GLOBALISATION AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN KERALA: ACCESS,

EQUITY AND QUALITY

Report of a Study sponsored by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust













Praveena Kodoth



















Centre for Development Studies
Trivandrum 695011
Kerala

Acknowledgement

It has been possible to carry out this study only because of the support received from
several colleges in the state, which responded to our request for information. In
particular, I am grateful to the seven colleges, where we conducted surveys and did more
intensive fieldwork. I am also indebted to the representatives of managements,
Principals, teachers and students who were willing to give us their precious time and their
valuable input. There are many people who contributed so warmly to my understanding
of the area and it pains me not to mention them but I do so in order to protect the
identities of the colleges and the persons concerned.

I would also like to thank Dr D. D. Namboodiri and Professor K N Panikkar for
discussions at the initial stages of the study. Rakhe and Kochurani for so kindly helping
to locate researchers.

Anjana MV, Alice Sebastian, Feba Elizabeth Jacob, Sujith P. K. and Loshita Prabhakaran
conducted the field work in five of the six colleges taken up for in depth study and
transcribing the interviews and discussions. Additionally, Feba also took responsibility
to get us the completed questionnaires from some of the colleges in central Travancore.
Maya S carried out the survey in one college. Mr Unnikrishnan, Mr Padmanabhan
ensured that we received filled in questionnaires from colleges in the northern region,
whereas Mr Anils efforts are responsible for the large number of colleges that returned
questionnaires in the southern region. Vinod S. managed the difficult task of cross
checking the data received from colleges, calling them up wherever there were doubts
and also entered the data. I am grateful to all of them.

The long and laborious task of data entry and analysis of the survey data received from
seven colleges was undertaken by Anjana M V with assistance from Sudha. Sreelatha R
assisted in the process of analysis of data and preparation of tables for the report. At
various points during the data entry and analysis we received help from Braja Bandhu
Swain and Anirban Kundu. I would like to thank all of them. I am immensely grateful to
Anjana for overseeing a process, complicated by the need to standardize the
questionnaires, with care and commitment.

At the Centre for Development studies, I would like to thank the Director for his interest
and encouragement. U. S. Mishra, V Santhankumar, V.J. Varghese have been supportive
throughout the study in terms of commenting on the questionnaires and providing advice
on research techniques and data analysis. I am indebted to them. The Registrar, Mr
Soman Nair was always willing to help and I am very grateful to him and to Mr Suresh at
the accounts for their support. I am also happy to thank the office staff for always being
ready to help.






CONTENTS



Chapter 1 Introduction


Chapter 2 Interpreting Access, Probing Equity


Chapter 3 Framing Quality in Higher Education: Standard Indicators, Reported
Problems and Teacher Availability


Chapter 4 The Challenge of Providing Quality Higher Education: Access to Basic
Facilities


Chapter 5 Negotiating Quality in Higher Education: Politics and College
Environment


Chapter 6 Conclusion



Executive Summary

The failure of the publicly funded segment of arts and science colleges to expand
has restricted the access of students, particularly from the more marginalized
sections of society, to higher education.
Barriers to access to the publicly funded segment of undergraduate arts and
science education are relatively greater in the northern parts of the state, where the
majority of students continue to rely on parallel colleges.
The pressure on the publicly funded segment to expand is more apparent in
southern Kerala in the relatively greater resort to marginal increases in colleges in
the region.
There is a marked shortage of enrolment in specific basic science courses in the
central Travancore region, in an indication that the preference for professional and
technical education and job oriented self-financing courses is better honed in the
region.
There is no significant dearth of applicants for the humanities and social science
courses in any of the university regions and there is a marked preference among
students for courses in commerce, economics and business in all regions.
At the state level, the proportion of SC / ST students in arts and science colleges
is far below the reservation quota and the social and economic profile of students
currently in select arts and science colleges indicate that those from
underprivileged backgrounds face barriers in gaining access.
Colleges are unable to retain students from the most marginalized groups on
account of cultural barriers.
The domination of girls over boys in arts and science colleges is on account of a
combination of the desire of girls to find employment and the lower importance
attached socially to girls employment.
The college environment and the quality of education offered by colleges are
influenced by the nature of the management, which may be of three kinds:
excessive, indifferent and measured.
2
Excessive management is found usually among private aided colleges and is
marked by a suspicion and lack of trust leading to lack of incentives for teachers
to perform and restrictions on students against the use of even basic facilities.
Excessive management usually leads to prohibition of politics unless the college
does not have social support in the locality to withstand the resistance from
students.
The Government colleges and a section of privately aided colleges suffer from
indifferent management which fosters weak administrations, shapes poor
incentives to perform and leads to little systematic effort to raise additional funds.
Indifferent management makes way for indiscipline among students, could affect
transparency and accountability in vital aspects of the education process including
admissions and examinations, enable interference by political parties and could
result in a coercive environment.
A few of the private aided colleges benefit from measured managements which
foster strong administration, provide incentives for teachers to perform and give
students access to good basic and student support facilities. They are marked by
efforts to raise additional funds from public and private sources.
The Government colleges are less responsive to external assessment, offer little
performance incentives for teachers and students, make little effort to get newer
employment oriented courses and thus are less competitive than private aided
colleges.
The private aided colleges are weighed down by a framework of patronage
dispensation, which compromises the standard criteria (merit and reservation) for
admission of students and recruitment of teachers.
The single biggest constraint faced by arts and science colleges is the scarcity of
teachers, a problem that is heightened in the remotely located government
colleges including those more generally in the far north and north east of the state,
which are unable to retain teachers allotted to them.
The less powerful aided colleges are also affected more than others by the scarcity
of teachers as they are less able to challenge Government restrictions against
recruitment by going to court.
3
The remotely located Government colleges have poor or inadequate physical
infrastructure but they are well equipped with IT facilities.
Students in many colleges experience the denial of political space through capture
of politics by student organizations or through prohibition of politics by the
college management.
Even where political mobilization is permitted and is the basis of elections to the
students council, political space may be compromised due to the subordination of
student organizations to the vested interests of political parties.
Depending upon who wields power in a college, the administration or the student
organization mobilizes gender to discipline women and to legitimizes intensive
moral policing.
While there is no effort to mobilize on the basis of identity as Dalit, the dominant
discourse in colleges dismisses caste discrimination as irrelevant.
Teachers trade unions too are perceived to be too closely associated with political
parties to be able to respond critically to the policies of governments and are seen
to compromise on the academic interests of teachers.
Political interference is perceived to have compromised the standards of teaching
in colleges by breeding irresponsibility among teachers who are not self
motivated.
The ongoing reforms package is perceived widely as useful but also as being
implemented in politically motivated way. Thus, the private aided colleges see
the cluster college scheme as a means to allow student organizations from outside
to enter their campus and disturb peace.








4
Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction
Since the 1990s, higher education in Kerala has been subject to significant policy shifts,
which hold long-term implications for the general arts and science segment. At least
three sets of policy moves in the recent past have altered or hold the potential to alter
significantly the context of general arts and science education in the state. First, the
opening of the doors to self-financing colleges, somewhat ambiguously in the 1990s but
with full force since 2000, initiated full fledged private participation in the sector whereas
previously private participation had been publicly funded through the private aided
colleges, which receive public funds but are managed by private establishments mostly of
the nature of voluntary or charitable trusts. As general arts and science education is
frequently perceived (whether or not it actually is) as a residual option of those who do
not qualify for professional courses or those who are simply not adequately well
informed to take advantage of them, the exponential increase in private self financing
professional colleges since 2000 is also likely to affect it, by boosting aspirations for
professional and technical education and driving students away from general arts and
science. Second, from 1998 onwards the pre degree courses were delinked in a phased
manner from arts and science colleges and brought under the higher secondary schools as
plus two courses, a process that was completed in 2001. The delinking of the pre degree
courses led to some amount of disarray in logistical arrangements especially with respect
to the existing strength of teachers and in 2004 the government imposed a ban on new
appointments of teachers in private aided colleges, which was lifted only in 2008 (G.O.
(MS) No 63/2008/H.Edn). This seems to have contributed to the scarcity of teachers in
many private aided colleges. Less perceptibly, it also narrowed the social class base of
arts and science colleges as the pre degree students were drawn from a more
heterogeneous class base leading to a depletion of the interests of the relatively more
powerful middle class in arts and science colleges. Third, very recently the Kerala State
Higher Education Council (KSHEC) has initiated reforms in undergraduate arts and
science education, which envisages a radical overhauling of the existing structure and
practices. The KSHEC, which was set up in March 2007, proposed several moves to
5
generate the informational base for restructuring higher education.
1
Kerala university,
the only university in the state that has not implemented the reforms is scheduled to do so
in 2010. While these reforms have the potential to effect significant changes, they are
likely to take time to take root and it would be premature to comment on the reforms at
this point except by way of preparations being made and the fears expressed by
stakeholders in the process.

This study will examines some of the significant constraints facing the undergraduate arts
and science segment of higher education in the context of crucial ongoing changes. The
study was envisaged as an effort to map some of the basic dimensions of constraints and
possibility and hence is an exploratory one. The focus of the study is on undergraduate
arts and science education provided by the Government and the private aided colleges.
Currently, the arts and science colleges are differentiated according to management into
Government, private aided and private unaided segments.
2
We have not taken up the self
financing sector for study here for a number of reasons. Importantly, the colleges in this
segment offer a very narrow range of courses designed to suit the job market. A
preliminary sampling of information available on the websites of the universities suggests
that a major section of colleges in this segment have fewer than three courses, several of
them offering only two, and the most frequently offered courses are electronics, computer
science/applications, business management/administration and what are perceived as job
oriented applied science courses such as biotechnology. Given their recent vintage, their
narrow range of courses and exponential growth since 2000 (few were functioning in
1995), these institutions seem to present a wholly different genre and may well merit a
separate inquiry.

1
The U R Ananthamurthy committee drafted a higher education policy for the state and a committee has
submitted a report on restructuring undergraduate education. The key issue here was of quality and the
report of the committee drew up a road map for reform, which includes importantly, a) reform of structure
i.e., a shift from the annual pattern to a modified course credit semester system and b) reform of content,
i.e., curriculum and pedagogy. The current road map envisages the introduction of a) limited internal
assessment for the upcoming batch of students and b) comprehensive reform for the 2009 batch. Among
the other issues that the council has prioritized, which directly impinge on access, quality and equity are the
promotion of the concept of cluster colleges and setting up of higher education scholarships.
2
The private aided colleges are publicly funded. Under a direct payment agreement with private aided
colleges, the government pays teachers. These colleges also receive development funds from state
agencies, both at the Central and State levels.
6

1.2 Overview of Issues
The recent ferment in higher education may be located within the context of changes in
political economy that gained a new coherence in the 1990s with what may be referred to
as globalization and raised rather new challenges. They include the relevance of higher
education as the basis of new employment opportunities in an economy that was fast
opening up to global forces. In the specific context of Kerala, there were the demands of
the rapidly growing service sector, the inability relative to other south Indian states and
cities to tap opportunities in ICT and the need to retain migrant jobs, whose social-skill
profile was changing implicating the need for greater investment in higher education.
3

As against this, Keralas well publicized achievements in education pertained largely to
primary and secondary school education. It has been pointed out that on higher
education, Kerala fell behind several Indian states on several dimensions of access but
especially on the availability of educational opportunities within the state relative to
population and the number of students enrolled in these institutions (Tilak 2001). In the
past five years there has been a significant rise in the pass percentages at the SSLC and
higher secondary levels, adding to the numbers of aspirants for higher education.
4
It is a
measure of the intensity of the problem that despite differences, voices from across the
political divide in the state agree that there is a dearth of higher education opportunities in
the publicly funded segment.
5
Even prior to the advent of the self financing colleges, the
scarcity of colleges was met to some extent by the parallel colleges, which catered to
privately registered students (Nair and Ajit cited in Tilak 2001). Thus, there is a degree
of awareness of an acute problem of access. The quality of higher education and issues
of equity in Kerala too have come in for adverse comment. It is alleged that the rapid
increase in colleges in the self financing segment portends a new low in quality of

3
It is of concern in the state that the demand profile of labour for the Gulf and other states is changing in
ways that require more skilled personnel.
4
The pass percentage of SSLC students climbed from 62 percent in 2005 to 94 per cent in 2008 and higher
secondary students climbed from 61 per cent in 2006 to 73 per cent in 2008.
5
It was on these grounds that the UDF justified the opening up of higher education to self financing private
participation. Drawing attention to the mushrooming of the private sector institutions Prabhat Patnaik,
Vice Chairperson of the State Planning Board under the current LDF government notes that it, basically
means that the demand for these institutions has outstripped what the public educational facilities could
take care of (The Hindu, April 15, 2008).
7
education and in this context, Vice Chairperson of the State Planning Board, Prabhat
Patnaik is at pains to note that, [u]nfortunately, even in the public education system, the
quality has gone down greatly (Patnaik, The Hindu, April 15, 2008). Significantly,
there has been no study of the private self financing segment of higher education which
has been in existence since the 1990s. Thus, adverse comments regarding the quality of
education they supply are derived from the putative motivations for entry into higher
education i.e., profit making (see Tilak 2001, Patnaik, 2008). Studies on the parallel
colleges, which cater to privately registered students, do indicate poor quality of
education (Sivasankaran and Krishnan 1999 in Tilak 2001). Poor quality is implicated
also in comments in the public domain on the limited expansion of the IT industry in
Kerala. For instance, it has been remarked that Keralas graduates are unemployable in
IT related jobs because of their poor English language skills.
6
Equity concerns are
implicated in the fees charged in higher education as well as the dearth of scholarships.
The impression that higher education is free in Kerala or involves very low fees has been
questioned. A study in 1992 showed that students in Government colleges spent up to Rs
4000 per annum per head towards various costs, whereas in private colleges this was
about Rs 5000, which was more than the per capita state domestic product of the state at
the time (Salim 1995).
7
Tilak (2001) also shows that scholarships receive a negligible
share of government finances for education and had declined from 0.7 per cent of total
higher education budget in 1990 91 to 0.2 per cent in 1996 97. Notably, in the past
year the KSHEC set up a scholarship fund with contributions from Government and
private donations.

An emerging literature since the 1990s, has dealt with higher education in Kerala in the
context of macro economic policy shifts or what may be designated broadly as
globalization. Much of this literature looks at the economics of higher education framed
in the context of macro resource constraints but ranging from issues of financing and

6
It [Kerala] should stop producing unemployable graduates and learn to impart the kinds of skills modern
industry and business require. It should realise that its education system is obsolete and unsuited for the
Knowledge Era, P V Indiresan, the Hindu Business line, Oct 30, 2005
7
Costs computed by Salim included academic - pre admission, college fees, private tuition, books,
stationery, study tours etc. incidental hostel, clothing, subscriptions, travel, entertainment, donations
etc.
8
costs to entry barriers to professional and technical education (Salim, 1995, 1997, 2004,
Devasia 2008, Mathew 1991, GoK, 2006). A recent essay addresses higher education as
a key site of the constitution of a gendered and generational political public, which form
axes of exclusion/inclusion. It questions the dominant frames of the debate on higher
education in terms of state/public and market/private (Luckose 2005). While these are no
doubt important concerns, their implications for the sector are limited by the absence of a
more general mapping of the site. Recent work has noted the absence of research on
higher education leading to confusion regarding basic issues like its reach (GoK, 2006,
http://www.kshec.kerala.gov.in/). For its part the HDR, 2005 notes that Kerala a) has not
seen adequate quantitative expansion in higher education i.e., in the general arts and
science segment and b) trails five major states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
Gujarat and West Bengal) in the growth of graduates as a percentage of the population
above seven years (GoK, 2006: 92). However, the HDR too focused on technical
education, as the segment that was vital to the development vision of the state, especially
through the generation of future employment potential.

It may be noted that policy changes are intermeshed in the competitive politics of the
state, with the two major political alliances, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the
United Democratic Front (UDF) vying with each other for stake in the sector. The
KSHEC, set up under the current LDF government, has prioritized reforms in
undergraduate arts and science education and three out of four universities initiated the
shift to grading as the mode of evaluation and to a choice based course credit semester
system in 2009, based on a reformulated curriculum. The UDF and its allied bodies
among teachers and students have criticized the reforms initiated by it with being
politically motivated and lacking transparency alleging that the KSHEC was taking over
the functions of the education department. The UDF government, which opened the
doors to self financing colleges tentatively in the 1990s and with more vigor since 2001
maintains that it was a measure to address the growing demand. The LDF has been
highly critical of the move, claiming that it has turned education into a profiteering
concern at huge cost to equity and quality.

9
Not infrequently, this political ambience percolates into the day to day working of the
arts and science colleges, where broader political stakes are expressed in deeply
entrenched divisions among students and teachers associations affiliated to one or other
political parties. At one extreme, students associations are known to vie for hegemony
but in seeking to establish hegemony, associations resort to brute force to wipe out any
sign of counter or alternative mobilization. While the Students Federation of India,
affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has the relatively wider and stronger
network of college-level associations in the state, in a few colleges a single students
association (the SFI or the ABVP) maintains a monopoly on political activity through
coercive means. At the other extreme, many private aided colleges, especially those
managed by Catholic associations have been more successful than others in eliminating
the space for politics altogether by banning political mobilization, association and activity
on their campuses, a step that has received support from the Kerala High Court in a
judgment in 2003 (Sojan Francis vs M G University, 26/5/2003,
http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1345236).

