A former member of the Calicut University Syndicate has sought a boys’ hostel at the Institute for Tribal Studies and Research (ITSR), affiliated to the university and located at Chethalayam in Wayanad district.
In his representation to Vice-Chancellor M.K. Jayaraj, K. Sivaraman, former Syndicate member, said that students from the Scheduled Tribe communities at the ITSR were forced to stay in pitiable conditions now. Boy students were now staying in the academic block of the institution and the adjacent building under the Health Department. Only girls had been given hostel facility. Though land was available for the construction of a boys’ hostel, funds were reportedly not available, Mr. Sivaraman claimed.
He said that preliminary steps for the setting up of the institute were taken way back in 2011. Mr. Sivaraman was a member representing the Scheduled Castes. I.C. Balakrishnan, MLA, for Sulthan Bathery, had allocated ₹50 lakh.
Then United Democratic Front government had issued a special order for the utilisation of funds, he said. The foundation stone was laid in 2013, and B.A. Sociology classes began two years later.
Apart from launching a Master’s programme in Sociology, no other academic development projects had been taken up, Mr. Sivaraman alleged.
Published - February 26, 2021 12:57 am IST
