Date:01/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/01/stories/2007120159370100.htm

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Talks with managements soon: VS

Staff Reporter

Chief Minister says there is no plan to bring back Section 11 of KER.

KOTTAYAM: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said that he will initiate talks with Christian managements and the Nair Service Society (NSS) which run educational institutions within two days to allay their reservations about the new education policy.

At the inaugural session of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) district conference here on Friday, Mr. Achuthanandan said such fears were based on a wrong understanding of the situation.

“The government has no plans to bring back Section 11 of the Kerala Education Rules (KER) as it was drafted by (the then Education Minister Joseph) Mundassery Master and which was subsequently amended by latter day governments to the present form,” the Chief Minister said.

The KER drafted by the first communist Ministry envisaged preparation of a list of eligible candidates for appointment to aided schools by the Public Service Commission, from which the managements were expected to appoint teachers. (It was this clause which was later amended giving full powers to the managements in appointments.)

He assured them that the role of local bodies envisaged in the revised education rules would be restricted to financial assistance for eligible students and helping the school authorities enhance infrastructure. Academic control, including that over designing curriculum, would continue to be with the Education Department.

Submission

The Chief Minister said he had received a submission from the Christian-NSS managements expressing their fears, and read out portions from the letter.

The submission, signed by NSS leaders and Bishops, had expressed fear that the revised rules would infringe upon the rights of managements in appointments.

They feared that the increased role given to local bodies would increase political interference in the administration of aided educational institutions.

He said that in the unaided sector, the Left Democratic Front government was only trying to implement what the earlier United Democratic Front governments under A.K. Antony and Oommen Chandy had tried to do, but failed.

The attempt was to ensure social justice and give merit its due share in admissions so that the poorer sections would not get marginalised from the higher education sector.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the attitude of the minorities towards the Left parties shifted in recent times, as was evident from their voting pattern.

The move to create confusion among the minorities based on wrong information was part of an effort to distance them from the Left, he said.

The Chief Minister said that so far, the Christian managements had raised the issue as a minority issue. “Now, the NSS too have joined them. So, it can only a ‘management’ issue now,” he said. He expressed doubt if the NSS had gone back on its avowed policy of “equidistance.”