1.3. Comparative Overview of Higher Education in Kerala
The gross enrolment ratio (GER), a widely used indicator of access to higher education is
also used to denote the educational advancement of a region.
8
It is the ratio of persons
enrolled in higher educational institutions regardless of age divided by the number of
persons in the relevant age group. The GER for Kerala has tended to suggest different
trends depending on the source of data used to compute it (table 1.33). Analysis of data
compiled and published by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, the Selected
Education Statistics shows that Kerala has tended to fall below the all India average in
terms of enrolment in higher education institutions within the state. This should be a
matter for concern given that Kerala has near total enrolment at the primary and upper
primary school levels and significantly higher levels than all India at the secondary
school level (Tilak, 2001). However, it is recognized that the SES underestimates
enrolment owing to the lack of reporting by the state education departments to the

8
For the developing countries in 2001-02 the GER was only 11.3 %, half of the world average at 23.2 %
(average for developed countries being 54.6 %) (Duraisamy, 2008: 32).
10
MHRD in some years leading to the use of extrapolations as well as possibly some
amount of underreporting owing to the uneven data gathered by the states (Sinha and
Srivastava, 2008, Duraisamy 2008). According to Duraisamy (2008: 33) a major source
of underestimation is because the SES does not capture enrolment in unrecognized
institutions. In the context of Kerala, unaided colleges, which were first established in
the 1990s, have grown steadily since 2000, and while they are recognized educational
institutions, enrolment in them has not been reported. This is evident in from the number
of arts and science colleges reported in the SES, which accounts only for the colleges in
the Government and aided sectors in the state (see table 1.41). Further, the parallel
colleges, which have persisted over the years as an avenue of higher education for
students who are privately registered, are unrecognized and hence not included in the
SES data. It is reported that 70 per cent of undergraduate registrations under Calicut
university are private and only five per cent of these students go through the distance
education mode (Naha, The Hindu, April 27, 2010).
9


Exercises comparing the GER at the all India level from SES with that from NSS and
Census for the 18 23 age group show that the NSS and Census report significantly
higher ratios (Sinha and Srivastava, 2008: 115). In the case of Kerala, however, not only
does the GER increase significantly when we turn to the NSS or Census but also contrary
to the trend in the SES, the GER in Kerala is significantly ahead of the all India average
(table 1.23). Further, table 1.33 also shows that the difference between GERs from
different sources is significantly higher for Kerala than for all India. It is recognized that
as against the SES, the NSS and Census are likely to overestimate GER as they might
include enrolment in diploma or training programmes (Duraisamy, 2008: 33). Keralas
significantly higher GERs from the NSS or Census could involve, apart from
underestimation in the SES, owing to enrolment in parallel colleges and unaided colleges
which is considerable as we have seen above, also some movement of students to
institutions outside the state for higher education (the SES reports only the number of

9
This was highlighted during the efforts by Calicut university to negotiate with the cooperative and parallel
colleges in region to bring privately registered students too under the Choice based Course Credit Semester
System (Naha, The Hindu, April 27, 2010).
11
students enrolled in institutions within as state).
10
While we do not have data on this, it is
the general impression that a large numbers of students from Kerala go to other state for
higher studies in specialized areas such as nursing but also in the general arts and science
segments. In the survey we conducted in seven colleges in the state (discussed in later
chapters) 25 per cent of undergraduate students said they would like to go outside the
state for higher studies. The movement of students out of the state may be an indication
of the dearth of suitable higher education opportunities in the state, as well as a dearth of
opportunities in the publicly funded segment. In suitable higher educational
opportunities, we include not only specific courses, which may not be available in the
state but also the standards of education in the state and the general character of
campuses in the state, marked by political interference and violence, which may induce
students to move out.

Table 1.31 shows a significant increase in the number of colleges in the state since 1986-
87. Notably, the growth rate of colleges in the state between 2000-01 and 2006-07 is
close to that between 1986-87 and 2000-01 (see table 1.32). If we take into account the
colleges in the unaided sector the growth rate would be still higher. Further, while the
growth of colleges between 1986-87 and 2000-01 is significantly higher for all India than
for Kerala, it is only slightly higher for all India between 2000-01 and 2006-07. Thus, in
the first decade of 2000 there has been considerable increase in colleges providing higher
education in Kerala but as table 1.31 shows this increase is not reflected in the arts and
science colleges. However, the data on the professional colleges includes the self
financing colleges as is evident from a comparison with data published by the state
government annually in the Economic reviews.
11


10
The variation in table 1.1 between SES, NSS and Census ratios is influenced also by the differences in
age groups of population, which is used as the denominator. However, the difference is by over 10
percentage points, which cannot be accounted for by a small difference in the age base of the population
used.
11
Out of 84 engineering colleges in the state in 2008 with a sanctioned intake of 25,492 students, 83 per
cent are in the self-financing segment (sanctioned intake of 21,240). About 65 per cent of all medical
opportunities are in the self financing segment. The self-financing colleges have grown exponentially since
2000. At the end of the eighth five year plan in 1997 there were only 15 engineering colleges (and only 3
in the self financing segment). This had grown to 84 in 2005 and remains at that level in 2008
(Government of Kerala (ER), 2004, 2005, 2008). The growth in the self financing segment has been much
less in technical education where there are only 9 polytechnics and 5 technical high schools as against 49
12

If the GER in higher education in Kerala has tended be lower than for all India according
to the SES, it is striking that girls in Kerala register significantly higher GERs than boys,
whichever data source is used, while the reverse is true at the all India level (tables 1.24
and 1.35). In table 1.34, at the all India level, the GER for boys is four percentage points
greater than for girls in two of three years shown (2005-06, 2006-07) whereas in Kerala
the GER for girls is more than one percentage point higher than for boys in all the three
years shown. This gendered pattern, where more girls than boys are enrolled in higher
education in Kerala, is seen in the case of SC and ST students as well. Table 1.35 shows
that the GER for girls in Kerala in 1993-94 (using NSS data) is nearly two percentage
points less than for boys but has since then been significantly higher than for boys. For
India, while the GER for boys has remained significantly above that for girls, the
difference in percentage points had declined over the years. At the state level, table 1.36
shows that in recent years girls comprised 75 % or more of enrolment in the M.A., M. Sc
and the B. Ed courses, little over half in the B Com and Open university enrolments and
less than 40 per cent in Engineering and polytechnic enrolment. Thus, engineering and
polytechnic education remain male bastions while medicine and related courses are
dominated by women. In contrast, at the all India level, all streams of higher education
continue to be dominated by men, including teachers education.

Table 1.31: Number of colleges in different segments of higher education in Kerala*
YEARS A&S ENGG + MED + T TR POLY OTHER TOTAL
1986-87 129 6 16 19 NA 19 189
2000-01 186 23 20 19 NA 104 352
2002-03 186 66 40 21 NA 82 395
2004-05 186 66 40 21 56 82 451
2006-07 189 98 125 21 59 82 574
Source: Selected Educational Statistics, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, * data is provisional
Engg+: Engineering, Tech and Arch, Med+: Medicine, nursing, pharmacy etc, Others: Law, Management,
MCA/IT, Agriculture etc.

polytechnics in the government and aided segments and 39 government technical high schools
(Government of Kerala (ER), 2007).
13
Table 1.32: Growth rates of Colleges in all segments of higher education in Kerala
YEARS KERALA INDIA
1986-87 to 2000-01 1.86 2.14
1986-87 to 2006-07 3.03 3.52
2000-01 to 2006-07 1.63 1.65
Source: Computed from Selected Educational Statistics

Table 1.33: Gross enrolment ratio in higher education from various sources
Years Kerala India Years Kerala India
SES, (18-24 years) NSS** (18-22 yrs),
1998 99* 3.70 6.00 1993-94 16.70 9.99
2002 03* 7.60 8.97 1999-00 20.80 11.38
2004 05 8.32 9.65 2004-05 24.96 13.59
2005 06 11.57 11.60 Census# (18-23 yrs)
2006 07 11.82 12.39 2001 17.60 12.40
Source: Selected Educational Statistics, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07; * computed by Tilak (2001); ** NSS
results are from Dubey, 2008, # Census results are from Sinha and Srivastava (2008).

Table 1.34: GER in higher education by sex and social group, (SES, 18-24 years)
KERALA INDIA SOCIAL
GROUP Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
2004-05
All 7.04 9.53 8.32 11.11 8.22 9.65
SC 5.95 8.97 7.52 7.81 5.11 6.53
ST 6.24 6.95 6.62 6.10 3.40 4.72
2005-06
All 10.91 12.20 11.57 13.36 9.37 11.60
SC 8.17 12.73 10.54 10.14 6.33 8.32
ST 9.97 13.34 11.78 8.59 4.69 6.61
2006-07
All 11.04 12.56 11.82 14.53 10.02 12.39
SC 8.99 10.42 9.75 11.52 6.96 9.35
ST 9.41 10.31 9.70 9.44 5.51 7.45
Source: Selected Education Statistics, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07
14
Table 1.35: GER in higher education by sex for India and Kerala (NSS, 18-22 years)
YEARS REGION MALE FEMALE TOTAL
Kerala 17.66 15.85 16.70 1993-94
India 13.09 6.66 9.99
Kerala 17.96 23.42 20.80 1999-00
India 13.57 9.06 11.38
Kerala 21.26 28.51 24.96 2004-05
India 15.56 11.41 13.59
Source: Culled from Dubey (2008)

Table 1.36: Percentage of girls enrolled in higher education courses in Kerala
COURSE 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
MA 74.98 74.82 80.20
MSc 80.71 77.36 81.98
Mcom 67.11 66.35 71.86
BA 66.48 66.88 66.73
BSc 68.45 69.16 70.15
BCom 53.99 53.39 53.04
Engineering 20.00 37.86 37.86
Med + 57.20 62.46 66.12
B Ed / BT 77.15 80.93 75.90
Open Univ NA 49.30 53.40
Polytechnic 28.96 28.96 28.95
Source: Selected Educational Statistics 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, Med + includes dentistry, pharmacy,
nursing, etc

1.4: Undergraduate Arts and Science Education in Kerala
Colleges in the state are registered under four affiliating universities Kerala university,
Mahatma Gandhi University, Calicut University and Kannur University. Kerala
university affiliates colleges in three southern districts Trivandrum, Kollam and
Allapuzha. MG university covers two districts in south Kerala Pathanamthitta and
15
Kottayam one district in the south east Idukki and one district in central Kerala
Ernakulam. Calicut university continues to have the largest territorial covering the
districts of south Malabar Trissur, Palghat, Malapuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad.
Kannur University was formed only recently from out of Calicut university covers
colleges in Kannur and Kasargod districts in the north and two colleges in Wayanad in
the east were brought under it. There has been a concentration of aided colleges in the
region covered by MG University, which is central Travancore, a Christian belt where
missionary groups and local church organizations has been active in setting up colleges.
The region also has the headquarters of the NSS and a number of colleges under its
management. There are fewer government colleges in this region and a concentration in
the jurisdiction of Calicut university. Until the formation of Kannur University to cover
the colleges in the far north, all colleges in the Malabar region were under Calicut
university and as the region was considered educationally backward, it saw effort in the
years by the state after the state of Kerala was formed to establish more educational
institutions.

Until the surge of self-financing arts and science colleges since 2000, the majority of arts
and science colleges in the state were in the private aided sector. As already mentioned
the private aided colleges receive public funding towards the payment of teachers salaries
as well as development funds. Table 1.41 shows that in 2006 there were only 39 arts and
science colleges run by the Government as against 150 in the private aided sector and 167
self financing colleges. However, several self-financing colleges have failed to survive
as is apparent in a quick decline in numbers to 153 in 2008 (GOK, 2008). A striking
feature of undergraduate arts and science education in Kerala is that the number of
colleges in the public funded sectors (government and the aided colleges) has virtually
stagnated since mid 1990s only three were started since 1996, while, the private
unaided colleges or self financing colleges have grown precisely after the mid 1990s.
There were about 170 colleges in 1990 and sixteen more were started in the following
five years. Since 2000, with the exception of Kerala university, there are more self
financing colleges than colleges in the government or private aided sectors under all
universities in 2000. We have already noted that the focus of the colleges in the self
16
financing sector i.e., the unaided private colleges, is technical and applications oriented
electronics, computer science, business management, micro biology, bio technology are
offered frequently, the odd college offers chemistry, physics, economics, geography,
travel and tourism and fashion and apparel design.
12
While social science subjects, with
the exception of economics, are conspicuous by their absence, a few of these colleges
(mostly Christian or Muslim and/or womens colleges) offer some combination with
English as the main subject (communicative English, functional English, English with
journalism) and home science. The provision of employment-oriented courses reinforces
the view that the return to a liberal arts education is poor, leaving their provision to the
government and aided sectors. Notably, the state-run IHRDs/CASs, also in the self-
financing sector, invariably offer only two courses Bachelor of Science in Electronics
and Computer Science. Another recent feature that is not apparent in table 1.41 is that
there are self financing courses in colleges in the government and aided sectors, for
which public funding is not extended. The colleges are expected to arrange their own
physical and social infrastructure for these courses. Our research shows that several
colleges have self-financing courses running alongside regular ones. The profile of self-
financing courses offered in the regular colleges are similar to those offered in the
unaided private colleges.

For several decades now the inadequacy of the colleges to meet the needs of
undergraduate arts and science education in the state, was addressed, however poorly, by
the provision for private registrations. Catering to this segment, a large number of
unregistered undergraduate teaching institutions, popularly referred to as parallel
colleges, came into being since the 1970s. The parallel colleges, which are distinct from
tutorial colleges / coaching centers addressing students of regular colleges, continue to be
a prominent feature of the states higher education scenario. Since the 1980s there has
been a secular increase in private registrations in all universities and streams of
education. However, since 2002, there has been a moderation in growth and even a
decline in some courses. Universities in the state, with the exception of Calicut

12
This is apparent from the listing of courses offered by each of these colleges under the web sites of the
different universities.
17
university, have witnessed a significant decline in private registrations. Under Calicut
university the pace of increase of private registrations has declined after is rose from
2001 to 2003. It is notable that private registrations for B Com outstrips that for BA
courses in all universities, but also that the decline the former stream has been sharp
except under Calicut university. Notably this has coincided with the rise of the private
self-financing segment.

Private Registrations in Kerala since 2000
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Year
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

r
e
g
i
s
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
s
Kerala U BA
Kerala U B Com
Calicut U BA
Calicut U B Com
MG U BA
MG U B Com

Source: Government of Kerala (ER) various issues

A well recognized feature of the arts and science education sector in Kerala is the
predominance of female over male students. Table 1.36 in the previous section shows
that this is the case across streams of education though the dominance of female students
is least pronounced in the B. Com stream and highly pronounced in both the arts and
science streams. In fact table 1.36 shows that the dominance of women increases as we
move up to the post-graduate arts and science courses. There are a number of reasons for
the predominance of women in undergraduate arts and science education. Among those
observed is the higher possibility that boys drop out after the higher secondary to pursue
employment or to undergo training in such categories of work as driving, plumbing or in
construction labour or that they take up the more job oriented technical and professional
18
courses in higher education. Indeed, boys are seen to dominate over girls in some of the
job oriented strands of professional and technical education as is evident in their
domination over engineering and polytechnic enrolments in higher education but not in
medicine.

Table 1.42 shows that girls have dominated the undergraduate arts and science courses
since at least 1990. This trend was first established in colleges under Kerala university
and MG university and only since 1990 in colleges under Calicut university. Table 1.42
shows that in 1990, boys had a slight edge numerically over girls in Calicut university.
However, in the later years shown in table 1.42, the universities in the Malabar region
Calicut and Kannur are not very different in terms of the predominance of girls over
boys.
Teachers in arts and science colleges, 1999-2007
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
year
Male
Female
Tot al

Source: Government of Kerala, various issues
Women have also tended to dominate teaching as a profession very generally. However,
the extent of their dominance declines as we go higher in the levels of education (Eapen
and Kodoth, 2003). The chart above shows that the total number of female teachers has
been declining since 1999 and their share among total teachers declined from 55 per cent
in 1999 to 45 per cent in 2005-06. As against a consistent decline in the share of female
19
teachers, the share of male teachers has increased alongside an overall decline in the total
number of college teachers since 1999. However, the data published in the Economic
reviews (GoK 1984 to 1998) shows that since the 1980s right up to 1997 males
comprised about 60 per cent of arts and science college teachers. From 1998 to 2003 this
ratio favoured women but since then it has been reversed. The delinking of pre degree
courses started in 1998 and the process is said to have rendered nearly 2500 teachers
surplus in the aided colleges alone. Some years before de linking was completed there
was considerable anxiety regarding the status of teachers in private aided colleges. It is
believed that the private colleges anticipated restrictions on appointments and made
efforts to fill in vacancies between 1995 and 1998. Nevertheless, there is an overall
decline in the number of teachers in arts and science colleges after 1998 alongside a
reversal of the sex ratio. It may well be that a fairly large number of male teachers retired
and the new appointments were women. It is notable that the decline in the number of
teachers preceded the ban on appointment of teachers in the private aided segment only in
2004 (G.O. (MS) No 63 / 2008/H. Edn., dated June 23/6/08) hence the latter could only
have exacerbated an already difficult situation.

Table 1.41: Number of Arts and Science colleges in Kerala by management
UNIV 1990 1996 2003* 2006**
Total Govt Aided Un A Govt Aided Un A Govt Aided Un A
Kerala 9 37 6 9 37 13 9 37 14
Calicut 22 56 17 16 44 31 17 45 50
MG 7 55 2 7 55 37 7 56 57
Kannur - - - 6 12 19 6 12 46
Total 170 38 148 25 38 148 100 39 150 167
*In the previous year there were only 38 unaided colleges. **In 2008 the number of unaided colleges
reported down to 153. Source: Directorate of Collegiate Education, Government of Kerala (various years).



20
Table 1.42: Girls as a proportion total students enrolled in the degree courses
UNIV 1990 1999 2002 2008
Total F % Total F % Total F % Total F %
Kerala 41169 56.67 45763 66.54 49246 62.57 46670 64.71
Calicut 38008 49.34 38268 59.82 38974 61.16 43978 64.38
MG 38578 60.30 36170 62.11 44067 60.66 40516 64.95
Kannur - - 11747 62.06 13692 55.90 36248 66.06
Total 117755 55.49 131984 62.96 145979 61.00 167412 64.98
Source: Government of Kerala (ER) various issues

1.5 The Problem and Methodology
At the state level the relatively slow pace of expansion of the higher education sector
evident from the previous sections (notwithstanding the more recent expansion of the self
financing segment) may be interpreted as a constraint to access. Further, constraints to
entry into higher education may be a cumulative problem i.e., the inability to transit
successfully from the secondary or higher secondary levels. This may include a) the poor
performance at the higher secondary and secondary levels, b) inability to continue in
education on account of economic compulsions or social disadvantage (also a problem of
equity), or c) drop out at the lower levels to gain job oriented informal training in tradable
formal or informal sector skills.

Gender and caste constraints to access are differently poised in the context of Kerala.
Recent work on entry barriers to technical and professional education note that caste is an
important basis of exclusion posing problems in the access of SC/ST and OBC students.
Further, the problems of access and equity intersect in important ways especially with
respect to gender and caste. Gender presents a less straightforward case of exclusion
with higher levels of enrolment of women relative to men in Kerala. While women
exceed men in terms of GER, far higher levels of unemployment of higher educated
women relative to men (and to women at the all India level) raise many questions
(Kodoth and Eapen, 2006). Educated unemployed women are known to have strong job
preferences linked to social norms and employment of higher educated women is
21
concentrated in the care sectors that are already identified as appropriately feminine.
How is this expected to inform our concern with higher education as a sector? A review
of literature on the global south suggests that higher education unlike literacy or primary
education is associated with less restrictive gender norms and hierarchies (Malhotra et al,
2003). Clearly this raises a whole set of questions regarding the influence of processes
within higher education (curriculum, pedagogy and environment) in shaping or sustaining
restrictive gender norms or enabling students to challenge them. In other words, we need
to probe higher education as a gendered process and explore how it shapes and genders
subjectivities. This distinctness of the gender dimension of higher education has not
entered so far into the policy discussion.
13


Quality of education and equity are key policy concerns. This is reflected in the
emphasis on restructuring curriculum and pedagogy in the draft higher education policy.
Policy interpretation of equity is in terms of the likelihood that it will be compromised
through privatization or the growth of self financing, which it sees as motivated towards
profit and against the interests of the general arts and science segment. As against this
there has been little concern with the status of physical and social infrastructure or the
role of party politics within higher education (despite its high visibility) especially in
terms of its implications for quality of education and its differential influence in terms of
gender, caste and class.

We propose to approach the question of access in relation to several dimensions:
a) Does the rapid pace of growth of higher educational opportunities in the self
financing sector at the state level and the growth of the self financing courses in
the government and aided colleges suggest that there is greater need than is being
met by the publicly funded sectors?

