The murder of 20-year-old M. Abhimanyu at the Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, was the defining moment in the higher education scenario in Ernakulam district in 2018 as it brought to the fore the dangerous trend of the growing politics of fear and terror on campuses.
Abhimanyu, a second-year undergraduate student of Environmental Chemistry, was stabbed to death allegedly by activists of the Campus Front of India, Social Democratic Party of India and Popular Front of India following differences over wall graffiti welcoming newcomers to the campus on July 2.
As per the case, a 16-member gang assembled with deadly weapons behind the college campus with an intention to do away with student leaders of the SFI and attacked them as conspired earlier. The college later removed Muhammed (first accused), a third-year student of B.A. Arabic, and Farooq, a first-year student of B.A. Economics, from the rolls for their alleged involvement in the brutal incident.
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Recalling that the campus had never seen violence of this kind earlier, K.G. Sankara Pillai, noted poet and former Principal of the college, reminded that those behind the violent incident seem to be conveying a message that they would go to any extent to spread their ideology.
“The intention is to destroy democratic, vibrant and creative spaces like the Maharaja’s campus,” he said.
Despite hitting the headlines for wrong reasons, the prestigious Maharaja's College made considerable progress in its journey towards becoming a centre of excellence in 2020. The only autonomous college in the government sector across the State witnessed a heavy rush for admission to its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
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The college has already started working on the estimated ₹30-crore first phase infrastructure development under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kalamassery, and Mar Athanesius College, Kothamangalam, were among the five autonomous colleges in the State that received ₹5 crore each under the second phase funding under the Rashtriya Uchathar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).
Chancellor’s award
Among the universities, Mahatma Gandhi University won the Chancellor’s award for the best university for the second time. It also implemented a slew of reforms in the examination sector including online delivery of question papers to affiliated colleges and online question bank.
Cochin University of Science and Technology had a major distinction after it received the government nod for the ₹240-crore project supported by the KIIFB. Of the total ₹240 crore project under the KIIFB, ₹100 crore would be used to step up infrastructure.
Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, which was hit hard by the devastating floods (nearly ₹8- crore loss) tried its best to make a comeback and organised an all-India conference of vice chancellors of Sanskrit universities as part of its silver jubilee celebrations.
Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences set up four new labs (including soil and water lab where over 4,500 water samples collected from flood-hit regions were tested) in the field of fisheries and ocean sciences on its main campus in Panangad here.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan laid the foundation stone for the estimated ₹6-crore girls’ hostel annexe at the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), Kalamassery.
Urging the higher educational institutions to focus on developing inter-disciplinary areas of research, Rajan Varughese, Member Secretary of the Kerala State Higher Education Council, suggested revamping of curriculum and syllabi in tune with the development of the knowledge domain. “Universities need to give priority for the modernisation of academic and exam system based on information and communication tools,” he said.