As Vice Chancellor, changes were his only constant

K. Jayakumar, set to retire from Malayalam varsity, recounts how the litteratti and the public nurtured the institution

K. Jayakumar.

Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University’s founder Vice Chancellor K. Jayakumar is stepping down from office in two days with a sense of pride that he could not only position a new university in the firmament of Malayalam, but also win it considerable amount of appreciation in five years.

Mr. Jayakumar believes it was his flexibility that helped the new university gain acceptance in the State. He had changed the vision report he prepared as a special officer many a time in the last five years. “I negotiated my own report in so many ways,” he told The Hindu on Monday.

At every stage, Mr. Jayakumar negotiated with the experts in the field with an open mind. “Had I been rigid in my ideas about the university, Malayalam University would have faced far more troubles,” he said.

The university was conceived as a higher education institution that teaches Malayalam, its culture, and literature. But today the university is known as one that offers courses which are relevant to Kerala. “It is generating ideas about Kerala and encouraging issues which are relevant to Kerala,” he said.

Malayalam University is arguably the only one in the world offering environmental studies as a social science, whereas others universities consider it science. “We have a different approach to topics like environmental studies and local development. We contextualise them,” he said.

Writers’ support

Mr. Jayakumar said that the support the university got from Malayalam writers was phenomenal. Had the writers kept off the budding institution, the university would not have achieved what it could, he said.

“This university became dear to our writers. They had a silent sense of ownership towards this university,” he said. Almost all Malayalam writers have visited the campus. “We were not averse to ideas. We invited all kinds of writers.”

Mr. Jayakumar said he wanted the government to take up a major project of translation launched by the university. The university has already translated six Malayalam works into English and other languages. “A university alone cannot do it successfully. We want our government to take it up,” he said.

Translation series

The latest in the translation series, a work of Lalithambika Andharjanam, published by the Oxford University Press, will be released on Tuesday. Mr. Jayakumar has succeeded in transforming a non-cooperative neighbourhood community into a caring one. Today, the local people of Vettom panchayat do not want Malayalam University to be shifted to a permanent campus elsewhere.

Mr. Jayakumar has plans for an advocacy programme for the Malayalam language and literature. “I want to be more active in literature and films,” he said on the eve of his farewell.