13
Currently, policy considers women along with the social deprived groups as an access and equity
concern. See U R.Ananthamurthy Committee. 2008. The Kerala State Policy on Higher Education Policy:
Draft for discussion, Trivandrum: Kerala State Higher Education Council. Committee for Restructuring
Undergraduate Education. nd. Report. Trivandrum: Kerala State Higher Education Council.
22
b) Does the narrow range of courses offered in the self financed segment suggest a
growing demand for specific kinds of courses as against that which is available in
the publicly funded segment?
c) What are the expressed preferences of students as may be evident from the shift
from science at the higher secondary level to commerce or arts at the degree
level?
d) How does the uneven regional pattern of distribution of enrolment in different
courses in colleges across universities and district inflect the question of access?
e) Given the overall predominance of girls over boys in arts and science colleges,
virtually across courses how do we interpret the gender dimension of access? Is it
nuanced by the influence of gender interests and identities in defining access to
arts and science education as well as the nature of gender socialization imparted
through higher education?
f) Have lower castes and especially SC and ST students been able to gain access to
arts and science education? What does the discourse on caste tell us regarding the
access these students have?
g) Is the rigidity of college-based higher education with respect to the timing of
classes restricting the access of economically disadvantaged students? How can
the needs of these students be brought within the fold of regular teaching
institutions?

On the question of quality of education on offer in the arts and science colleges, we will
examine the adequacy and access that students have to basic facilities in colleges
including social and physical infrastructure, IT facilities, library resources, tutorials as
well as support facilities like add-on courses, psychological counseling and career
guidance. A key aspect that we subject to analysis is the nature of politics or its absence
on campuses and its influence in fostering quality education by influencing college
environment. Here we would like to explore the influence of the political environment
(whether excessive politics or its absence) in constraining or promoting citizenship
education and democratic participation. We will also examine the standard indicators of
23
quality as they apply to the colleges such as accreditation with NAAC, rate of success of
students and so on.

The equity question has been the most difficult for us to explore, especially in terms of its
qualitative dimensions. However, we have made an effort to probe the access that
socially and economically deprived students have to higher education at the college level
as well as the state level and the experience of these students. Importantly the equity
question intermeshes also with that of gender and politics, where politics is used to
segregate women or to discipline them.

1.6 Methodology and Data base
1.61 Research questions
1. Is there greater demand than opportunities available in the higher education sector?

Hypothesis: In gross terms, there are more opportunities in the higher education sector in
the state than are currently being utilized.

2. How is the demand versus opportunities question expressed from within the higher
education sector?

Hypothesis: Demand for the general arts and science segment, in terms of students who
opt for it, derives from those ranging from (at two ends of the continuum) those with a
well defined academic (intellectual) interest in pursuing higher studies to those who are
putting in time that is likely to be valued in cultural terms. There are likely to be several
categories within this range, including importantly those who failed to get admission into
any or in their preferred technical and professional courses.

3. Are gender and caste the prominent basis of social exclusion in higher education?

24
Hypothesis a: Womens dominating presence in the general arts and science segment of
higher education serves cultural ends, most importantly as an aspect of grooming for a
desirable marriage.

Hypothesis b: The under-representation of the lower castes, tribal and coastal fishing
groups is on account of the lack of adequate staying power (economic resources) and/or
the inadequacy of expected rewards.

4. How do different stakeholders view the problem of quality in the general arts and
science segment of higher education?

Hypothesis: Conflict of interest among different stakeholders renders the problem of poor
quality not only acute but also difficult to reform.

5. Do students from dalit and tribal communities experience higher education differently
from upper caste, middle class students?

Hypothesis: Differential experience of students on the basis of caste, ethnicity and gender
limits the potential of higher education to combat social basis of discrimination.

1.62: Project Activities
The study took up two major sets of activities - building up baseline information on arts
and science colleges in the Government and aided sectors and detailed survey and
interview based research in six selected colleges. We conducted the survey in an
additional college, chosen for its isolated location but did not conduct interviews there.
A limited amount of information, regarding mostly courses, availability of seats and
management affiliation was available from the four affiliating universities, the
Department of Higher education and the websites of individual colleges. We sent out a
questionnaire to all the arts and science colleges in the government and aided sectors and
received completed responses from 115. Table 1.61 provides a district- wise distribution
of arts and science colleges in the government and aided sectors in Kerala and show that
25
the distribution of responses across districts is random i.e., there is no systematic bias in
the colleges that did not respond. The questionnaire was designed to provide us with data
to understand the need versus opportunities question on the courses offered, regional
distribution of demand for courses, availability of self financing courses, the problems
faced by colleges and some indicators of the performance of students and teachers. We
included questions to identify the management, student enrolment versus capacity over
the last two years, availability of teaching staff, library facilities and some indicators of
quality awards received, pass percentage and NAAC accreditation.

The private aided colleges are owned and managed by a diverse set of agencies. The
major social / religious communities have significant stake in the management of arts and
science colleges in Kerala. We have categorized these managements according to the
major community categories they represent - Christian, Hindu and Muslim. Among these
the colleges managed by various Christian groups form the single largest and are very
diverse ranging from what resemble corporate managements such as those of the
Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church and Malankara Orthodox church, which have
state-wide networks of colleges to the diocese societies of the Catholic churches and the
Yacoba Sabha, which manage individual colleges. There are also Catholic missionary
societies, which are involved in managing at least a handful of colleges, the CMI
Carmelites of Mary Immaculate and CMC Congregation of Mother Carmel. Corporate
managements are those of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP Trust)
and the Nair Service Society (NSS), caste associations seeking to represent two major
castes, the Ezhavas (OBC) and Nairs (forward) respectively, and the Muslim Educational
Society, (MES) set up in Malabar to represent the interests of the Muslim community.
The Devaswam boards, set up to manage temples, too are involved in the management of
colleges. Apart from these groups there are a number of colleges run by local
independent trusts, including a number of independent Muslim and Hindu trusts.

26
The responses received have been compiled in table 1.62 as college responses according
to sex composition (whether they are girls only or mixed)
14
and category of management
i.e., whether it is run by Christian, Muslim or Hindu organizations or by other
organizations. The table shows that the responses include 60 per cent of colleges in
Kerala, with 66 per cent of Government colleges and 59 per cent of aided colleges. The
single largest number of colleges in the responses is from Christian managements
followed by Hindu and Government. Table 1.63 classifies the college responses
according to sub groups of management and table 1.64 and 1.65 provides the
classification of college responses by university of affiliation. The latter shows that MG
university has the lowest representation in the responses whereas all Kannur university
colleges responded.

The second set of activities came under the purview of detailed studies undertaken at six
selected colleges in Kerala. We had proposed to conduct in depth investigations at six
colleges distributed across region, universities and different managements in Kerala.
Table 1.67 shows the distribution of these colleges, where more detailed investigations
were conducted. We selected two Government colleges, College G1 in a city in south
Kerala, College G3 in a northern hill district, two Catholic colleges, College A2 and
College A3 one each from a Syrian and a Latin Catholic diocese, an caste association
managed college College A1 - from among the caste associations / Hindu charitable
Trusts and an independently managed Muslim college, College A4. College A3 managed
by the a diocese society of the Syro Malabar church is a womens college while College
A2 is mixed and represents the Latin Christian community converts from the socio-
economically underprivileged coastal communities. Both these colleges are located in
the territorial jurisdiction of MG University, where Christian missionary influence on
education was strong. College A1 is in central Kerala and College A4, managed by an
independent Muslim trust, is in northern Kerala. The additional college taken up for
survey College G2 - is a Government college in an eastern hilly region of the far north.


14
Two colleges, SB College, Changanassery and St Thomas College, Pala, restrict their undergraduate
programme to boys only and it has been included with the mixed colleges (Directorate of Collegiate
Education).
27
As the functioning of colleges in Kerala is affected considerably by the nature of student
politics they sustain we also provide the status of politics in each of the colleges selected
for study. In three of the colleges (two Christian and one Hindu) political activism is
banned on campus; the parliamentary system of elections to the students council is
practiced in two while the third was still in the process of transition. Student politics is
permitted and was the basis of elections to the students council in the two Government
colleges and one Muslim college. In the additional college we took up for survey too
politics is permitted. Apart from regional distribution and representation of diverse
management groups we also had to keep in mind the possibility of gaining access to the
college.

In each of the colleges, we did a survey of students of select second year degree courses,
usually selecting at least three courses in each college an arts, a commerce or
economics course and a science course. There have been some variations in this on
account of problems encountered during the survey. Additionally, as mentioned, we
conducted the survey at a Government college, College G2, the far north of Kerala.
Though this college was not taken up for detailed investigation, its remoteness as well as
the low density of colleges in the district (only five in the government and aided
segments) prompted us to include it.

Table 1.66 shows the distribution of students surveyed by their course and main subjects.
In most colleges, we have surveyed students from more than three courses. College G2
has only four courses, which does not include a science course, hence we surveyed
Economics and Functional English. In the colleges selected we found a greater diversity
of arts courses hence where we took up an applied or specialized arts course (such as
Communicative English or Development Economics) we have also attempted to take up a
general course. Further, the pure science class strength tended to be smaller than the arts
courses. On account of these factors, the number of students surveyed in the arts courses
is about double that of the science courses. We have tried to select either commerce or
economics in each college because these were the highly preferred courses owing to the
perception that the offer greater job potential. The survey sought to generate information
28
regarding student preference for arts and science education, their perceptions of college
facilities, curriculum and environment, their family background, sources of finance for
education, whether they were engaged in paid work and their involvement in politics.

Table 1.68 provides an overview of the surveys in seven colleges in terms of the coverage
of students and sex composition. About 72 per cent of students surveyed were girls.
While this is not surprising, given the predominance of girls in undergraduate arts and
science courses, there may be an under-representation of boys, who much more than girls
tended to be absent from classes. Further, we have also selected an all girls college. As
against this however in College G1, 46 per cent of students surveyed were boys. It is to
be noted that College G1 has a sex ratio that is closer to parity because of a ceiling of 33
per cent on the admission of girls to eight undergraduate courses. The rationale of the
ceiling is that the Government Womens college in the same city offered these courses.

We also conducted interviews with teaching faculty in these colleges regarding various
aspects of higher education. A third set of activities we planned were group discussions
with students but we were able to conduct these only in five colleges. In some colleges
we were able conduct interviews as well with a few students. Further, the stake holder
interviews planned were conducted in these colleges with representatives of teachers
associations, principals of colleges and one of the managers. We also spoke a few
teachers and several Principals (sometimes recently retired) from colleges not taken up
for detailed study.

Some of the colleges threw up distinct overarching questions, which served as a lens to
understand broader questions of access, quality and equity. In others, there was no single
big issue and we probed a variety of questions. In the case of College G1 it was the
nature of student politics, which was controlled by the SFI in a ruthless manner affecting
the everyday aspects of life on the campus. In contrast to the larger than life picture of
politics at College G1, in College A2 the overarching issues seemed to be the larger than
life role of the management, which had not only put into effect a ban on politics literally
suppressing voices of dissent but was generally perceived as excessively interventionist
29
and controlling. Here the ability of departments to function well depended on the ability
to negotiate with the management. In College A3 college gender socialization was a
crucial issue that was dispersed over curricular and non-curricular aspects of education.
In COLLEGE A1 the ineffectiveness of the management was a shaping feature of the
profile of the college even as in the case of Farook, it was the deft manner in which the
management negotiated issues. Though College G3 was selected because of its location
in an area with a significant tribal population we were unable to generate adequate
discussion on this issue but will go into some of the problems encountered.


Table 1.62: Distribution of College responses by district, sector and sex composition
Figures in parenthesis are percentages, Source: Response from Kerala colleges

Management of colleges Sample
colleges
Sex
composition Aided
District
Num
ber
% of
total
Mixed Girls
Govt.
M H C Othe
r
Total
aided
Trivandrum 17 85 15 2 6 2 5 4 0 11
Kollam 12 92 11 1 1 1 7 3 0 11
Pathnmthta 5 55 5 0 0 0 2 3 0 5
Alappuzha 2 17 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
Idukki 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kottayam 11 52 8 3 1 0 0 10 0 10
Ernakulam 5 20 4 1 0 0 0 5 0 5
Trissur 16 80 12 4 3 1 4 8 0 13
Palakkad 9 90 9 0 3 1 5 0 0 6
Malapuram 12 100 11 1 3 7 1 1 0 9
Kozhikode 8 57 7 1 3 2 1 2 0 5
Wayanad 2 33 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
Kannur 11 100 10 1 2 2 2 1 4 9
Kasargod 5 100 5 0 3 0 0 1 1 2
Total
115 60.8
101 14 26
(66.7)
16 29 39 5 89
(59)
30



Table 1.61: Distribution of Arts and Science colleges over districts and universities

* Percentage of colleges that responded to the CDS questionnaire; Source: Government of Kerala









Districts University Govt. Aided Total % of total % of resp*
Trivandrum Kerala 08 12 20 10.58 14.78
Kollam Kerala 01 12 13 6.88 10.43
Pathanamthitta Kerala 0 02 02
Pathanamthitta M G 0 07 07 4.76 4.35
Alapuzha Kerala 0 11 11
Alapuzha MG 0 01 01 6.35 1.74
Idukki MG 02 06 08 4.23 0
Kottayam MG 01 20 21 11.11 9.57
Ernakulam MG 04 21 25 13.44 4.35
Trissur Calicut 03 17 20 10.58 13.91
Palghat Calicut 03 07 10 5.29 7.82
Malapuram Calicut 03 09 12 6.35 10.43
Kozhikode Calicut 06 08 14 7.41 6.96
Wayanad Calicut 01 03 04
Wayanad Kannur 01 01 02 3.17 1.74
Kannur Kannur 02 09 11 5.82 9.56
Kasargod Kannur 03 02 05 2.65 4.35
TOTAL 39 150 189 100 100
31

Table 1.63: College Responses by management sub groups
Management sub groups Number Percentage
Government 26 22.6
Catholic 15 13.0
Various Catholic Convents 6 5.2
Congregation of Mother Carmel 3 2.6
Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 3 2.6
Church of South India 4 3.5
Malankara Orthodox** 5 4.3
Mar Thoma** 3 2.6
Muslim Educational Society** 7 6.1
Nair Service Society** 11 9.6
Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam** 12 10.4
Various Devaswom Boards 4 3.5
Independent Trust * 16 13.9
Total 115 100.0
* Independent Trusts include 2 Hindu trusts, 9 Muslim trusts and 5 Others. ** Corporate managements.
Source: Response from Kerala Colleges


Table 1.64: College Response according to University of affiliation
University No of
Responses
Responses as
% of colleges
% distribution
of responses
% distribution
of Colleges
Kerala 32 69.56 27.83 24.34
MG 20 31.75 17.39 33.33
Calicut 45 75.58 39.13 32.80
Kannur 18 100 15.62 9.52
Total 115 60.84 100 100
Source: Response from Kerala Colleges

Table 1.65: College response according to sector
NUMBER OF COLLEGES Responses as a % of colleges University
Government Aided Government Aided
Kerala 7 25 67.57 77.78
MG 1 19 33.92 14.29
Calicut 12 33 73.33 70.59
Kannur 6 12 100 100
Total 26 89 59.33 66.67
Source: Response from Kerala Colleges



32
Table 1.66: Students surveyed over selected Colleges, Courses and Main subjects
Classes taken for survey in each of the seven colleges
CG1 C A1 C A2 C A3 C A4 C G2 C G3 Total

1 B. Com 0 47 35 3 29 0 36 150
.0% 43.5% 43.2% 2.4% 35.8% .0% 35.0% 23.4%

B. A. 73 42 24 70 34 40 44 327
71.6 38.9 29.6 55.1 42.0 100 42.7 50.9
2 Economics * 28 0 24 0 0 23 24 99
27.5% .0% 29.6% .0% .0% 57.5% 23.3% 15.4%
3 History ** 0 42 0 36 15 0 0 93
.0% 38.9% .0% 28.3% 18.5% .0% .0% 14.4%
4 Sociology 0 0 0 0 19 0 0 19
.0% .0% .0% .0% 23.5% .0% .0% 3.0%
5 Malayalam 30 0 0 1 0 0 0 31
29.4% .0% .0% .8% .0% .0% .0% 4.8%
6 English ** 0 0 0 33 0 17 20 70
.0% .0% .0% 26.0 .0% 42.5% 19.4% 10.8%
7 Political Sc 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
14.7% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 2.3%

B Sc 29 19 22 54 18 0 23 165
28.4 17.6 27.2 42.5 22.2 0.00 22.3 25.7
8 Maths 0 0 0 41 0 0 0 40
.0% .0% .0% 32.3% .0% .0% .0% 6.2%
9 Home Sc 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 11
.0% .0% .0% 8.7% .0% .0% .0% 1.7%
10 Physics 0 0 22 0 0 0 0 22
.0% .0% 27.2% .0% .0% .0% .0% 3.4%
11 Botany 0 0 0 1 18 0 0 19
.0% .0% .0% .8% 22.2% .0% .0% 3.0%
12 Zoology 29 0 0 0 0 0 0 29
28.4% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 4.5%
13 Electronics 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 23
.0% .0% .0% .0% .0% .0% 22.3% 3.6%
14 Chemistry 0 19 0 1 0 0 0 20
.0% 17.6% .0% .8% .0% .0% .0% 3.1%
Total 102 108 81 127 81 40 103 642
% 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Note: * Including Development Economics at Wayanad, ** Islamic history at College A4and ***
Communicative English (SFC) at College A3 and Functional English at College G2, One student from
Computer science in College A3 college has been included in Maths.


33


Table 1.67: Colleges selected for fieldwork by sector, management and region
Name
Of
College
Univ. Region
LSG /
Location
Sector Management Politics
College G1* Kerala Travancore /
South
Corporation /
Urban
Govt. State No ban
College A3 MG Travancore /
South
Municipality /
Urban
Aided Syro Malabar Ban
College A2 MG Cochin /
Central
Corporation /
Urban
Aided Latin Catholic Ban
College A1 Calicut Malabar /
Central
Panchayat /
Rural
Aided Caste
Association
Ban
College A4 Calicut Malabar /
North
Corporation /
Urban
Aided Independent
Muslim Trust
No ban
College G3
**
Kannur Malabar /
North
Panchayat /
Rural
Govt. State No ban
Source: Field survey. * UC, ** College G3.


