MLAs turn their backs on varsity syndicate meetings

The Hindu: Kochi: Thursday, 11 February 2016.

A RTI application filed by ‘The Hindu’ underscores poor attendance records.

MLAs nominated to the syndicates of the state’s universities - the highest decision-making bodies in varsities - may not really be too keen about the role’s responsibilities, if the situation at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) is any indication.

A Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Hindu underscores the poor attendance records of MLAs in the CUSAT Syndicate meetings.

Twelve Syndicate meetings were held from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. K.M. Shaji, Joseph Vazhakkan, and V. P. Sajeendran were the elected representatives of the State Assembly in the varsity Syndicate. Of the three, K. M. Shaji never attended any meeting during this period. V.P. Sajeendran, MLA, could manage to attend only four out of the 12 meetings - he was present during the Syndicate meets held in September, October, November and December. Joseph Vazhakkan did relatively better, attending nine of the meetings. He missed the meetings held in August, September and December.

Reacting to the declining attendance of MLAs in Syndicates, D. Babu Paul, former bureaucrat, said that they should not skip the meetings.

“They represent the public in various issues of the universities. They may be busy, but MLAs who cannot make it to the meetings should decide not to become Syndicate members,” he said.

Rajan Gurukkal, former Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, pointed out that the practice of including MLAs in the University Syndicate, though a good democratic precedent, never served the purpose of representing the public interest in higher education. “Good MLAs do help, but rarely do such people get nominated, or they seldom attend the Syndicate and Senate meetings. They have always tended to destroy the university’s academic growth through their uninformed interference in academic policy decisions and have tried to bring intellectual development to a halt,” he said.

B. Ekbal, former Vice Chancellor of Kerala University, suggested that it would be good if MLAs stay away from Syndicates. “Syndicates are academic bodies and the presence of MLAs would always create a power struggle from within. An MLA is a representative of a higher decision making body and he/she need not come down to a lower body like the Syndicate. Instead, they could participate in the law-making process related to varsities in the Assembly,” he said.