The Southern Regional Committee (SRC) of the National Council for Teacher Education withdrew the recognition granted to Periyar University for conducting M.Ed. course with effect from the academic year 2023-24.
In 2009, SRC permitted the university’s Department of Education to run a one-year M.Ed. course with an annual intake of 25 students.
On January 20, 2015, the university submitted an affidavit indicating its willingness to take one unit in the M.Ed. course and comply with the new regulations.
Thereafter, a revised provisional recognition order was issued in May 2015 for conducting a two-year M.Ed. course with an annual intake of 50 students from the 2015-16 academic year.
The SRC issued a show cause notice in February 2019 to all institutions that had not submitted compliance reports. It issued the final notice in September 2019. In February 2020, it sent the final reminder.
At a meeting held on September 26 and 27 this year, SRC perused Periyar University’s reply and was not satisfied with it. Hence, it withdrew the recognition.
In its October 12 order, SRC said the university provided one professor and head, one professor, and four assistant professors for M.Ed against the requirement of two professors, two associate professors, and six assistant professors, and the same faculty list has been submitted for the B.Ed part-time course.
The order further added that, hence, the recognition granted to Periyar University’s Department of Education for the M.Ed. course is withdrawn from the academic year 2023–2024. The institution is not entitled to participate in counselling and is also not permitted to take any fresh admission of students from 2023–2024. The committee also gave the university two months to file an online appeal.
Faculties of the Periyar University said even though the two months’ time given by the SRC is nearing an end, the university did not appeal until Thursday. If the university is not in a position to provide faculty for the M.Ed. program, it may close the department.
It is a bad reputation for the university, which secured a NAAC A++, as it has been continuously criticised for its recent actions, including the appointment of persons who belonged to a particular caste for the posts of librarian and physical director, as alleged by various Dalit outfits.
The Higher Education department to look into the matter and to safeguard the name of the University which was named after the social reformer Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, faculties urged.
When tried to contact Periyar University Vice Chancellor R. Jagannathan in this regard, he was unavailable for comment, and repeated attempts to reach him also failed.
Officials of the university administration said they were preparing an appeal against the order.
“We decided to ask for a relaxation to reduce the intake of students to 25 as admission for the course is not at a satisfactory level. As this is a government institution, it is not feasible to appoint 10 faculty members for a department as prescribed by the SRC,” they added.