Table 1.68: Survey of Students in Select (7) colleges by sex composition
Name of College Sex composition
Male Female
Total
College G1 46 (45.1) 56 (54.9) 102 (100)
College A1 30 (27.8) 78 (72.2) 108 (100)
College A2 32 (39.5) 49 (60.5) 81 (100)
College A3 0 127 (100) 127 (100)
College A4 23 (28.4) 58 (71.6) 81 (100)
College G2 * 12 (30.0) 28 (70.0) 40 (100)
College G3 39 (37.9) 64 (62.1) 103 (100)
Total 182 (28.3) 460 (71.1) 642 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Field survey; * (included only in survey)

Chapter 2

Interpreting Access, Probing Equity

There are people who are not getting opportunities to join higher education. Donations
should be banned (Student of College A1)

2.1 Introduction
In discussing the question of access to higher education in Kerala in the previous chapter,
we noted that the gross enrolment ratios varied widely depending upon the data set that is
used to compute it with the SES underestimating it (very considerably according to
some accounts) and the NSS and Census tending to provide overestimates. Further,
while the GER for Kerala is significantly below the all India average according the SES,
it is significantly above the all India average according to the NSS and Census. The
potential sources of underestimation by the SES are the incomplete coverage of arts and
science colleges (the self-financing segment is not included), the lack of inclusion of
enrolment in parallel colleges catering to private registrations and the possibility of a
sizeable number of students moving to institutions outside the state for higher education.
We also noted that the recent spurt in self financing colleges in the professional and arts
and science segments, no sign of an abatement of parallel colleges as well as the resort to
institutions outside the state suggest that there are inadequate opportunities in the publicly
funded segment of arts and science colleges, which have stagnated since the 1990s.
Another significant aspect of access (which intersects with equity) is that despite the
variations in GER between data sets, the sex composition remained significantly in the
favour of girls, and this is the case across caste categories and most streams of education
with the exception only of engineering and polytechnics. In this chapter, we attempt to
interpret the question of access from a rather different vantage point i.e., in terms of the
experience of publicly-funded arts and science colleges within Kerala. We will probe
whether the opportunities in different courses and regions (colleges affiliated to
universities) are being fully availed. If opportunities are scarce or in excess of those
seeking them, is it a general pattern or is it limited to specific subjects and specific
regions? The establishment of self financing courses within aided colleges assumes that
2
there is a market for them. What is the pattern of self financing courses that have been
started in the aided colleges (perceived demand) and what can we infer from the subjects
offered and the enrolment pattern in these courses (expressed demand)? We hope to use
the perspective this gives us to reconsider the inferences drawn from analysis of macro
data.

This chapter relies upon three rather different kinds of data sets two quantitative data
sets, one comprising data from completed questionnaires received from 115 arts and
science colleges (see tables 1.62 and 1.64 in Chapter 1), and two from a sample survey of
students in select arts and science colleges in the state (see table 1.65 in Chapter 1) and
qualitative data from interviews and discussion with stake holders in six of the latter
colleges. We also spoke to Principal and teachers of several colleges during the course of
the study. The quantitative data sets provide two rather different kinds of entry points
into the question of access, most importantly the first allows us to investigate the regional
dimension of access within the state, whereas the second provides a picture of the socio-
economic profile of students in arts and science colleges, allowing us to probe who has
access and how this varies according to the profile and location of a college. The
qualitative data will be used to interrogate and / or to elaborate on insights emerging from
the analysis.

2.2: The Regional dimension in aspirations for courses
This section draws upon analysis of responses received from publicly funded arts and
science colleges in the state to probe access in terms of whether and to what extent the
opportunities available in the arts and science colleges are being availed by students or
whether there is a shortage of opportunities. From this analysis we attempt to gauge the
nature and level of aspirations in the state for different courses and disciplines being
offered by the colleges as well as perceptions of aspirations by the colleges, underpinning
their effort to offer specific courses as against others. Interviews conducted at the initial
stages of the research with college authorities suggested that access has a significant
regional dimension. In the central Travancore region, college authorities complained
bitterly about the inability to attract students to some of the pure science courses. This
3
was distinct from the more general feeling that these courses no longer attracted good
students or the best talent as they used to. The gap between the sanctioned strength in
a subject, the number of students that a college is allowed to admit by the university, and
student admissions is glaring in the case of a reputed Christian college in central
Travancore. Table 2.1 shows the shortfall in enrolment and the difference in shortfall
between the aided and self-financing courses. Among the pure sciences, physics fared
relatively better than others, owing at least partially to its proximity with technical and
professional streams but all other pure science subjects have less than 50 per cent
enrolment. Among the self financing courses with the exception of Library and
Information Sciences, there is a higher enrolment ratio and the courses are either applied
science or applied arts and hence associated with greater job prospects. The Principal
of the college was quite clear that they initiated self financing courses based on forecasts
of market demand. Enrolments will vary according to the employment potential the
qualification eventually realizes. He attributed the poor enrolment in LBIS to the
particular circumstances in which the course was started when the government decided
to introduce it as a qualification for librarians in schools but eventually backed out.

This is not a typical college in any sense. It is one of the oldest in the region, is graded
with an A+ by NAAC and identified by the UGC as a college with potential for
excellence. Also important is the fact that it does not accept women students to its
undergraduate courses in the aided segment. If the reputation of the college goes beyond
its immediate locality and enables it to draw students from a fairly wide catchment area
that stretches to the northern districts of the state, the exclusion of women students may
be a constraint in enrolment as women comprise well over 60 per cent of the student body
in arts and science colleges very generally. The college also had ample hostel facilities to
accommodate students from afar. According to the Principal of the college, the major
shortfall is on account of the declining local demand the surrounding urban areas and
the region itself (central Travancore), where the preference is strongly in favour of
professional and technical education. This college is affiliated to MG university, which
includes colleges in an affluent regional belt mostly within Kottayam and Pathanamthita
districts characterized by the soci0-economic mobility achieved by the Syrian Christian
4
community. The aspirations for professional and technical education are likely to be
most widely articulated in this region.

Let us consider the more general picture of enrolment in the basic disciplines in arts and
science colleges in the state. Table 2.2 shows that the overall subject wise average
enrolment ratios for colleges in Kerala range from 89 and 100 per cent in the basic
disciplines.
1
When colleges receive applications in excess of sanctioned capacity, they
may apply to the university to sanction what is called a marginal increase (MI), an excess
of intake over the sanctioned strength of a college. The marginal increase is sanctioned
from year to year on application by the college. In computing the average ratios we have
considered such excess enrolment (> 100 %) as full enrolment (100 %), hence the ratios
are not inflated by the MI. Table 2.2 shows that while most subjects have enrolment rates
above 95 per cent, the enrolment rate dips just below 90 per cent in Botany and
Philosophy. In Chemistry, Maths, Zoology, Physics and Hindi enrolment is between 90
and 94 per cent enrolment. If the relatively lower enrolment ratios are mostly in the basic
science disciplines, these overall figures hide significant variations in subject-wise
enrolments across colleges in different regions. To provide a sense of this variation,
tables 2.3 and 2.4 present indicators of enrolment in basic disciplines in terms of the
proportion of colleges under each university that register a) full enrolment and b) less
than 80 % enrolment. These indicators are computed from data received from colleges
concerning enrolment (students taking up admission in the two years immediately
preceding the survey, 2007-08 and 2008 09). The applied science subjects and the
subjects that are offered by relatively few colleges are shown separately in table 2.5.

The first point that emerges is that there are notable shortfalls in enrolment in the basic
sciences in the colleges in the region of M G University. Table 2.3 shows that in basic
science disciplines, M G University has the lowest proportion of colleges with full
enrolment and the highest proportion with less than 80 per cent enrolment. Between 40
and 70 per cent of colleges in the region have less than 80 per cent enrolment in basic

1
We have differentiated between the basic disciplines and derivates or applied science courses and these
are shown in separate tables. Sociology, philosophy and some of the languages too have been shown
separately because the number of colleges offering them is small.
5
science disciplines, with the exception of physics. Among these, in Zoology, two out of
fourteen colleges have less than 40 per cent enrolment and in Botany three out of fifteen
had less than 40 per cent enrolment. Hence, the predicament of the reputed college in
central Travancore highlighted at the beginning of this section is a reflection of more
general aspirations in the region.

Looking across disciplines and universities, in the B Com course no college had less than
80 per cent enrolment as against Botany, where 20 per cent of colleges had less than 80
per cent enrolment. In contrast to colleges under M G University, the higher proportions
of colleges under Kerala University and Calicut University showing full enrolment and
lower proportions showing less than 80 per cent enrolment indicate that there is little if
any scarcity of aspirations for basic disciplines in these regions. Colleges under Kannur
University have a relatively low proportion of colleges with full enrolment, but the
enrolment in the below 80 per cent category is nil or relatively low. However, subjects
such as Computer science show significantly lower deficit even in the MG university
region (table 2.5), linked perhaps to the perception that they have good job prospects.
However, table 2.6 shows that in applied science disciplines generally perceived as
having good job prospects relative to the basic disciplines, there is a deficit in the less
than 80 per cent enrolment in all except Electronics and Polymer Chemistry. Deficit in
enrolment was particularly pronounced in Home Science (which is not a new generation
course). Notably, teachers of basic science subjects even in colleges where there is no
dearth of applications for them conveyed a perception that aspirations for basic sciences
have come down drastically. Some of them argue however that the belief that the new
generation subjects (applied sciences with a technical edge) had better job prospects was
mistaken. The small number of courses in these subjects makes it difficult for us to come
to any definite conclusion. However, if we consider that the self financed courses in
aided colleges (discussed ahead) and the courses in self-financing colleges are mostly in
this genre of subjects, the deficit in the aided segment may be a significant pointer of
expressed aspirations for these courses and its mismatch with perceived aspirations.

6
Among the Arts subjects (including social science and humanities), deficit in enrolment
is generally less than in science, even in colleges under M G University (table 2.4).
Table 2.4 shows that though colleges under M G University have significantly lower
proportion of full enrolment than colleges under other universities, colleges with less than
80 per cent enrolment are rare, indicating that there is no marked deficit of aspirations
compared to available opportunities in these subjects. Economics had the highest
enrolment ratio, second only to the highly sought after Commerce. Eighty per cent of
colleges offering Economics have full enrolment in it, which is significantly higher than
in other arts subjects and only four per cent of colleges have less than 80 per cent
enrolment in it. In the languages (English and Malayalam), there are fewer than 10 per
cent of colleges in the less than 80 per cent enrolment category overall. However,
colleges under MG University had over 20 per cent of colleges with less than 80 per cent
enrolment and only 30 to 36 per cent had full enrolment in the languages. In contrast to
English, however, table 2.6 shows that no college has below 80 per cent enrolment in
Functional English and Communicative English, which are believed to have better
employment prospects.

The B Com stream showed the least deficit with 85 per cent of all colleges with full
enrolment and no college having below 80 per cent enrolment. Our interviews and
discussions revealed that in colleges that offered B Com, it was usually the first
preference of the largest number of students leading to fairly tight competition. Table 2.1
too shows that in a college otherwise suffering from under-subscription to basic
disciplines, B Com is oversubscribed and a marginal increase enabled the college to
accommodate more than its sanctioned strength. Table 2.6 shows that management
courses (BBA, BBM and TTM) have very high levels of enrolment in terms of overall
average but also no colleges reporting below 80 per cent enrolment.

A marginal increase over the sanctioned strength, a facility to accommodate excess
applications from year to year, could provide additional insights into access. Table 2.3
and 2.4 show that the proportion of colleges availing marginal increase ranged from 30
per cent in Physics, Zoology and Statistics to about 20 per cent in the other science
7
subjects. Disaggregate analysis shows that a relatively larger proportion of colleges
under Kerala University (between 33 per cent and 50 per cent) avail marginal increase in
all the science subjects but also that there were a number of colleges availing marginal
increase under MG university in Physics (35 per cent), in Maths (27 per cent) and one or
two in the other basic science subjects. These colleges were in Kottayam and Ernakulam
districts (none of the colleges in Pathanamthita had availed marginal increase in the basic
science courses). We have noted that Physics was less subject to avoidance than other
science courses. Interestingly, most of the womens colleges in these two districts had
either registered full enrolment or availed marginal increase in Maths and Physics.
Colleges in Ernakulam district serve a more heterogeneous student base, including
socially and economically backward sections and this is reflected in generally higher
enrolment ratios of more than 80 per cent in the science subjects, including Chemistry,
Zoology and Botany. Within Kottayam district, one college in our data set had availed
marginal increase in Zoology. This college was established by the Latin Catholic church
to serve the marginalized sections of people in a backward region and its website
described most of its students as first generation learners indicating that it did not share
the more predominant character of educational aspirations in the region. In fact, this
college had availed marginal increase in all three basic science courses it offered.

Marginal increase was availed by a generally smaller proportion of colleges in the arts
subjects, with the exception of Economics, but not surprisingly, over 40 per cent of
colleges in our data set had availed marginal increase in Commerce. This only re-
emphasizes the strong aspirations for education in Commerce, economics and related
courses such as management. Table 2.5 shows that a relatively high proportion of
colleges avail marginal increase in Sociology, Islamic History and Politics but it is
difficult to infer anything from this owing to the small number of colleges offering these
subjects. The regional dimension is emphasized here too in the consistently high
proportion of colleges under Kerala University (ranging from 38 to 55 per cent) that avail
marginal increase in the arts and commerce, suggesting that there are takers for these
subjects in the southern part of the state. Half or more of the colleges under Kerala
University availed marginal increase in English, Commerce, Economics and History
8
indicating a significant level of aspiration. In the arts a lower proportion of colleges
under Calicut and Kannur universities availed marginal increase as compared to Kerala
and M G Universities.

A factor that has to be kept in mind regarding enrolment in the Malabar region
comprising Calicut and Kannur university regions is the large extent of private
registrations, to which the extensive network of parallel colleges in the region cater. A
recent report noted that 70 per cent of arts and science students in the region register
privately (Naha, The Hindu, April 27, 2010). In the previous chapter we noted a decline
in the pace of growth of the private registrations under Calicut university since 2001,
when the self financing segment begins to expand. We need to understand the relative
lack of pressure on raising enrolments through marginal increase in this context.

It is generally believed and our interviews with college authorities endorsed this view that
colleges take up as self-financing course those subjects, which have a market i.e., based
on perceptions of existing preferences for them. We have information on the distribution
of self financing courses within the arts and science colleges in our data set, and the
enrolment in these courses, which could provide indications of perception of preferences
(courses started) and expressed aspirations (enrolment ratios). Seventy per cent of arts
and science colleges in our survey do not offer any self-financing course. However,
among the 30 per cent that do, the density is highest among colleges in the MG university
region i.e., 70 per cent of colleges in this university region offered self-financing courses
as against less than 30 per cent of colleges in other university regions. Thus, despite the
enrolment deficit in the basic disciplines, colleges in the MG University region are at the
forefront in offering self financing courses. Table 1.31 in the previous chapter showed
that the MG University region is in the forefront of establishing self financing colleges
(as distinct from SF courses in publicly funded colleges). In this context, the subjects
that are being offered and enrolment in these courses could provide insights. Table 2.8
shows that most of the subjects being offered as self financing courses are of the nature of
applied sciences and arts subjects (as against basic disciplines) or B Com and
management subjects. Not surprisingly, B Com had the single largest number of courses
9
offered followed by bio technology and computer science. B Com and management
subjects had near full enrolment. Among the science subjects the overall average
enrolment ratio in the self financing segment is below 90 per cent in fisheries, electronics,
bio chemistry and polymer chemistry and significantly in six out of a total of 21 applied
science courses enrolment was below 80 per cent. Bio technology and Bachelors in
Computer Applications were exceptions to the trend in science with near full enrolment
in all colleges. In the arts subjects the enrolment ratios varied considerably with very low
enrolment ratios in French, Bharatnatyam and Museology. However, as the number of
courses offered in each was low it is not possible to draw clear inferences. Surprisingly
in this scenario, two courses were offered in the basic disciplines one each in Maths and
Political science with enrolment ratios of 76 per cent and 84 per cent respectively. It is
no surprise, however, that colleges outside the MG university region offered both.

To summarize the points made so far, there is a noticeable deficit in enrolment in colleges
in the M. G University region and the deficit is pronounced in the pure science
disciplines, particularly Botany, Zoology and Chemistry. However, enrolment deficit is
not a significant problem in colleges in the other university regions. Further, enrolment
deficits do not extend to the Commerce, Economics and History even in the region of
MG university. The marginal increase facility was availed most extensively in the region
of Kerala University irrespective of subjects indicating greater numbers of aspirants in
this region as against the existing sanctioned strength. Underlining the strength of
currently existing aspirations for Commerce followed by Economics and History, the
largest proportion of colleges had availed marginal increase in these subjects. Self
financing courses were offered only by a minority of Government and aided colleges (30
per cent) but the proportion of colleges under MG university offering self financing
courses was high (70 per cent). The largest number of self-financing courses was in the
applied sciences followed by arts but commerce was offered the most. Perception of
preferences and expressed preferences coincided in the case of Commerce and
management courses, which registered near-full enrolment but not in the case of several
of the science and arts subjects, with the significant exception of bio-technology.

10
What sort of inferences could we draw from the patterns of enrolment that emerge from
our analysis? In my view the most important ones must relate to the deficit in enrolments
in the basic science disciplines. If we consider that these deficits are greatest in the MG
university region, which also has the largest number of self-financing courses (and
colleges) offering mostly courses in the applied sciences, it considerably complicates the
issue. Significantly, a college in the same region availed marginal increase in all the
basic science courses is located in a backward area and caters mostly to fishing,
agricultural and subsistence communities. In this context, the deficits in enrolment seem
to arise from the changing preferences / aspirations of the socio-economically mobile
sections and the dominant sections in the region (the middle class) to which several of the
colleges had catered in the past. However, there were other factors involved as well.
While enquiring about enrolment, the head of a science department of a reputed college
in the region told us that they had reduced the sanctioned strength (unofficially) as they
were not receiving applications that met their expectations. He added that the lowering
of evaluation standards at the higher secondary level were pushing through a large
number of poor quality students, who the college was not interested in taking in. This
may be a factor in enrolment deficits among some of the more reputed aided colleges.
Further, some of the colleges that had enrolment deficits in the basic science disciplines
were at the forefront of initiating self financing courses, though several of these courses
too showed enrolment deficits. Currently, the self-financing courses run by aided courses
used the same premises as aided courses and shared facilities like the library or
laboratories. It is also difficult to make rigid separation of facilities when running out of
shared premises. There were allegations too that at least some of the aided colleges were
using teachers of the aided segment to run the self financing courses. There are factors
that bring down the costs of running self financed course within aided colleges. In this
context, shortfalls in enrolment in the self financing segment may hurt less or it may be
profitable to run these courses despite poor enrolment. However, these colleges are
coming under increasing pressure from Government to separate the two types of courses.




