Taking a dim view of the controversies surrounding student organisations of late, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has raised concern over the state of higher education in the State, fearing the sector inched towards a collapse.
The scenario has forced young talents to leave Kerala, he claimed talking to media persons here on Tuesday.
In a veiled attack on the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), he said members of the student organisation had “a passport to do all kinds of illegal things.”
While pointing out that the State had a low crime rate, the Governor opined it witnessed a high tendency to “take law in your own hands”. This, he said, is due to the political patronage one enjoyed by being a member of particular unions or student organisations.
Serious issue
“Unfortunately, we do not attach the kind of importance to education which we must. The collapse of higher education is more serious than even the collapse of law and order. I fear we are inching towards a collapse of constitutional and legal machinery in the State as far as higher education is concerned,” he remarked.
Mr. Khan also claimed the political scenario has “driven away” the talents of Kerala. Citing the induction of 38 candidates from Kerala in the Indian Administrative Service this year, he said almost two-thirds are graduates from outside Kerala, while the rest had gone to Chennai and Bengaluru for coaching.
“The kind of politics we have today has driven business, industry and talent away from Kerala. The people of the State are so talented that the whole world is taking advantage while we are not,” he said.
V-C postings
Indicating that there was no end in sight to the tussle over the appointment of Vice-Chancellors (V-Cs), Mr. Khan accused the State government of having instructed universities not to cooperate with him for the selection of new V-Cs. Suggesting that the government could be waiting for his tenure to end next year, he said: “I do not know who has given them the confidence that if someone else comes in my place, he will be ready to do their bidding and make irregular appointments as per their wishes.”
