Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala is in no mood to give any respite to higher education minister K T Jaleel. After the 'marks adalat' allegation, Chennithala has come up with the charge that the minister has destroyed the confidentiality of the examination process in A P J Abdul Kalam Technical University.
In general, Chennithala said that Jaleel had encroached upon the autonomy of universities and had made them mere “extensions of the minister's office”.
The minister is just a pro vice chancellor and he has highly limited powers in university matters, Chennithala said. “He has no authority to intervene in the daily functions of universities or take decisions. However, like no other minister before him had done, K T Jaleel has constantly intervened in the daily functions of universities and has regularly issued orders, and through them had made universities an extension of the minister's office,” he said.
“Given the gravity of the situation, the chief minister's silence is highly suspicious,” the opposition leader said.
Chennithala held up what he called the “minister's reform” in the Technical University as yet another instance of how Jaleel was insidiously preying upon the autonomy of universities.
“The honourable minister has issued a direct order restructuring the examination process of the Kerala Technical University, and this incudes the preparation of question papers,” the opposition leader said. “The University Syndicate or Senate or even the academic councils were not aware of this. The minister has trampled upon their autonomy and had directly issued the order,” he said.
The opposition leader also produced a copy of the order dated November 18, 2018. It says: 'Proposal for Examination Management Committee in Kerala Technical University'. “It is a proposal that advises the University on how to conduct examinations. And the minister has not even said 'may be implemented'. It just says 'for implementation', a diktat from above,” Chennithala said.
He said that the proposal was first drawn up by the minister's office, and after getting the minister's approval, it was passed down to the VC with orders to implement it. “This is a severe encroachment into the autonomy of the University,” he said. On the very next day, the vice chancellor issued an order implementing the proposal.
The order wanted the existing Examination Management System in the Technical University to be replaced with an Examination Management Committee. “The EMS was fully under the control of the Controller of Examinations. As per the statute, the CoE should have full control over the conduct of exams. This is so in all universities,” Chennithala said.
He said that the EMS had been dismantled and instead a six-member examination management committee has been formed, just like the minister had asked for. This committee has now been given the task of preparing the question papers, too. “It is this that makes this order highly suspect,” Chennithala said.
The preparation of question papers in universities is usually done in a highly confidential manner. “Earlier, it was the responsibility solely of the examination controller. The usual practice is to draw up five sets of questions. An expert committee will vet these papers and then will put them in sealed covers. Without opening the covers, the examination controller will pick one paper at random and send it for printing,” the opposition leader said.
The minister has now diluted this process, he said. “There is a high possibility that this would lead to the loss of confidentiality in the process of preparing question papers. The chances of the question papers getting leaked have also gone up,” he said.
Chennithala said he was most surprised that the University Dean had now been given a role in the preparation of questions. “That a power vested solely with the CoE has now been shared with the dean is surprising,” he said. “Under the Universities Act, the dean has no powers related to the conduct of examinations. His powers are confined to the academic domain. At the most the dean has a say only in setting the conditions for writing an examination. He has no role whatsoever in the conduct of examinations in the statutes of the A P J Kalam University,” Chennithala said.
By unnecessarily giving the dean new duties, the opposition leader said that the minister had violated the statutes of the University. “Furthermore, such structural changes of great import have not been discussed in the Syndicate. The minister's note, too, does not say whether any thinking has gone into the changes that has been made. It says that the change is based on complaints by students. But it is not said what the complaints are,” Chennithala said.