11
Table 2.21: Enrolment in degree courses in a central Travancore college, 2008
Aided Course Sanctioned strength Admissions ENR RATIO
English 25 23 92
Malayalam 30 16 53
Mathematics 60 35 58
Physics 50 43 85
Chemistry 60 34 56
Botany 48 15 31
Zoology 44 11 24
Economics 80 57 71
B Com 60 70 116
Bio technology NA NA NA
Self financing course
Vocational English 25 21 84 %
Biotechnology 30 29 97 %
Industrial microbiology 30 23 77 %
Library Inf. Science 15 4 27 %
Source: Response from Kerala colleges (Questionnaire)

Table 2.22: Average enrolment ratios according to discipline for 2007-08 and 2008-
09 (henceforth 2007-09)*
SUBJECT AVE ENR RATIO SUBJECT AVE ENR RATIO
Economics 97.83 Psychology 95.44
History 98.33 B.com 99.32
Politics 96.55 Computer science 98.48
Sociology 96.02 Maths 92.74
Islamic history 98.57 Zoology 92.75
Philosophy 89.85 Botany 89.17
Malayalam 95.46 Chemistry 91.19
English 97.08 Physics 93.92
Hindi 91.64 Statistics 96.04
*In all the tables that use this data source, average enrolment ratios are computed from data on enrolment in the
academic years 2007-08 and 2008-09. While computing average ratios we have considered colleges with marginal
increase as having full enrolment.
Source: Response from Kerala colleges













12
Table 2.23: Colleges and Pattern of enrolment in Science, 2007-09
UNIVERSITY SUBJECT ENROLMENT IN
COLLEGES KER MG CAL KAN TOTAL
Maths
Colleges offering course
24 15 34 14 87

Colleges with full-enrolment* 16 (67) 4 (27) 19 (56) 6 (43) 45 (52)
< 80 per cent enrolment 4 (17) 6 (40) 0 2 (14) 12 (14)
Marginal Increase ** 11 (46) 4 (27) 5 (15) 1 (7) 21 (24)

Physics Colleges offering course 27 17 30 12 86
Colleges with full-enrolment 18 (67) 7 (41) 20 (67) 4 (33) 49 (57)
< 80 per cent enrolment 3 (11) 4 (24) 0 1 (8) 8 (9)
Marginal Increase 12 (44) 6 (35) 9 (30) 1 (8) 28 (33)

Chemistry Colleges offering course 24 16 29 10 79
Colleges with full-enrolment 13 (54) 3 (19) 18 (62) 4 (40) 38 (48)
< 80 per cent enrolment 3 (12) 6 (38) 1 (3) 2 (20) 12 (15)
Marginal Increase 8 (33) 2 (12) 5 (17) 0 15 (19)

Zoology* Colleges offering course 21 14 22 9 66
2 < 40 - M Colleges with full-enrolment 17 (81) 3 (21) 16 (72) 4 (44) 40 (61)
< 80 per cent enrolment 1 (5) 8 (58) 0 0 9 (14)
Marginal Increase 10 (48) 2 (14) 6 (27) 2 (22) 20 (30)

Botany* Colleges offering course 20 15 24 7 66
6 < 60 - M Colleges with full-enrolment 13 (65) 1 (7) 16 (67) 3 (43) 33 (50)
3 < 40 < 80 per cent enrolment 1 (5) 11(73) 1 (4) 0 13 (20)
Marginal Increase 8 (40) 1 (7) 4 (17) 1 (50) 14 (21)

Figures in brackets are percentages of total colleges offering the course. * Colleges with more than full enrolment on
account of marginal increase sanctioned from year to year are considered to have full enrolment and have been
included in this category. ** Colleges availing marginal increase only. Figures in parenthesis are percentages
Source: Response from Kerala colleges


















13
Table 2.24: Colleges and Pattern of Enrolment in Commerce and Arts, 2007-09

UNIVERSITY COURSE ENROLMENT IN
COLLEGES KER MG CAL KAN TOTAL
B Com Colleges offering course 30 18 36 12 96
Colleges with full enrolment 27 (90) 12 (67) 33 (92) 10 (83) 82 (85)
Marginal Increase 17 (57) 9 (50) 10 (28) 5 (42) 41 (43)

Economics Colleges offering course 22 17 32 13 84
Colleges with full-enrolment 18 (82) 9 (53) 30 (94) 10 (77) 67 (80)
< 80 per cent enrolment 1 (5) 2 (12) 0 0 3 (4)
Marginal Increase 11 (50) 6 (35) 13 (41) 2 (15) 32 (38)

History Colleges offering course 20 10 24 11 65
Colleges with full-enrolment 19 (95) 5 (50) 17 (71) 9 (82) 50 (77)
< 80 per cent enrolment 1 (4) 1 (10) 0 0 2 (3)
Marginal Increase 11 (55) 3 (30) 6 (25) 2 (18) 22 (34)

Politics Colleges offering course 8 5 2 2 17
Colleges with full enrolment 6 (75) 2 (40) 2 (100) 2 (100) 12 (71)
Marginal Increase 4 (50) 1 (20) 1 (50) 1 (50) 7 (41)

English* Colleges offering course 19 14 26 12 71
2 < 70 % Colleges with full-enrolment 15 (79) 5 (36) 22 (85) 9 (75) 51 (72)
< 80 per cent enrolment 0 3 (21) 0 0 3 (4)
Marginal Increase 10 (53) 3 (21) 5 (19) 3 (25) 21 (30)

Malayalam** Colleges offering course 13 7 14 6 40
3 < 70 Colleges with full-enrolment 9 (69) 2 (29) 11 (79) 5 (83) 27 (68)
1 < 50 < 80 per cent enrolment 1 (8) 2 (29) 0 0 3 (8)
Marginal Increase 5 (38) 1 (14) 4 (29) 1 (17) 11 (28)

Figures in brackets are percentages. * Figures in brackets are percentages of total colleges offering the course.
* Includes colleges with more than full enrolment on account of marginal increase sanctioned from year to year. **
Colleges availing marginal increase only. Figures in parenthesis are percentages
Source: Response from Kerala colleges



















14



Table 2.25: Colleges and Pattern of Enrolment in Applied Science or less offered
basic disciplines, 2007-09

UNIVERSITY

SUBJECT ENROLMENT IN
COLLEGES KER MG CAL KAN TOTAL
Computer Colleges offering course 2 4 10 5 21
Science Colleges with full-enrolment 2 (100) 3 (75) 8 (80) 3 (60) 16 (76)
< 80 per cent enrolment 0 0 0 1 (20) 1 (5)
Marginal Increase 1 (50) 2 (50) 0 1 (20) 4 (19)

Statistics Colleges offering course 2 0 4 3 9
Colleges with full-enrolment 1 (50) - 3 (75) 1 (33) 5 (56)
< 80 per cent enrolment 1 (50) - 0 0 1 (11)
Marginal Increase 1 (50) 0 1 (25) 1 (67) 3 (33)

Hindi Colleges offering course 8 1 3 4 16
Colleges with full-enrolment 4 (50) 0 2 (67) 2 (50) 8 (50)
< 80 per cent enrolment 1 (13) 1 (100) 0 0 2 (12.5)
Marginal Increase 2 (25) 0 0 1 (25) 3 (19)

Philosophy Colleges offering course 3 0 2 1 6
Colleges with full-enrolment 1 (33) - 0 1 (100) 2 (33)
< 80 per cent enrolment 0 - 1 (50) 0 1 (17)
Marginal Increase 1 (33) - 0 0 1 (16.67)

Sociology Colleges offering course 3 2 3 0 8
Colleges with full-enrolment 3 (100) 1 (50) 2 (67) 0 6 (75)
< 80 per cent enrolment 0 0 1 (33) 0 1 (13)
Marginal Increase 2 (67) 1 (50) 1 (33) 0 4 (50)

Islamic Colleges offering course 3 0 3 1 7
History Colleges with full-enrolment 2 (67) - 3 (100) 1 (100) 6 (86)
Marginal Increase 1 (33) - 2 (67) 0 3 (43)

Psychology Colleges offering course 2 1 1 - 4
Colleges with full-enrolment 2 (100) 0 0 - 2 (50)
Marginal Increase 1 (50) 0 0 - 1 (25)


Figures in brackets are percentages. * In English two colleges had enrolment below 70 %; **In Malayalam 3 < 70 %, 2
< 60 % and 1 < 50 %.
* Figures in brackets are percentages of total colleges offering the course. * Includes colleges with more than full
enrolment on account of marginal increase sanctioned from year to year. ** Colleges availing marginal increase only.
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Response from Kerala colleges





15
Table 2.26: Number of Colleges offering Other subjects and enrolment, 2007-09

NO OF COLLEGES SUBJECT NO. OF
COLLEGES
OFFERING
SUBJECT
AVERAGE
ENROLMENT
RATIO
(ENR)
FULL
ENR
< 80 %
ENR
< 50 %
ENR
Electronics 3 97.11 1 (33) 0 0
Micro biology 4 90.18 2 (50) 1 (25) 0
Biochemistry 4 91.03 2 (50) 1 (25) 0
Biotechnology 6 93.85 4 (67) 1 (17) 0
Industrial Chemistry 2 81.45 1 (50) 1 (50) 0
Polymer Chemistry 4 89.75 1 (25) 0 0

Home Science 9 71.13 3 (33) 5 (56) 2 (22)
Geology 8 89.24 5 (63) 1 (13) 1 (13)
Geography 3 94.62 0 0 0

Functional Eng 5 93.02 5 (100) 0 0
Communicative Eng 4 95.83 1 (25) 0 0
Sanskrit 10 89.07 4 (40) 3 (30) 0
Arabic 9 100 9 (100) 0 0
Music 4 73.31 0 3 (75) 0

BBA 13 98.72 9 (69) 0 0
BBM 1 100 1 (100) 0 0
TTM 2 98.5 1 (50) 0 0

Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Response from Kerala colleges


Table 2.27: Self Financing Courses in Arts and Science Colleges by University of
Affiliation
UNIVERSITY
Self Financing
Courses (SFC)
Kerala MG Calicut Kannur
Total
Colleges with no SFC 28 6 31 15 80
% of Colleges sans SFC 88 30 69 83 70

No. of SFC offered 4 24 22 3 53
% of total SFC offered 8 42 42 6 100
Source: Response from Kerala colleges








16

Table 2.28: Number of Colleges offering Self financing courses and enrolment in
them, 2006-09*
NO OF COLLEGES SUBJECT NO. OF
COLLEGES
OFFERING
SUBJECT
AVERAGE
ENROLMENT
RATIO
(ENR)
FULL
ENR
< 80 %
ENR
< 50 %
ENR
Computer Science 4 92 2 1 0
Electronics 3 84 2 1 0
Microbiology 3 91 1 1 0
Bio-Technology 5 99 4 0 0
Polymer Chemistry 2 83 1 1 0
Biochemistry 2 86 1 1 0
BCA 1 98 0 0 0
Fisheries 1 72 0 1 0
Total no of courses 21 11 6 0

Mathematics 1 76 0 1 0
Political Science 1 84 0 0 0
Total no of courses 2 0 1 0

Functional English 2 96 1 0
Communicative English 5 96 4 1 0
Tamil 1 100 1 0 0
French 1 26 0 0 1
Bharatanatyam 1 14 0 0 1
Mass Communication 1 100 1 0 0
BFT 1 68 0 1 0
Museology 1 29 0 0 1
Total no of courses 12 7 2 3

B.Com 10 98 5 0 0
BBA 2 100 2 0 0
TTM 1 100 1 0 0
Total no of courses 13 8 0 0

Grand Total no of courses 50 26 9 3

* We have considered the average of students admitted over three years, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09.
Source: Response from Kerala colleges







17
2.3 Socio-economic Profile of Students
Using mainly data generated through surveys in seven colleges distributed across the
state to profile students in terms of socio-economic characteristics this section explores
issues at the intersections of access and equity. The colleges were selected to represent
the diversity of regional / spatial contexts as well as social (caste and religious)
composition of college managements, which are expected to have a bearing on the
student composition in each. The analysis is not intended to provide general conclusions
applicable to arts and science colleges in Kerala as a whole, but is expected to raise the
specificity of issues with respect to colleges as well as indicate aspects on which colleges
share a more general state-wide character. Table 1.65 in the previous chapter provides
the locational and other co-ordinates of six of the seven colleges in which surveys were
conducted. The survey was conducted additionally in a college in Kasargod district,
which because of its remote location promised to raise distinct problems. Thus, we have
survey data of students from three government and four private aided colleges but more
detailed investigations only in six colleges. One of the Government colleges was located
at a city centre, two were in poorly connected rural localities in Wayanad and Kasargod
respectively, both with a sizeable tribal population. Two of the aided colleges belonged
to Christian managements, one an elite womens colleges in central Travancore
belonging to the Syrian Catholic community (FC) and run by its church diocese and the
other a college established to serve the Latin Catholic community (OBC) in a coastal
stretch on an urban periphery. We also have a reputed college managed by an
independent Muslim trust in a northern city and a college managed by a caste
organization (FC) in poorly connected rural locality in central Kerala. Thus these
colleges may be expected to provide us with a reasonably good picture of the
heterogeneous character of arts and science colleges and their student composition in
Kerala. We will attempt to provide a socio-economic profile of students through analysis
of characteristics such as education and employment, caste, gender, religious
composition.



18
2.4 Caste and Community
The SC and ST composition in our sample colleges taken together is nearly 20 per cent,
which is up to the reservation quota for them and clearly in excess of the position in the
state as a whole (table 2.31). Indeed, arts and science colleges are generally known to
have difficulty in filling the reservation quota and there are few colleges where we did
not hear of the difficulty of getting sufficient applicants for the quota. In 2006, only
13.63 per cent of students in Government and aided arts and science colleges in Kerala
were from SC and ST communities (GoI, 2007). In 2000 the figure was still less (12 per
cent) and a Government of Kerala report noted that their share in the self financing
colleges was marginal (Salim 2008: 54). In our sample, the excess is because both the
College G3 and College G2 net in relatively high proportions of ST students owing to
their location in tribal concentration areas. Thus few colleges could be expected to have
similar proportions of ST students, while many are likely to have a negligible ST
presence as in the case of College A1, College G1 and College A2 in our sample. On the
other hand, College G1 and College A1 net in relatively high proportions of SC students
owing to rather specific factors. College G1 is an urban college but a large proportion of
its students come from the rural areas, owing partly to the preference for professional and
technical education within the city and also because of its reputation for violent politics,
which keeps the middle class away. The College A1 caters to a socially and
economically backward taluk, allowing it to draw applications from sufficient SC
applicants.

Less than half the students in the seven colleges taken together are from OBC families.
The share of OBC population in Kerala would be roughly between 50 to 55 per cent as it
includes three numerically large social groups, the Ezhavas, the Latin Catholics and the
Mappilas (Muslims in Malabar) and numerous small caste groups.
2
Hence the OBC
student composition in our sample is somewhat less than their approximate population

2
The population breakup for religious groups in 2001 was Hindu 57 per cent, Muslim 24 per cent and
Christian 19 per cent (Zachariah 2001). Among the Hindus, the major sub groups are Ezhava and Nair who
comprise roughly 20 per cent each of the entire population whereas the SC comprise about 10 per cent, ST
about one per cent and the remaining are small caste groups. The Christians in Kerala are divided across
rites into Syrian and Latin, among whom the Latin Catholics constitute a little less than one third
(syrianchurch.org). The vast majority of Muslims in Kerala are Mappilas who reside in the Malabar area
and are OBC.
19
share in the state. Though our sample is not expected to represent the overall position in
the state, the under representation of OBCs may well reflect a more general social
disadvantage of the OBC in Kerala. The FC, especially the Nairs and Syrian Christians,
have a strong historical advantage in accessing education and the Syrian Christians
manage the single largest number of arts and science colleges.
3
Further, a Gross
enrolment ratio of 21 per cent (according to the NSS) indicates that most persons in the
age group do not have access to higher education. It is only plausible that larger
proportions of OBC and SC / ST students fail to enter higher education either because
they drop out or fail at earlier levels than FC (Salim, 2008: 83). Within higher education
the shift to professional and technical education is perceived to be greater in regions
where the FC are dominant (central Travancore) than others. Their disadvantage is more
marked at the higher levels, for instance, the share of SC / ST and OBC students at the
post graduate level of professional education is only half of what it is at the degree level
(Salim 2008: 54). A study conducted in OBC dominated areas in and around Kozhikode,
showed that among the successful candidates in engineering and medicine entrance
examinations, there was a slightly higher share of OBC than FC candidates but the OBC
in the areas were also relatively more affluent (Salim, 83).

In our sample, College A2 and College A4 have over 75 per cent OBC students. They
are run by Latin Catholic and Muslim organizations respectively to cater particularly to
these communities and are located in areas with a concentration of these social groups.
Further, while College A4 draws about half its students from the adjoining Malapuram
district, which has a Muslim majority population, College A2 draws over 15 per cent
students from Allapuzha, where too there is a significant Latin catholic coastal
population. On the other hand, College A3 and College A1, which have the lowest OBC
composition are managed by FC organizations and have the highest shares of FC
students. If we consider that College A3 is located in a region characterized by Syrian
Christians affluence and mobility, where aspirations especially among the FC are tuned
towards professional and technical education, the over 50 per cent FC composition may

3
The Syrian Christians colleges include those under the management of the Syrian Catholics, Orthodox
and others (CSI), with sub groups among them. There are about 18 arts and science colleges of the NSS,
16 of the SNDP, eight by the MES and a few more by independent Muslim trusts.
20
be linked to it being an all womens college. We saw in the previous section that the
womens colleges suffered far less than the mens or mixed colleges from low enrolment
ratios in some of the science subjects and that a higher cut off mark accentuates
enrolment shortage in some of the reputed aided colleges. In contrast to College A3, the
College A1 college is located in a socially and economically backward taluk of Trissur
district and this may be one of the factors accounting for the near 50 per cent FC student
composition. Notably, the College G3, which is a government college, has a higher
proportion of FC than OBC students. The college is located in a poorly connected rural
area with few other educational institutions and has a fairly large settler FC population
(Syrian Christian and Nair). The privileged position of FC students within the arts and
science segment is apparent in table 2.32, which shows that they have a relative
advantage in the B Com course, the most preferred course according to all accounts. As
against this, the SC and ST have a higher share in the Arts courses than in others and the
OBC in the Science courses. Notably, the ST has a notably lower share in B. Com
compared to other courses indicating a qualitative disadvantage, as preferences were
highly skewed towards it.

While the caste disadvantage of the SC, ST is evident in the general inability to fill the
reservation quota for them, our analysis shows that even colleges which are located in
areas with relatively higher shares of ST in the population, have only up to 15 per cent ST
in their student composition.
4
This raises significant concern for equity within access. In
the case of the OBC, only in colleges managed by them was their share in student
composition higher than their approximate population share. Except in the two OBC
managed colleges, their share in student composition was less than their approximate
population share. Only in one of the Government colleges, College G2 is it roughly
within the range of the OBC population share. Thus caste and community status continue
to be barriers in the access that students have to higher education.




