A Collector asked me to terminate college students, says official

Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education S. Seethalakshmi on Saturday said the Collector of one of the districts under her control – Madurai, Virudhunagar, Theni, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram and Dindigul – recently asked her to terminate from college a group of students who pasted posters against promulgation of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Addressing the valedictory of a training programme conducted here for college teachers on psycho-educational skills, she said the students’ academic prospects were saved due to her efforts to pacify the Collector.

“He insisted that either the students should be suspended or a memo issued to the principal. I chose to issue a memo to the principal,” she said.

Ms.Seethalakshmi did not name the Collector, the district or the college involved in the issue though Ramanathapuram was the only district where prohibitory orders had been issued during the death anniversary of Immanuel Sekaran in September and Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar guru puja in October.

Indirectly pointing to Ramanathapuram, she said one had to travel for about three hours from Madurai to reach that district. “I didn’t know what to do when the Collector spoke to me over phone and sought for their termination. I was scared that the life of the students would be spoiled, if they were shunted out of college. If it had been Madurai, I would have gone to the Collector’s office to convince him. But to reach that district, I had to travel for about three hours,” she said.

Recalling it as one of the many instances in which she had pitched in to safeguard the interests of students, she urged the college teachers to handle the students with love and care.

“Teachers should not be mechanical in their approach towards the students, especially when the youngsters are being led in a wrong direction by becoming addicted to technological innovations,” she said.