Mysuru: “I am not a Vice- Chancellor of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) but a clerk who sends records and documents to the University Grants Commission (UGC). My role has been reduced to that of a clerk whose job is just to scout for documents and submit the same to the UGC.”

These were the words of KSOU Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof. D. Shivalingaiah, who was expressing his unhappiness over the UGC’s move to derecognise KSOU and its distance education programmes. He took umbrage on the attitude of the UGC in not providing the recognition, virtually killing the University and threatening the careers of thousands of students.

“The UGC is silent on Tamil Nadu’s Annamalai University that offers distance education programmes without any control or regulation. Here, the UGC has singled out KSOU that has been a beacon of knowledge to lakhs of students who cannot afford regular education,” he told reporters yesterday. Even this year, Annamalai University has advertised its courses and the UGC has turned a blind eye to this, he added.

“We are fed up of travelling to New Delhi UGC office and pleading before the UGC officials to re-accord recognition. All those trips have proved futile and I have been reduced to a clerk who just provides records.”