The government will soon set up a State Higher Education Commission to recommend amendments to the Kerala State Higher Education Council Act based on the norms under the Centre’s Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).
Education Minister C. Raveendranath told The Hindu on Wednesday that Rajan Gurukkal, academician, will head the commission. He is expected to assume office soon. The Kerala State Higher Education Council will be reconstituted as per the report to be submitted by the commission.
The Minister said the council constituted by the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government was illegal. It was only a namesake body, he said. The move to form a commission came after the government anticipated legal hurdles over the reconstitution of the State Higher Education Council, which had not complied with the norms prescribed in the Act.
3-tier body
As per its provisions, the council should have a three-tier body that include advisory council, executive council, and governing council. The UDF government had not constituted the advisory council, while the the governing council was formed only three years after it came to power. The Left Democratic Front government wanted to avoid a legal hurdle by not scrapping the governing council, which enjoyed a four-year term up to 2018.
The commission will recommend amendments to the State Higher Education Council Act based on the national framework on higher education councils in each State proposed under the RUSA.
Even though the vision document prepared by the Ministry of Human Resource Development recommended a single body comprising 15 to 20 members, the commission may look at options suiting the interests of the State before finalising the composition of the reconstituted council. But the amendments are expected to be in tune with the overall stipulations included in the RUSA document, it is learnt.