4
Wayanad district has the highest concentration of tribals in the state and some panchayats have about 20
per cent tribal families.
21
Table 2.41 : Social category of students by college
COLLEGE SC ST OBC Forward OEC NR Total
College G1 22 (21.6) 1 (1.0) 48 (47.1) 27 (26.5) 3 (2.9) 1 (1.0) 102 (100)
College A1 22 (20.4) 0 38 (35.2) 47 (43.5) 0 1 (0.9) 108 (100)
College A2 13 (16.0) 1 (1.2) 62 (76.5) 3 (3.7) 1 (1.2) 1 (1.2) 81 (100)
College A3 19 (15.0) 5 (3.9) 30 (23.6) 66 (52.0) 3 ((3.7) 4 (3.1) 127 (100)
College A4 13 (16.0) 2 (2.5) 62 (76.5) 3 (3.7) 0 1 (1.2) 81 (100)
College G2 4 (10) 5 (12.5) 21 (52.5) 8 (20.0) 1 (2.5) 1 (2.5) 40 (100)
College G3 3 (2.9) 15 (14.6) 41 (39.8) 44 (42.7) 0 0 103 (100)
Total 96 (15) 29 (4.5) 302 (47) 198 (30.8) 8 (1.2) 9 (1.4) 642 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey



Table 2.42: Social background of students according to Degree courses
COURSE SC ST OBC Forward Total
BA 53 (16.2) 18 (5.5) 150 (45.9) 98 (30.0)
327 (100)
B Com 23 (13.9) 4 (2.4) 77 (46.7) 55 (33.3)
165 (100)
B Sc 20 (13.3) 7 (4.7) 75 (50) 45 (30)
150 (100)
Total 96 (15.0) 29 (4.5) 302 (47) 198 (30.8)
642 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


2.5: Education and Employment of Family
The best employment category, when more than one member in a family had
employment, was taken to indicate at least roughly the economic position of the family
from which the student was drawn.
5
Only 20 per cent of students were drawn from
families, where daily wage labour is the best employment option available (table 2.51).
As it is only plausible that this category would account for a majority of students who do
not have access to higher education and especially to categories like professional and
technical education that involves higher expenditures, their representation in
undergraduate arts and science education is of considerable significance. Students from

5
As broad categories of work, these include a range of occupations. Self employment comprises mostly
farming and business (including small manufacturers and traders, contractors, owners of retail stores, hotels
and training institutes. It also included those who worked as salespersons (not in shops) and commission
agents. Regular salaried work comprises occupations ranging from mostly lower level jobs in government
organizations, jobs in local cooperatives, teachers and clerical positions in banks and other organizations.
Private sector jobs were included in professional when they were reported as the category of management
and executives and in regular salaried in clerical and office staff. A wide range of skilled workers such as
plumbers, mechanics, drivers, masons, carpenters and so on were categorized as skilled / technical labour.
Casual labour is daily wage labour and the others had retired persons and apprentices. Professionals had
engineers, doctors, agricultural and bank officers and managers, business executives and IT professionals.

22
families relying on daily wage labour have greater access to some colleges than to others.
Notably, College G1 and college G2, have over 30 per cent of students from families that
have casual labour as the best job in the family. Both are government colleges. UC, an
urban college is able to accommodate nearly 40 per cent such students at least partly by
default i.e., it has a violent reputation that keeps the middle class away. College G2 on
the other hand is located in an economically backward rural area with a relatively higher
proportion of ST families. College A4, College A2 and college A1 they have moderate
levels of access (about 20 per cent), which is likely to be far less than the proportion of
population that depends on daily wage labour for a livelihood, whereas in College A3
they have very poor access. The inadequate access of the poor is reflected in the
comments of the students of college A1 that higher education remains a dream for the
poor, even where students have the desire to purse a higher education, there are
situations where their financial circumstances do not allow them and this situation must
be changed and all deserving students should be given the opportunity to go for a higher
education.

It is notable in this context that the College G3 has only 12 per cent students from daily
wage labour families. Two factors could account for the seemingly better employment
profile of College G3, which is a government college located in a rural area with a
relatively higher proportion of tribal families, a) that it draws students from relatively
better off sections in the region, even among tribal families and b) that it draws students
from small and marginal farming families that are classified as self employed. Both seem
to contribute to the student body at this college. Our discussions with the college
Principal revealed that the ST students were almost entirely from sub groups that were
relatively more well to do (but no more than relatively). The Principal told us that in
2008-09 a student from the Paniya sub group had joined the college, according to him
only the third student from the group in the history of the college, but had left a few
months later. The student had told him that he was leaving because of financial problems
at home upon which the Principal said he had arranged a scholarship for him through the
sports department as the student was a good sportsman. However he was unable to draw
the student back and later he learnt indirectly that the student had felt marginalized
23
(ottapettupozhi or isolated) in the college. There was a feeling among students that large
numbers of aspirants in the region were not able to gain access to colleges. Their
comments indicated that there was a lack of information among people about courses but
also that people had to look to other districts and states for their needs as adequate
opportunities were not available in the district. In the Government institutions there are
not enough courses and only limited seats. Hence for poor students a higher education
remains a dream. We do not have the opportunities to learn about good courses and job
prospects. The private establishments have better courses and because of this education
is becoming expensive. There must be efforts to increase the number of seats in
government institutions (Student of College G3).

College A3 comes across as a higher end college, drawing 15 per cent of students from
families with their best jobs in professional employment, more than twice that of any
other college and over 40 per cent in regular salaried work. College A3 is the most elite
of the colleges in our sample. It is also the most cosmopolitan, drawing less than 40 per
cent of students from the district in which it is located, another 40 per cent from the
adjoining districts, Pathanamthitta and Allapuzha (table 2.52). It even has students from
some of the more distant northern districts and Lakshadweep. Thus, cosmopolitanism
and socio-economic advantages correspond, in greater spatial mobility and higher social
profile of students. UC has about 30 per cent of students from the regular salaried
category of families, indicating that it draws students from two distinctt socio-economic
groups the middle class and daily wage labour. It is notable that despite its location it
has less than five per cent students from families with professional employment. Though
UC has students from Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep, 97 per cent of students were from
Trivandrum rendering it less cosmopolitan. In the case of College A4, a higher
proportion of families relying on self employment may be an indication of relative
affluence, as this comprised employment in business and trade as well as agriculture.
Further, in College A4, where skilled labour was the best job option available in about a
quarter of families, it included options in the Gulf region. Owing to its high reputation,
College A4 draws about half its students from the adjoining Malapuram district about ten
per cent from other places including Lakshadweep and less than 40 per cent from
24
Kozhikode where it is located. In College A2, however, with nearly 35 per cent of
families with best jobs in the skilled labour category, it was on account of a high
proportion of students drawn from the coastal community. College A2 draws about 17
per cent of students from Allapuzha and the rest from Kochi where it is located. As
against the elite profile of students in College A3 and to a smaller extent College A4, the
lower class character of College A2, located in the commercial hub of the state and UC,
located in the capital city, were apparent in their lack of a more cosmopolitan student
base. College A1 has a relatively more even distribution of families of students across
best job categories corresponding to a more even distribution of students across social
categories (SC, OBC and FC). It lacks cosmopolitanism drawing its students from the
region, the district and parts of Palghat district, which it is located close to.

Disadvantages in access to higher education of specific groups are highlighted when we
consider social category and economic status together. Table 2.53 shows that nearly 35
per cent of SC and ST students are from families that rely on daily wage labour alone.
Another 30 per cent of SC families had resort to regular salaried work whereas 40 per
cent of ST families derived their livelihoods from self employment (owing largely to the
occupational base of families of students in College G3). It is also notable that there is a
greater dispersion of opportunities among SC families than ST, arising from the
concentration of ST students in fewer areas. The distinctly higher economic status of the
FC families is apparent in their relatively high share in professional and regular salaried
and their very low share in casual and skilled labour. Along with ST families, they also
have a relatively high share in self employment which is however a mixed category.

Parental education of students shows most importantly that almost all the parents taken
together have been exposed to formal education, indicating that this may be an influence
on the access of students to higher education. However, 70 per cent or more of them had
no more than school education i.e., school final or less (table 2.54). Thus, an
overwhelmingly high proportion of the students in arts and science education are first
generation college goers. At the college level, nearly half the students of College A3 had
parents with more than school education and between 20 and 30 per cent with degree or
25
higher levels of education. The three rural colleges (college A1, College G2 and College
G3) had the lowest profile of parental education and the highest proportions of first
generation college students. Further, education of parents according to social category
shows the high disadvantage of ST parents in this respect, who have either school final or
less or no education (table 2.55). The SC and OBC parents have a more diverse profile.
In the case of the SC, about 27 per cent of fathers and 20 per cent of mothers of students
have higher than school final levels of education. This is better than the OBC parents
who have higher than school education, 17 per cent of fathers and 22 per cent of mothers.
This is an indication that SC students who have access to higher education are from
families with a relatively better social profile (if read in combination employment profile
where a quarter of parents had regular salaried employment), those without this are
clearly being excluded. The table also highlights the huge social advantage of the FC in
this respect, with all parents having some formal education and about 40 per cent of them
having levels over school final.

In order to understand the terms upon which underprivileged students access higher
education, we analyzed data on the number of students doing part time work, the nature
of work taken up by students and how they use their earnings. Table 2.56 shows that
while 15 per cent of students were engaged in part time work across colleges, the rate
was considerably higher at nearly 30 per cent in College G3 and 25 per cent in College
G1. On the other hand it was less than five per cent in College A3. Nearly half the
students doing part time work in College G3 took up daily wage labour, which was
relatively high also in UC, indicating the urgency to work. However, during the
fieldwork we learnt that many students took up part time work to finance their personal
expenditures, related in particular to maintaining mobile phones and use of IT facilities.
This was especially so in the urban locations but even in places like college A1, though it
is rural there were students who earned for their personal expenses. A comment by a
student from college A1 reveals some of the emerging tensions. Higher education has
become entirely commercial. It favours those with money. While, poor students struggle
to study by doing wage labour and part time jobs the sons of Kubera spend their time
chatting on the internet and listening to music on the mobile phone but the higher
26
education sector of our society gives preference to the sons of Kubera and mocks us. In
terms of social categories, we find that significantly higher proportions of SC and ST
students had taken up daily wage labour followed by skilled labour (table 2.57). Table
2.58 shows that while 70 per cent of students engaged in part time work used the income
for educational expenses a higher proportion of SC and ST students were using their
income also to support their families. Whereas all students reported receiving some
support from family (parents or other relatives) to meet the expenses of higher education,
a higher proportion of SC / ST than other students were also contributing financially to
their families.
Table 2.51: Best employment of family members of students in select seven colleges
Name of college
Prof
Self
Employed Regular
Skilled
Labour
Daily wage
labour Others* Total
College G1 4 8 29 19 30 3 93
4.3% 8.6% 31.2% 20.4% 32.3% 3.2% 100.0%
College A1 5 25 22 27 20 2 101
5.0% 24.8% 21.8% 26.7% 19.8% 2.0% 100.0%
College A2 3 16 15 25 14 0 73
4.1% 21.9% 20.5% 34.2% 19.2% .0% 100.0%
College A3 15 20 42 13 9 2 101
14.9% 19.8% 41.6% 12.9% 8.9% 2.0% 100.0%
College A4 4 22 12 17 13 0 68
5.9% 32.4% 17.6% 25.0% 19.1% .0% 100.0%
College G2 0 12 9 4 15 0 40
.0% 30.0% 22.5% 10.0% 37.5% .0% 100.0%
College G3 5 46 20 17 12 0 100
5.0% 46.0% 20.0% 17.0% 12.0% .0% 100.0%
Total 36 149 149 122 113 7 576
6.3% 25.9% 25.9% 21.2% 19.6% 1.2% 100.0%
* Others comprise retired with pension and apprentice

Table 2.52: Student outreach of colleges
COLLEGE % OF LOCAL
STUDENTS
DISTRICT BASE OF
STUDENTS
College G1 97 4*
College A1 89.8 2
College A2 82.7 2
College A3 39.4 9#
College A4 37 7#
College G2 92.5 3
College G3 100 1
* Including Lakshadweep and Tamil Nadu, # Lakshadweep

27
Table 2.53: Best job in the Students family by social category

Professional
Self
Employed Regular
Skilled
Labour Retired
Casual
labour
TOTAL
SC 2 8 25 19 0 28 82
2.4% 9.8% 30.5% 23.2% .0% 34.1% 100.0%
ST 0 9 6 0 0 8 23
.0% 39.1% 26.1% .0% .0% 34.8% 100.0%
OBC 11 73 58 75 4 58 279
3.9% 26.2% 20.8% 26.9% 1.4% 20.8% 100.0%
Forward 23 55 57 26 2 16 179
12.8% 30.7% 31.8% 14.5% 1.1% 8.9% 100.0%
OEC 0 2 1 1 1 2 7
.0% 28.6% 14.3% 14.3% 14.3% 28.6% 100.0%
NA 0 2 2 1 0 1 6
.0% 33.3% 33.3% 16.7% .0% 16.7% 100.0%
Total 36 149 149 122 7 113 576
6.3% 25.9% 25.9% 21.2% 1.2% 19.6% 100.0%

Table 2.54: Education levels of parents of students by colleges
No
schooling
School
final or less Plus two Diploma* Degree Others
COLLEGE
M F M F M F M F M F M F
University college 2 1 63 64 13 10 2 4 9 4 2 5
% 2.2 1.1 69.2 72.7 14.3 11.4 2.2 4.5 9.9 4.5 2.2 5.7
College A1 college 1 1 78 82 21 3 2 4 0 5 1 0
% 1.0 1.1 75.7 86.3 20.4 3.2 1.9 4.2 .0 5.3 1.0 .0
College A2 college 0 0 55 58 18 12 0 0 8 3 2 2
% .0 .0 66.3 77.3 21.7 16.0 .0 .0 9.6 4.0 2.4 2.7
College A3 college 2 0 43 48 22 18 3 12 16 10 11 10
% 2.1 .0 44.3 49.0 22.7 18.4 3.1 12.2 16.5 10.2 11.3 10.2
College A4 college 0 1 59 48 10 6 0 3 4 8 2 3
% .0 1.4 78.7 69.6 13.3 8.7 .0 4.3 5.3 11.6 2.7 4.3
College G2 college 1 4 35 30 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
% 2.5 11.1 87.5 83.3 10.0 5.6 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0
College G3 6 0 75 80 14 4 0 2 3 4 1 2
% 6.1 .0 75.8 87.0 14.1 4.3 .0 2.2 3.0 4.3 1.0 2.2
Total 12 7 408 410 102 55 7 25 40 34 19 22
% 2.0 1.3 69.4 74.1 17.3 9.9 1.2 4.5 6.8 6.1 3.2 4.0
* Diploma includes those done after the 10
th
and 12
th
standards.













28
Table 2.55: Education of Parents of students by social category

No schooling
School final
or less Plus two Diploma* Degree Others
M F M F M F M F M F M F
SC 4 2 64 55 10 12 1 4 6 1 1 4
% 4.7 2.6 74.4 70.5 11.6 15.4 1.2 5.1 7.0 1.3 1.2 5.1
ST 4 3 19 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
% 17.4 13.6 82. 86.4 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0
OBC 4 2 214 221 45 17 2 5 12 18 5 6
% 1.4 .7 75.9 82.2 16.0 6.3 .7 1.9 4.3 6.7 1.8 2.2
FC 0 0 102 105 47 24 3 15 19 15 12 12
% .0 .0 55.7 61.4 25.7 14.0 1.6 8.8 10.4 8.8 6.6 7.0
OEC 0 0 5 5 0 2 1 1 1 0 1 0
% .0 .0 62.5 62.5 .0 25.0 12.5 12.5 12.5 .0 12.5 .0
NA 0 0 4 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
% .0 .0 66.7 100.0 .0 .0 .0 .0 33.3 .0 .0 .0
Total 12 7 408 410 102 55 7 25 40 34 19 22
% 2.0 1.3 69.4 74.1 17.3 9.9 1.2 4.5 6.8 6.1 3.2 4.0


Table 2.56: College and part time employment
NATURE OF WORK
COLLEGE Skilled
labour
Sales and
service Others
Casual
labour
Not
Specified
Total
students
working
% of total
students
in college
College G1 4 (16) 2 (8.0) 8 (32) 5 (20) 6 (24) 25 (100) 24.5
College A1 5 (50) 3 (30) 2 (20) 0 0 10 (100) 9.3
College A2 3 (23) 4 (31) 5 (38) 0 1 (8) 13 (100) 16.0
College A3 0 2 (33) 3 (50) 0 1 (17) 6 (100) 4.7
College A4 0 4 (36) 3 (27) 3 (27) 1 (9) 11 (100) 13.6
College G2 2 (50) 0 0 1 (25) 1 (25) 4 (100) 10.0
College G3 4 (13) 5 (17) 4 (13) 14 (47) 3 (10) 30 (100) 29.1
Total 18 (18) 20 (20) 25 (25) 23 (23) 13 (13) 99 (100) 15.4
N 99; Figures in parenthesis are percentages.

Table 2.57: Nature of part time work undertaken by students
Skilled
labour
Sales and
services
Daily wage
labour Others
Not specified
TOTAL
SC 4 (25) 2 (12.5) 4 (25) 2 (12.5) 4 (25) 16 (16.67)
ST 1 (16.67) 0 2 (33.33) 0 3 (50) 6 (20.69)
OBC 8 (16) 11 (22) 12 (24) 17 (34) 2 (4) 50 (16.56)
FC 5 (20.83) 7 (29.17) 4 (16.67) 6 (25) 2 (8.33) 24 (12.12)
OEC 0 0 1 (50) 0 1 (50) 2 (25)
Total 18 (18.18) 20 (20.20) 23 (23.23) 25 (25.25) 12 (12.12) 98 (15.63)
N 98 (one not specified caste category); Figures in parenthesis are percentages.

29
Table 2.58: Use of income by students doing part time work
Use of Income SOCIAL
CATEGORY
Support family Education expense Personal expense Others
Total
SC 6 (37.5) 10 (62.5) 10 (62.5) 0 16 (100)
ST 3 (50) 3 (50) 1 (16.7) 0 6 (100)
OBC 21 (42) 38 (76) 21 (42) 0 50 (100)
Forward 3 (12.5) 18 (75) 11 (45.83) 0 24 (100)
OEC 0 0 1 (50) 1 (50) 2 (100)
Total 34 (34.34) 70 (70.70) 44 (44.44) 1 (0.67) 98 (100)
N 98 (category not specified in one case). Figures in parenthesis are percentages.

2.6 Framing the predominance of women
The predominance of women in arts and science education is well documented. Over 70
per cent of students in our sample colleges are women, according to table 2.61. Table
1.32 in the previous chapter shows that in 2008, 65 per cent of students in the
undergraduate courses in arts and science colleges in Kerala were girls. Our sample is
likely to exaggerate the predominance of girls to some extent because a section of boys
tend to be absent from class on a fairly regular basis. We learnt during the research that
some of them took up jobs or attended short term training courses, the timings of which
coincide with class hours. There was also a tendency among boys to shirk class, either
not going to the college or hanging out on campus but not attending class. This was
much more the case in some colleges than others. College A2 and College A4 for
instance did not permit students to hang out on the premises and this was immediately
visible to an observer. Shirking was characteristic of UC and not uncommon in College
A1. In UC, where the writ of one student organization held sway it was possible to
manipulate the attendance so that absence from class did not affect their ability to write
the exams. During group discussions in College A1 some of the boys attributed this to the
lack of boys in the class, which made them turn away.

