality,” said P.V. Mohammed Kutty, a physicist who analysed the data for the Malabar Education Movement, which has been studying the backwardness of Malabar.
The figures
For the 4.21 lakh students who passed the SSLC in the State, there are 3.78 lakh seats for higher studies, including vocational higher secondary, ITI and polytechnic colleges. When the southern districts had excess number of seats, Malabar was falling short drastically.
Pathanamthitta (6,074), Kottayam (4,990) and Alapuzha (3,164) are leading in the number of excess seats. In the shortage of seats, Malappuram (30,941), Palakkad (10,132), and Kozhikode (8,579) are in the lead.
For the 10,397 students who passed SSLC in Pathanamthitta, the district has 12,900 higher secondary, 1,925 vocational higher secondary, 766 ITI and 880 polytechnic seats.
In stark comparison, for the 77,691 students who qualified SSLC in Malappuram, the district has only 41,950 higher secondary, 2,325 vocational higher secondary, 1,295 ITI and 1,180 polytechnic seats. As many as 30,941 students of Malappuram will have to seek the facilities in other districts.
Skewed policy
“Colonial administration was responsible for the backwardness of Malabar. All students passing from a region should be able to enroll for higher education in their respective region,” said historian K.K.N. Kurup, chairman of the Malabar Education Movement.
Over the years, the government has been addressing the issue of seat shortage in a slipshod manner by allowing 10 or 20 extra students to sit in a class. Most schools in Malabar are crowded and have 65 students in a higher secondary class. A few schools have up to 75 students.
“This crowding is badly affecting the quality of their education. It is visible in their results,” said Dr. Mohammed Kutty. According to him, the State’s educational districts should be redrawn in accordance with the number of students.
To cite an example, PKMM Higher Secondary School at Edarikode in Malappuram district had 2,100 students pass the SSLC this year, when 33 schools in Kuttanad educational district had altogether less than 2,000 students passing the exam. “This is an example of crowding in Malabar schools. Naturally, it affects the quality of education as well in Malabar,” said Dr. Mohammed Kutty.
