CPM leader's autobiography in PG syllabus; Congress teachers' body slams Kannur University

Kannur: Kannur University is accused of politicising curriculum after the autobiography of CPM leader and former health minister K K Shailaja found a place in the revised syllabus of MA English Language and Literature.

In a statement, the Kerala Private College Teachers' Association (KPCTA), affiliated with the Congress, said it would not allow the university's curriculum to be subservient to the CPM. "Such autobiographies may be taught in party classes," it said.

KPCTA said the syllabus was revised after nine years by an ad hoc committee, illegally constituted by Vice Chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran. The syllabi should be framed by boards of studies, whose members should be nominated by the Governor.

"But the Vice Chancellor robbed the Governor's responsibility and tried to form boards of studies with ineligible members," said Dr Shino P Jose, president of the Kannur Regional Committee of KPCTA.

When the Governor opposed the move, the Vice-Chancellor formed ad hoc committees for 27 PG programmes in April. "The illegal ad hoc committee included K K Shailaja's autobiography in MA English programme along with Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar's autobiography," he said.

Shailaja's autobiography -- 'My Life as a Comrade: The Story of an Extraordinary Politician and the World That Shaped Her' -- co-authored by Manju Sara Rajan is part of an elective course (Life Writing) in the first semester of the revised syllabus.

Tribes rights leader C K Janu's biography 'Mother Forest: The Unfinished Story of C K Janu' is also part of the core reading of the elective 'Life Writing'.

Gandhi's The Story of My Experiments with Truth and Ambedkar's Waiting for Visa are the other two books on the list of Core Reading.

Biju N C, convenor of the ad hoc committee that revised the English PG syllabus, said Janu and Shailaja's autobiography were included because the two women came from the university's areas of influence, Wayanad and Kannur. "The syllabi gave special thrust to women in politics and how they made a mark in an area dominated by men," said Biju, an assistant professor at Nehru Arts and Science College, Kanhangad.

To be sure, the PG programme's first semester has four core subjects -- Poetry, Prose and Fiction, Drama & Theatre, and Literary Criticism -- and one elective.

For the first time, Kannur University is offering five electives for affiliated colleges to choose from, Biju said. The electives are Life Writing, Disability Studies, Introduction to Children’s Literature, Travel Narratives, and History of English Language. "Most of the colleges have selected Travel Narratives because it is job-oriented," he said.

The ad hoc committee made a conscious decision to move away from colonial literature, and promote literature written by women, who are historically marginalised, said Biju. "Those who are criticising Shailaja's autobiography have not read it and are trying to create controversy. It is not about CPM. It is about the politics and social history of Kannur. Same is the case with Janu's biography," he said.

The syllabus also has Kallen Pokkudan's 'My Life'. "Though Left, he was a critic of the CPM," he said.

The new curriculum does not require students to agree with the reading material, he said. "We have adopted the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy which assesses students on six parameters," he said.

Unlike the previous syllabus which evaluated students based on remembering and understanding, revised Bloom's Taxonomy assessed students on applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating. "Students can critique and disagree with what they read," he said.

The course has also introduced medical humanities, graphic narratives, narratives of North Malabar, and Sports Studies to remain relevant and current, Biju said.