Sir,
Reading the plight of KSOU students, I am reminded of my own predicament with the University authorities some 60 years back. While in the case of KSOU students, it is corruption and irregular admission of students by the authorities, in my case it was the dictatorial attitude of a Vice-Chancellor. Irrespective of the reason, sadly it is the students who suffer.
In 1956, when I passed my high school examination from Dakshina Kannada District, it was under Madras Presidency. In spite of State Reorganisation due on 1st November, 1956, the Vice-Chancellor of Madras University insisted on starting a new one-year Pre-University course from that academic year, the first-of-its-kind in India. To cut a long story short, studying in the same college, I went through two brand new one-year courses (PUC and B.Sc. Part1) under three Universities, namely Madras, Karnataka and Mysore!
We the affected students were like “Maa nahee, Baap nahee”! With some persuasion on my part, Poona University accepted my two-year fragmented course as equivalent to their Intermediate course and admitted me into their B.Sc. degree course. With good marks in B.Sc., I was able to join a professional college with first year exemption. Though studies of over 1,000 students were derailed by the whims of one VC, by good fortune I was able to get back on track. Unfortunately it is not so for the 3,00,000 affected KSOU students.
Today’s national newspaper says that a senior State government official who is also the investigating head of KSOU affairs has advised the students to give up the hope of getting their degree from KSOU but start all over again in a new college! This is disastrous. Instead, my suggestion would be to investigate the wrongdoing on a war-footing, find the corrupt officials, recover the money with penalty and distribute the amount among the affected students to partially compensate for the loss of time.
My earnest request to all University authorities is to keep the students’ interest as foremost without compromising on either discipline or standard of education or personal integrity. Are the culprits listening?
– U.B. Acharya on e-mail, Jayalakshmipuram, 7.11.2017
You can also mail us your views, opinions, and stories to voice@starofmysore.com
This post was published on November 11, 2017 6:40 pm