The share of women varied between 76 per cent among SC students and 70 per cent
among OBC students (table 2.61) in our sample colleges. Table 2.62 shows that religious
identity did not contribute to variation in sex composition of students among Muslims
whereas it seems to have done so among the Christians (Latin Catholics). This is
significant given prevailing perceptions of the educational backwardness of Muslim girls.
30
The Principal of College A4 pointed out that there has been perceptible change in the
attitude to higher education of Muslim girls among families in the region (Kozhikode and
Malapuram). He said that there is an increasing trend of girls continuing with higher
education after marriage alongside a growing appreciation of the value of higher
education. The sex ratio of Muslim students in College A4 was only slightly less than
that of Hindu students in College A1. The sex ratio parity of Christian students in
College A2 owed partly to the choice of courses (commerce, economics and physics),
which have relatively more male students, but the difference between Christians and
other religious categories in the same college indicates that a generally higher presence of
male students from the OBC Christian community (coastal fisherfolk). The sex ratio of
College G1 is close to parity for an entirely extraneous reason College G1 has a ceiling
on the admission of girls to 8 undergraduate courses, which are offered by a government
womens college in the same city. This includes economics and zoology, which we took
up for survey. Among the different courses, B Com has the most balanced sex ratio
followed by economics and physics (table 2.63) the strongest indication of the pattern of
gendering of undergraduate arts and science education, where the courses that are
perceived to have better job prospects also have more male students. Maths and Home
Science were taken up for surveys only in College A3 hence there were no boys. Partly
on account of this the science subjects overall have a higher sex ratio of girls than the arts
subjects. This is not the case at the state level. One factor in this outcome is that boys
tended to be absent less from science classes than from arts.

The performance of girls at the higher secondary level as well as the smaller proportion
of girls aspiring for professional, technical and other diploma courses are factors
influencing the sex ratio in undergraduate arts and science education. Table 2.64 shows
that for all colleges together girls performed better than boys in the higher secondary
examinations with higher proportions of girls in the higher marks classes and vice versa.
In UC, the ceiling on girls is responsible for their significantly higher proportions in the
two highest marks classes and during interviews teachers had complained about the
ceiling preventing them from giving admission to more girls who apply and have
relatively better performance than boys who are admitted. College A4 and College G3
31
were exceptions to this. In College A4 there is a significantly higher proportion of boys
than girls in the two highest marks classes. This may be due to the reputation of the
college, which enables it attract the best male students from Malappuram and other
districts. Another reason is that we have surveyed students of sociology, which is offered
at the undergraduate level in very few colleges. Also table 2.65 shows that a smaller
proportion of girls than boys had applied for professional, technical or other diploma
courses, indicating perhaps a greater level of interest (for whatsoever reasons) in arts and
science education. Over 50 per cent of boys who did science at the higher secondary
level had applied as against only about half the proportion of girls.

Further, to the question whether they had gained admission to the course of their
preference, the variations were quite striking across subjects and sex. Overall, over 90
per cent of students of Commerce and English said they got their preferred subject. The
lowest proportions of students reporting that they got the subject of their preference was
in Maths, Physics, Home Science and Malayalam. Higher proportions of girls than boys
in Commerce and History said they got their preferred course, whereas in the courses
with overall lower preference, boys revealed higher levels of preference than girls. We
also see a greater tendency for girls who did science in the higher secondary to shift to
arts at the graduate level whereas a higher proportion of boys who did commerce at the
higher secondary shifted to arts, the latter may be on account of their inability to get
admission to commerce or to other preferred courses (table 2.67).

It may be argued that the numerical advantage enjoyed by women in this segment reflects
a process of gendering rather than social privilege. We have already seen in the previous
chapter that the predominance of girls has increased over the 1990s and consolidated
itself as an overarching feature across the state. We also noted that the share of women
varied across courses, with the undergraduate arts and science falling mid way between
post graduate arts and science courses and teaching with about 80 per cent women and
professional and technical education, where men continue to dominate except in
medicine. Gendering is evident as well in the difference in sex ratios over courses and
subjects in undergraduate arts and science colleges. The most balanced sex ratio being in
what is perceived as the more job oriented Commerce and Economics. In central
32
Travancore where some of the reputed aided colleges are finding it difficult to get
sufficient students in the science subjects, most of the womens colleges had significantly
higher enrolment ratios. How do we interpret the predominance of women in arts and
science education? We could probe this issue by looking at the current status of siblings
of students who have completed their education (are not reported to be studying). Table
2.68 shows that less than 35 per cent of sisters as against over 80 per cent of brothers of
students are employed. In contrast, about 20 per cent of sisters are not available for work
and 45 per cent are available for work but are not employed. Others (professional, post
graduate and PG diploma) and diploma holders have the highest possibility of
employment among sisters but their employment levels are far below that of brothers at
any level of education. Brothers employment by education levels suggests that the
possibility of employment of boys is lowest for degree and diploma holders. Also
brothers with degree and diploma also have significantly higher levels of unemployment
than at other levels of education, providing less incentive to pursue degree courses. In
contrast, the possibility of employment of sisters rises with the level of education (with
the exception of diploma, where it is highest) even as those who are not interested in
taking up work declines. The latter is over 40 per cent among sisters with school final or
less and declines to about 20 per cent at the degree level while among those with above
degree and professional qualifications it is below 10 per cent. Thus, girls have an
incentive to join arts and science colleges if they would like to be employed. And yet
nearly half of them are likely to remain unemployed. Hence the implications are mixed
at best for girls. This is reflected in the discourse on gender in colleges. Students at
COLLEGE A1 viewed the predominance of girls most importantly as an outcome of the
responsibility on the boys to take care of their families. Hence, according to them, boys
could less afford to spend time in an education process that was at best uncertain to yield
jobs and were likely thereby to opt out. While most of the girls were firm that they
would like to be employed, they usually concurred that it was a decision that had to be
made collectively with their families. However, they also spoke of a more diffuse aspect
of gendering that prompted boys to absent themselves from class even when they were
not attending other courses or jobs. They spoke of the tendency among boys to have a
good time. Girls too had a good time but they were less reckless about it and did not do
33
so at the cost of attending class. Some of them also spoke of the implications for girls of
being carefree like the boys, because they would be noticed and would have to answer
for it. A teacher at College A3 pointed out that she always chides students when she sees
them going out with boys that it would do no good to them. They had a future to think
about, which could be secured only through marriage and their chances of marriage could
be ruined by such immodest behaviour.

We have already seen that caste poses social disadvantage to students in terms of access
to higher education but also the social and economic profile of those who gain access. It
would be useful here to look at whether caste impinges on the employment prospects of
women students extrapolated from achieved employment status of the sisters of students
currently in undergraduate arts and science education. Caste disadvantage of SC and ST
students is marked with respect to the employment status of both sisters and brothers of
students (table 2.69). The proportion of SC women (sisters of students) who are
employed is well below the average for all women and roughly half that of FC women.
Part of the reason for this the higher levels of education achieved by FC women. In the
case of ST women, over 60 per cent of them are unemployed as against only 36 per cent
of FC women. Further, significantly higher proportions of SC and OBC women are
reported to be not interested in work than ST and FC women. The same pattern was
noticed among men (brothers of students) but the gap between SC, ST and FC was not as
large as for women (sisters of students). Hence, caste disadvantage is apparent both in
the ability of students to achieve higher levels of education and the possibility of gaining
employment. This could serve as a deterrent to pursuing higher levels of education, when
the rewards are seen to be poor. Implicated here also is a concern for equity. For despite
reservations in jobs at various levels for SC / ST communities, men and women with
higher education in these communities are remaining unemployed even while routinely
we hear of vacant reserved posts. In our sample three fourths of the unemployed SC
women (sisters of students) had plus two or higher levels of education (37 % had degree
or more). The ST men and women had relatively lower levels of education but even
with plus two and degree levels of education were unemployed (table not shown).

34
Table 2.61: Social category by sex composition
SEX COMPOSITION SOCIAL CATEGORY
MALE FEMALE
TOTAL
SC 27 (28.1) 69 (71.9) 96 (100)
ST 7 (24.1) 22 (75.9) 29 (100)
OBC 91 (30.1) 211 (69.9) 302 (100)
Forward 51 (25.8) 147 (74.2) 198 (100)
OEC 2 (25.0) 6 (75.0) 8 (100)
NR 4 (44.4) 5 (55.6) 9 (100)
Total 182 (28.3) 460 (71.7) 642 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

Table 2.62: Religion and sex composition by college
HINDU MUSLIM CHRISTIAN TOTAL COLLEGE
M F T M F T M F T M F T
College G1 36
(45)
44
(55)
80
(100)
3
(30)
7
(70)
10
(100)
6
(54.5
5
(45.5
11
(100)
46
(45.1
56
(54.9
102
(100)
College A1 29
(29.3
70
(70.7
99
(100)
1
(12.5
7
(87.5
8
(100)
0
1
(100)
1
(100)
30
(27.8
78
(72.2
108
(100)
College A2 6
(27.3
16
(72.7
22
(100)
0

7
(100)
7
(100)
26
(50)
26
(50)
52
(100)
32
(39.5
49
(60.5
81
(100)
College A3 0

63
(100)
63
(100)
0

10
(100)
10
(100)
0

54
(100)
54
(100)
0

127
(100)
127
(100)
College A4 4
(16)
21
(84)
25
(100)
17
(32.7
35
(67.3
52
(100)
1
(33.3
2
(66.7
3
(100)
23
(28.4
58
(71.6
81
(100)
College G2 9
(26.5
25
(73.5
34
(100)
3
(100)
0

3
(100)
0

3
(100)
3
(100)
12
(30)
28
(70)
40
(100)
College G3 21
(33.9
41
(66.1
62
(100
9
(42.9
12
(57.1
21
(100)
9
(45)
11
(55)
20
(100)
39
(28.3
64
(71.7
103
(100)
Total 105
(27.3
280
(72.7
385
(100)
33
(29.7
78
(70.3
111
(100)
42
(29.2
102
(70.8
144
(100)
182
(28.3
460
(71.7
642
(100
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

Table 2.63: Sex composition according to subjects
Male Female Total
B Com 65 (43.3) 85 (56.7) 150 (100)
B. A.
Economics 39 (39.4) 60 (60.6) 99 (100)
History 13 (14.0) 80 (86.0) 93 (100)
English 11 (15.7) 59 (84.3) 70 (100)
Sociology 4 (21.1) 15 (78.9) 19 (100)
Malayalam 9 (29.0) 22 (71.0) 31 (100)
Political Science 2 (13.3) 13 (86.7) 15 (100)
B. Sc
Life Sciences & Chemistry 21 (30.9) 47 (69.1) 68 (100)
Maths 0 41 (100) 41 (100)
Home Science 0 11 (100) 11 (100)
Physics 18 (40) 27 (60) 45 (100)

Total 182 (28.3) 460 (71.7) 642 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey
35

Table 2.64: Higher secondary performance of students by college
Proportion of students in each percentage class
COLLEGE SEX
55 and
below 56 - 65 66 - 75 76 - 85
86 and
above
Total
College G1 Male 6.5 26.1 45.7 .0 21.7 100.0
Female 1.8 19.6 33.9 14.3 30.4 100.0
Total 3.9 22.5 39.2 7.8 26.5 100.0

College A1 Male 13.3 23.3 20.0 36.7 6.7 100.0
Female .0 17.9 38.5 35.9 7.7 100.0
Total 3.7 19.4 33.3 36.1 7.4 100.0

College A2 Male 3.1 28.1 25.0 28.1 15.6 100.0
Female .0 10.2 36.7 40.8 12.2 100.0
Total 1.2 17.3 32.1 35.8 13.6 100.0

College A3 Female 7.9 21.3 26.0 21.3 23.6 100.0
Total 7.9 21.3 26.0 21.3 23.6 100.0

College A4 Male .0 .0 30.4 30.4 39.1 100.0
Female 3.4 12.1 32.8 25.9 25.9 100.0
Total 2.5 8.6 32.1 27.2 29.6 100.0

College G2 Male 16.7 16.7 50.0 16.7 .0 100.0
Female 7.1 25.0 53.6 10.7 3.6 100.0
Total 10.0 22.5 52. 12.5 2.5 100.0

College G3 Male .0 17.9 33.3 38.5 10.3 100.0
Female 1.6 14.1 53.1 26.6 4.7 100.0
Total 1.0 15.5 45.6 31.1 6.8 100.0



Total Male 5.5 20.5 33.5 24.2 16.5 100.0
Female 3.5 17.4 36.3 25.7 17.0 100.0
Total 4.0 18.2 35.7 25.2 16.8 100.0
Source: Seven-college survey

Table 2.65: Students applied for professional, technical or diploma courses by sex*
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS FROM EACH HIGHER SECONDARY
STREAM
SEX
ARTS SCIENCE COMMERCE
Male 19.6 53.1 14.6
Female 13.3 23.7 10.6
* Courses applied for by arts and commerce students include law, teaching (TTC) and several job oriented
arts based diploma courses. Source: Seven-college survey



36

Table 2.66: Preferred Course by sex (only select subjects are shown)
SUBJECT PREFERRED COURSE
Male Female Total
Commerce 57 (87.7) 81 (95.3) 138 (92.0)
History 9 (69.2) 68 (85.0) 77 (82.0)
English 11 (100) 58 (98.3) 69 (98.6)
Maths 0 27 (65.9) 27 (65.9)
Home Science 0 5 (45.5) 5 (45.5)
Physics 13 (72.2) 14 (51.9) 27 (60)
Malayalam 7 (77.8) 13 (59.1) 20 (64.5)
Total 143 (78.6) 373 (81.1) 516 (80.4)
Note: * 6.4 % had no preference, 2.3 % did not specify an option, 10 % said they did not get the preferred
course. Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

Table 2.67: Percentage of students who change subjects after higher secondary*
Higher Secondary Stream COURSE SEX
Arts Science Commerce
TOTAL
BA
Male
65.4% 12.8% 21.8%
100.0%

Female
66.3% 17.7% 15.7%
100.0%

Total
66.1% 16.5% 17.1% 100.0%
* Only one girl shifted from science to commerce, hence it has not been shown in the table. Source: Seven-
college survey



Table 2.68: Employment status of students sisters and brothers according to
education
Not Employed EDUCATION
Employed
Interested to
work
Not interested to
work
TOTAL
Sisters
Up to school final 3 (8.8) 16 (47.1) 15 (44.1) 34 (100)
Plus two 6 (18.2) 18 (54.5) 9 (27.3) 33 (100)
Diploma 9 (69.2) 4 (30.8) 0 13 (100)
Arts and Science Degree 18 (35.3) 24 (47.1) 9 (17.6) 51 (100)
Others* 21 (53.8) 15 (38.5) 3 (7.7) 39 (100)
Total 57 (33.5) 77 (45.3) 36 (21.2) 170 (100)
Brothers
Up to school final 62 (88.69) 7 (10) 1 (1.4) 70 (100)
Plus two 39 (84.8) 6 (13.0) 1 (2.2) 46 (100)
Diploma 23 (71.9) 9 (28.1) 0 32 (100)
Arts and Science Degree 36 (70.6) 14 (27.5) 1 (2.0) 51 (100)
Others* 25 (96.2) 1 (3.8) 0 26 (100)
Total 185 (82.2) 37 (16.4) 3 (1.3) 225 (100)
* Professional, post graduation and post graduate diploma, Figures in parenthesis are percentages.
Source: Seven-college survey


37
Table 2.69: Employment status of students sisters and brothers according to social
category
Not Employed SOCIAL CATEGORY
Employed
Interested to
work
Not interested to
work
TOTAL
Sisters
SC 5 (27.8) 8 (44.4) 5 (27.8) 18 (100)
ST 4 (30.8) 8 (61.5) 1 (7.7) 13 (100)
OBC 22 (25.3) 40 (46.0) 25 (28.7) 87 (100)
FC 23 (52.3) 16 (36.4) 5 11.4) 44 (100)
OEC 2 (40.0) 3 (60.0) 0 5 (100)
Not Specified 1 (33.33) 2 (66.67) 0 3 (100)
Total 57 (33.5) 77 (45.3) 36 (21.2) 170 (100)
Brothers
SC 26 (74.3) 9 (25.7) 0 35 (100)
ST 10 (71.4) 4 (28.6) 0 14 (100)
OBC 96 (83.5) 17 (14.8) 2 (1.7) 115 (100)
FC 53 (85.5) 8 (12.9) 1 (1.6) 62 (100)
OEC 1 (50) 1 (50) 0 2 (100)
Not Specified 5 (100) 0 0 5 (100)
Total 191 (82.0) 39 (16.7) 3 (1.3) 233 (100)
* Professional, post graduation and post graduate diploma; Figures in parenthesis are percentages.
Source: Seven-college survey


2.7 Academic Profile of Colleges / Students
Considering the higher secondary performance of students according to colleges, we find
that UC, College A3 and College A4 were drawing in nearly a quarter of students or
more from those who were in the highest class of marks (table 2.71). In the case of
College A3 and College A4 this was partly because of their reputations, which drew them
students from beyond their location as well as good students from the location. Thus,
wider outreach of the college corresponds with a higher proportion of high scorers. UC
in contrast was able to draw in the relatively good students from the rural areas
surrounding the city. Notably, College A3 and UC (along with COLLEGE G2) also had
over 25 per cent of students who had scored below 66 per cent. In the case of College
A3, which does not seem to have a problem of scarcity of applicants, this may well be on
account of a community quota, whereas in the case of COLLEGE G2 it would be on
account of the socio-economic profile of the region. UC we have already seen draws
students from two extremes, owing to its central and urban location and its ambivalent
reputation.
38

How do SC and ST students fare at the higher secondary level, a factor that may serve as
an entry barrier? Table 2.72 shows that ST students fare poorly relative to other groups,
with about 70 per cent scoring below 66 per cent. In contrast over half the SC students
score above 65 per cent, though the OBC and FC students fare better. Nevertheless, it is
notable that in the highest class of marks of over 85 per cent, there are 15 per cent of SC
and 10 per cent of ST students as against an average of 16 per cent for all communities in
this class. We also found that about the same proportion of SC students from daily wage
labour families as from regular salaried families scored over 75 per cent marks in the
HSC (table 2,73). This of course shows that a small section of students are faring well
despite significant cultural barriers and economic hardships. However, the evidence of
distinctly lower educational backgrounds of parents, higher dependence on daily wage
labour (or self employment with poor returns) by their families as well as the relatively
higher proportions of ST (and less so SC) students contributing financially to the support
of their families (through part time work) are clearly factors that strain the ability of SC
and ST students to remain within the system.

Concerns of equity arise here for we find that though between 25 and 30 per cent of SC
and ST students reported using scholarships to meet the expenses of education, which
was higher than in other social groups, scholarships were not even adequate to meet the
expenses of education. All the students in our sample, including SC and ST depended to
some extent on family (broadly defined as parents and other relatives) (table 2.74). A
study on financing higher education in Kerala undertaken in 1992 found that students in
government degree colleges had to spend nearly Rs 4000 per annum per head in order to
acquire a higher education (Salim cited in Tilak, 2001). Further, no SC or ST student in
our study reported taking loans, which may indicate their lower access to loans. The ST
and SC students also receive a financial grant.

We asked students what factors influenced their decision to study an arts and science
course (table 2.75). Notably over 70 per cent of students said it was job prospects
whereas 13 per cent said it improved their status in society and about 15 per cent said it
was their desire to pursue research. Notably the students did not frame the choice as by
39
default i.e., because they did not get admission to a professional or technical course. Nor
did they frame it in cultural terms as something that would contribute to their marriage
prospects. In group discussions, girls did point out that a degree was fast becoming an
imperative for a girl on the marriage market but they did not frame their educational
choice in terms of marriage prospects. On the contrary, most girls expressed their
keenness to work and some even to study further before looking for work. Several girls
also pointed out that they were keen not to get married before completing their degree
because there was a risk of their not being able to complete it if they got married. Table
2.76 shows the factors that influenced the students choice of a specific course. The
importance attached to job prospects is evident here too with over 40 per cent of students
saying it influenced their choice.

