KSOU issue echoes in Lok Sabha: MP Dhruvanarayan seeks Central intervention to grant re-recognition

Mysuru: Chamarajanagar MP R. Dhruvanarayan has raised the issue of problems being faced by lakhs of students over the delay in granting re-recognition to the courses offered by  Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), in the Lok Sabha.

Demanding restoration of recognition, Dhruvanarayan, who raised the issue during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, sought immediate intervention of the Union government for resolving the burning crisis.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) had terminated recognition of KSOU in June 2015 from the academic year 2012-13 onwards, accusing the Open University of flouting norms.

The MP demanded re-recognition from 2013-14 and 2014-15 in the interest of students who had been admitted directly to the KSOU and to de-link the academic collaborative issue from in-house system (direct admission of students to the KSOU).

A press note from the MP said in-house admissions for 2013-14 with 49,675 students and for 2014-15 with 46,178 students had been completed by the time the UGC de-recognised the University courses. For no fault of theirs, 2,05,408 students had been left in the lurch following alleged lapses on the part of the administrative and governing bodies, he alleged.

The MP told the Parliament that the recognition was withdrawn on the grounds that KSOU was imparting technical courses through academic collaborative institutions outside its territorial jurisdiction.

The scope of show-cause notice was restricted only to technical, paramedical and management courses. But the UGC de-recognised all the courses, including the in-house ones, which were unnecessary, the MP said.

It may be mentioned, a team from the KSOU recently made a presentation before a six-member expert committee at the UGC headquarters in New Delhi seeking granting of recognition for offering Open and Distance Learning programmes for the academic year 2018-19.

This post was published on July 26, 2018 6:41 pm