Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said that a lasting solution to solve the crisis in the self-financing education sector can be found only by introducing a Central legislation.
Inaugurating the year-long golden jubilee celebrations of the All Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (AKPCTA) here on Saturday, the Chief Minister said such a legislation should take into account the divergent situations prevailing in different States in the educational sector. He said the State Government was trying to achieve the objective of upholding social justice and equity in the self-financing educational sector through a multi-pronged strategy comprising introduction of appropriate legislation, discussions with the managements and pursuing judicial procedures.
The Government was aware of the anxiety of the parents and students over the delays in the process of admission to the self-financing colleges this year. The issues involved in the self-financing college admission process could be settled immediately if the Government opted to surrender before the forces of commercialisation in the educational sector. But the Government did not want to do it, the Chief Minister said.
He appealed to the parents to bear with the delay and take note of the Government’s commitment and sincerity to ensure that the children from the poorer and socially backward sections were able to pursue professional education.
The Chief Minister said that now that fresh legislation had been put in place in the form of an ordinance to address the problems, and with the positive statements from the leaders of the minority communities, it would be possible to resume the seat allocation process soon.
He also disclosed that there was no basis in the apprehensions of the minorities that the Government was trying to permit the local bodies to interfere in the affairs of the educational institutions run by them (the minorities). The previous United Democratic Front Government had taken such decisions as per the directive of the Asian Development Bank, he said.