However, the factors varied quite considerably among colleges. Performance at the HSC
exams was cited by at least a quarter of the students in UC, College A4 and College A2,
whereas own interest was significantly higher in College A4 and College G3 than in any
other college. In College A2, and College A1, colleges that drew students from socially
and economically underprivileged sections or were located in an economically backward
region, job prospects are the most frequently cited reason. This could provide insights
into whether the desire for professional education is believed to be greater in urban and
socially more developed regions. Notably, only about 10 per cent said they were allotted
to the course as against their preferred course (for which they were not found eligible).
The desire for professional, technical or diploma courses among arts and science students
may also be inferred from those who said they had applied for such courses. The
alternate courses, which students may have applied for, include medical and engineering
courses, agriculture, IT and computer science, law, business administration and
management as well as courses such as TTC (teaching), nursing diploma etc. Not
surprisingly, Table 2.77 shows that among those who reported having applied there is a
higher proportion from the science stream at the higher secondary level but also that over
10 per cent of students from the commerce and arts streams too had applied for other
courses. Nevertheless, even among science students only about 30 per cent had applied
for other courses, indicating that overall arts and science was not necessarily a default
40
choice. The variation across colleges too provides insights as to whether the desire for
professional or other alternate courses was greater in the urban areas. If we consider
applicants for professional and other alternate courses as indicating the desire for such
courses, it was greatest in College G3 followed by UC. Taking students who did science
at the higher secondary level alone however, it is over 30 per cent in College A1, College
A2 and College G2 as well. This suggests that there is desire for professional and other
alternate courses among students from rural and socio-economically backward regions as
well but overall the desire is not as pronounced as it is believed to be. More importantly,
as the previous table suggests, most students were not in arts and science by default but
because they were either interested in the course or saw in it desirable job prospects.

In group discussions students spelled out the types of jobs that they believed they would
be suited for after the degree course and these related to business, marketing, bank jobs,
ICT jobs and teaching. Teaching was the option that was most frequently cited,
irrespective of courses, except in the case of B Com and to a lower extent Economics.
Importantly, about 40 per cent of students also referred to their own interest as being the
factor that dictated the choice of course whereas about 20 per cent said the choice was
based on the marks scored in the Plus two exams. Perceptions regarding job prospects of
courses differ quite widely according to location as we learnt from an aided college that
caters to coastal sector students in Trivandrum. The college had enrolment significantly
in excess of sanctioned strength in English and History (through marginal increase). The
enrolment ratio was higher in English (150) than in Economics (120), though English had
a sanctioned strength of only about half that of Economics and excess enrolment in
History was only slightly less than in Economics, at a similar level of sanctioned strength.
When I inquired about this, the head of the department of English said both English and
History were perceived as having job prospects. Part of the reason according to her was
that the college drew a large number of students from the coastal fishing community,
which enjoyed reservation in education and jobs. However, as we saw in the first part of
this chapter, history did not suffer from enrolment deficits, on the contrary, in it was
either fully subscribed or availed marginal increase in the majority of colleges. Table
41
2.66 shows however that history enjoyed a significantly higher level of preference among
girls than boys.

As already mentioned, Principal and teachers frequently referred to a decided hierarchy
of preference among subjects in arts and science colleges, with commerce in a clear lead
over other subjects and economics being the preferred course among the arts subjects. In
College A1 the head of the commerce department told us that one out of three
applications the college usually receives has commerce as the first (of three) preference.
In this hierarchy, history was often relegated to the lower levels, serving as the dumping
ground of rejects from other courses. There were a number of reasons for this, prominent
among them being that unlike sociology or political science, which were offered in few
colleges, history was offered in a large number of colleges across the state. It was also
perceived as an easy option. For instance, the head of the department of English in the
aided college catering largely to the fishing sector in Trivandrum had said in response to
our question about over-subscription to History, you know you need to have brains to
study economics but history anybody can do. Students coming here take up history
simply to get a degree, which they think will fetch them a job through the reservation
quota. This display of prejudice corresponded to its relegation to a dumping ground and
to student complaints voiced in a group discussion at College A1 that history was taught
in a boring and outdated manner, as if it was only all about which king ruled at what
point in time. We would like to learn things that are relevant to our time, not what
happened a long time ago. English by contrast commanded greater respect because of
the generally poor English skills of college students in Kerala. In another context, at
College G2 it was pointed out that the course in Hindi tended to get the least qualified
students as the order of preference was Commerce, Economics, Functional English and
last Hindi. Here the Hindi students were also deprived of facilities that the Functional
English students enjoyed because of the lack of permanent teachers who could initiate
them to use language lab facilities. According to a teacher at the college, the Guest
teachers lacked the motivation and they cannot be blamed given what they are paid.

42
Table 2.78 shows the preferred sector of employment and indicates a decided preference
for government employment among arts and science students in Kerala. Only 10 per cent
of students showed a preference for the private sector, while about 25 per cent said they
had not particular preference. Notably only in College A4, 10 per cent of students were
interested in getting involved in their own business ventures. That 90 per cent of students
in UC preferred Government employment is supported by their preferred occupation
shown in table 2.79, where 44 per cent were interested in teaching and about 20 per cent
in clerical jobs. Notably teaching and managerial (and IT) jobs was the most frequently
cited occupational choice, where they could opt for one or more choices. It is significant
that teaching is such a preferred option, not only because it has been a major employment
option for women in Kerala but also because it retains its place despite changes in the
economy that have pushed managerial and IT jobs to the fore. In College G2, we were
told that students found it difficult to think beyond teaching as an option, because of the
general lack of spatial and social mobility in the area. In such contexts, teaching is
considered a respectable option. However the possibility of gaining a job is limited
unless students were willing to move outside. With the exception of College G1, all
colleges had a high proportion of students choosing Managerial and IT jobs. The lack of
interest in this option in College G1 as against the preference for teaching is notable
especially because of its urban location and may well have to do with the class
composition of students.

Table 2.80 indicates that nearly 30 per cent of students expressed their desire to go out of
the state if they were to go for higher studies. Notably, nearly half the students in
College A4 expressed this desire followed by students in College A3 and College G3.
Significantly, the desire not to continue to study in the same college is not necessarily an
expression of dissatisfaction with the college. On the contrary, it could be an indication
of the exposure provided by the college, which encouraged students to move out and seek
greater exposure. On the other hand the desire to study in other colleges within the state
may indicate discontent with their current college. However, it is also influenced by the
fact that College A2 and College G2 had only one masters course whereas College G3
had none.
43
Table 2.80: Options for further study
COLLEGE
Same college
Other colleges
in Kerala
Outside the
state Others
TOTAL
College G1 59 (59) 31 (31) 10 (10) 3 (3.0) 100 (100)
College A1 15 (14.0) 64 (59.8) 28 (26.1) 4 (3.7) 107 (100)
College A2 4 (5) 53 (66.5) 16 (20) 8 (10) 80 (100)
College A3 18 (15.79) 51 (44.7) 46 (40.3) 15 (13.2) 114 (100)
College A4 15 (19.0) 22 (27.9) 38 (48.1) 10 (12.7) 79 (100)
College G2 15 (37.5) 26 (65) 11 (27.5) 0 40 (100)
College G3 5 (5.0) 69 (68.3) 31 (30.7) 2 (2.0) 101 (100)
Total 131 (21.0) 316 (50.9) 180 (29.0) 42 (6.8) 621 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


Table 2.71: Higher secondary performance of students by college
55 and
below 56 - 65 66 - 75 76 - 85
86 and
above
55 and
below
College G1 4 (3.9) 23 (22.5) 40 (39.2) 8 (7.8) 27 (26.5) 102 (100)
College A1 4 (3.7) 21 (19.4) 36 (33.3) 39 (36.1) 8 (7.4) 108 (100)
College A2 1 (12) 14 (17.3) 26 (32.1) 29 (35.8) 11 (13.6) 81 (100)
College A3 10 (7.9) 27 (21.3) 33 (26.0) 27 (21.3) 30 (23.6) 127 (100)
College A4 2 (2.5) 7 (8.6) 26 (32.1) 22 (27.2) 24 (29.6) 81 (100)
College G2 4 (10.0) 9 (22.5) 21 (52.5) 5 (12.5) 1 (2.5) 40 (100)
College G3 1 (1.0) 16 (15.5) 47 (45.6) 32 (31.1) 7 (6.8) 103 (100)
Total 26 (4.0) 117 (18.2) 229 (35.7) 162 (25.2) 108 (16.8) 642 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


Table 2.72: Higher Secondary marks and social category
PERCENTAGE OF HSC MARKS SOCIAL
CATEGORY
55 or < 56 - 65 66 - 75 76 - 85 86 or >
TOTAL
SC 10 32 27 13 14 96
10.4% 33.3% 28.1% 13.5% 14.6% 100.0
ST 2 18 6 0 3 29
6.9% 62.1% 20.7% .0% 10.3% 100.0
OBC 4 40 121 85 52 302
1.3% 13.2% 40.1% 28.1% 17.2% 100.0
FC 8 23 71 60 36 198
4.0% 11.6% 35.9% 30.3% 18.2% 100.0
OEC 1 1 3 1 2 8
12.5% 12.5% 37.5% 12.5% 25.0% 100.0
Not Specified 1 3 1 3 1 9
11.1% 33.3% 11.1% 33.3% 11.1% 100.0
Total 26 117 229 162 108 642
4.0% 18.2% 35.7% 25.2% 16.8% 100.0
Source: Seven-college survey



44

Table 2.73: HSC marks according to social category and best job of families
PERCENTAGE OF HSC MARKS BEST JOB SOCIAL
CATE
GORY
55 and
below 56 - 65 66 - 75 76 - 85
86 and
above
TOTAL *
Regular salaried SC 3 (12) 7 (28) 9 (36) 2 (8) 4 (16) 25 (100)
ST 1 (16.7) 2 (33.3) 2 (33.3) 0 1 (16.7) 6 (100)
OBC 3 (5.2) 6 (10.3) 22 (37.9) 13 (22.4) 14 (24.1) 58 (100)
FC 4 (7.0) 7 (12.3) 21 (36.8) 20 (35.1) 5 (8.8) 57 (100)
Total 11 (7.4) 24 (16.1) 54 (36.2) 35 (23.5) 25 (16.8) 149 (100)

Daily wage SC 4 (14.3) 10 (37.5) 7 (25.0) 3 (10.7) 4 (14.3) 28 (100)
ST 0 6 (75) 1 (12.5) 0 1 (12.5) 8 (100)
OBC 0 9 (15.5) 24 (41.1) 15 (25.9) 10 (17.2) 58 (100)
FC 0 4 (25.0) 4 (25) 4 (25) 4 (25) 16 (100)
Total 4 (3.5) 30 (26.5) 37 (32.7) 22 (19.5) 20 (17.7) 113 (100)
* Totals do not add up to 100 as OEC and not specified are not shown here. Figures in parenthesis are
percentages. Source: Seven-college survey




Table 2.74: Source of Finance for Higher Education by social category
SOCIAL
CATEGORY
PARENTS SIBLINGS RELATIVES SCHOLARSHIP LOAN TOTAL
SC 90 (95.7) 10 (10.6) 1 (1.1) 25 (26.6) 0 94 (100)
ST 28 (96.6) 2 (6.9) 0 9 (31.0) 0 29 (100)
OBC 279 (93.0) 23 (7.7) 14 (4.7) 22 (7.3) 6 (2.0) 300 (100)
Forward 188 (95.0) 9 (4.6) 8 (4.0) 5 (2.5) 4 (2.0) 198 (100)
OEC 8 (100) 0 0 0 1 (12.5) 8 (100)
Total 593 (93.1) 44 (6.9) 23 (3.6) 61 (9.6) 11 (1.7) 637 (100)
* Totals do not add up to 100 as a student could select one or more options. Figures in parenthesis are
percentages. Source: Seven-college survey



Table 2.75: Factors influencing students decision to study arts and science
COLLEGE IMPROVE JOB
PROSPECTS
IMPROVE
STATUS IN
SOCIETY
TO DO
RESEARCH
TOTAL
College G1 77 (75.5) 11 (10.8) 15 (14.7) 102 (100)
College A1 93 (86.11) 16 (14.8) 13 (11.9) 108 (100)
College A2 60 (74.0) 15 (18.5) 11 (12.3) 81 (100)
College A3 79 (62.2) 11 (8.6) 17 (13.4) 127 (100)
College A4 54 (66.66) 14 (17.3) 22 (27.2) 81 (100)
College G2 36 (90) 5 (12.5) 8 (20) 40 (100)
College G3 82 (79.6) 14 (13.6) 14 (13.6) 103 (100)
Total 481 (74.9) 86 (13.4) 100 (15.6) 642 (100)
* Totals do not add up to 100 as a student could select one or more options. Figures in parenthesis are
percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


45

Table 2.76: Factors influencing student selection of course of study
Name of college Relatives
/ Friends
advice
Did not get
preferred
course
Plus two
results
Own Interest Job prospect Others
Total
College G1 7 (6.9) 10 (9.8) 27 (26.5) 42 (41.18) 23 (22.55) 11 (10.8) 102 (100
College A1 8 (7.4) 8 (7.4) 19 (17.6) 39 (36.11) 63 (58.33) 1 (0.93) 108 (100
College A2 4 (5) 16 (2) 21 (26.2) 18 (22.5) 39 (48.75) 2 (2.5) 80 (100)
College A3 25 (19.7) 6 (4.7) 22 (17.3) 40 (31.49) 52 (40.95) 11 (8.67) 127 (100
College A4 12 (14.8) 8 (9.9) 20 (24.7) 53 (65.43) 22 (27.16) 3 (3.70) 81 (100)
College G2 6 (15) 2 (5) 6 (15) 18 (45) 21 (52.5) 9 (22.5) 40 (100)
College G3 13 (12.6) 12 (11.7) 15 (14.6) 53 (51.45) 50 (48.54) 2 (1.94) 103 (100
Total 75 (11.7) 62 (9.7) 130 (20.9) 263 (41.02) 270 (42.12) 39 (6.08) 641 (100
* Totals do not add up to 100 as a student could make multiple responses. Figures in parenthesis are
percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


Table 2.77: Students applied for professional and technical courses by HSC stream
College Higher secondary stream TOTAL
Arts Science Commerce
College G1 5 (11.1) 16 (42.1) 4 (22.2) 25 (25.7)
College A1 3 (8.3) 8 (36.4) 4 (8.0) 15 (14.0))
College A2 2 (14.3) 7 (31.8) 2 (4.4) 11 (13.8)
College A3 5 (15.2) 11 (13.4) 1 (10.0) 17 (13.9)
College A4 2 (7.1) 5 (25.0) 4 (12.1) 11 (13.8)
College G2 2 (7.4) 4 (50.0) 1 (20.0) 7 (17.5)
College G3 13 (39.4) 15 (57.7) 9 (20.5) 37 (36.3)
Total 32 (14.8) 66 (30.3) 25 (12.2) 123 (19.6)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


Table 2.78: Preferred sector of employment
COLLEGE PVT SECTOR GOVERNMENT OWN BUSINESS ANY TOTAL *
College G1 11 (10.8) 92 (90.2) 3 (2.9) 1 (1.0) 102 (100)
College A1 6 (5.5) 55 (50.9) 2 (1.8) 49 (45.7) 108 (100)
College A2 8 (10.3) 39 (50) 2 (2.6) 32 (41.0) 78 (100)
College A3 19 (16.0) 93 (78.2) 7 (5.9) 15 (12.6) 119 (100)
College A4 12 (15.4) 56 (71.8) 8 (10.3) 9 (11.5) 79 (100)
College G2 9 (22.5) 30 (75) 0 9 (22.5) 40 (100)
College G3 5 (4.9) 51 (50) 1 (1) 50 (49) 102 (100)
Total 70 (11.1) 416 (66.2) 23 (3.7) 165 (26.3) 628 (100)
* Totals do not add up to 100 as a student could make multiple responses * Not specified 14. Figures in
parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey







46
Table 2.79: Choice of occupation of students by college
College
Teaching Research
Own
Business
Mnt & IT
Jobs
Clerical
work
Others,
media
Total
College G1 42 (44) 8 (8.5) 7 (7.4) 17 (18.1) 16 (17.0) 16 (19.0) 94 (100)
College A1 40 (37.4) 7 (6.5 9 (8.4) 53 (50) 14 (13.1) 8 (7.5) 107 (100)
College A2 24 (30.8) 2 (2.6) 10 (12.8) 47 (60.2) 14 (17.9) 4 (5.1) 78 (100)
College A3 58 (47.9) 9 (7.4) 6 (5.0) 58 (47.9) 9 (7.4) 10 (8.3) 121 (100)
College A4 42 (51.2) 16 (19.6) 11 (13.6) 37 (45.7) 8 (9.8) 8 (9.8) 81 (100)
College G2 20 (50) 4 (10) 1 (2.5) 17 (42.5) 8 (20) 7 (17.5) 40 (100)
College G3 41 (41.8) 4 (4.1) 10 (10.2) 47 (50) 24 (25) 11 (11.2) 98 (100)
Total 267 (43.3) 50 (8.1) 54 (8.8) 276 (43.3) 93 (15.1) 64 (10.4) 617 (100)
* Totals do not add up to 100 as a student could make multiple responses; 999=25; N=642. Figures in
parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

Table 2.80: Options for further study
COLLEGE
Same college
Other colleges
in Kerala
Outside the
state Others
TOTAL
College G1 59 (59) 31 (31) 10 (10) 3 (3.0) 100 (100)
College A1 15 (14.0) 64 (59.8) 28 (26.1) 4 (3.7) 107 (100)
College A2 4 (5) 53 (66.5) 16 (20) 8 (10) 80 (100)
College A3 18 (15.79) 51 (44.7) 46 (40.3) 15 (13.2) 114 (100)
College A4 15 (19.0) 22 (27.9) 38 (48.1) 10 (12.7) 79 (100)
College G2 15 (37.5) 26 (65) 11 (27.5) 0 40 (100)
College G3 5 (5.0) 69 (68.3) 31 (30.7) 2 (2.0) 101 (100)
Total 131 (21.0) 316 (50.9) 180 (29.0) 42 (6.8) 621 (100)
* Totals do not add up to 100 as a student could make multiple responses. Figures in parenthesis are
percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

Chapter 3

Framing Quality in Higher Education: Standard Indicators, Reported Problems
and Teacher Availability

We are an A grade college in a B grade university, (IQAC Coordinator of a reputed college in central
Travancore).

3.1 Introduction
The rather poor quality of education that pervades undergraduate arts and science
colleges in Kerala, with few exceptions, is an outcome of huge problems with the system.
Failures of the system also render these problems difficult to address or reform. What do
we mean by quality education? Quality is defined broadly in terms of the ability of
education to endow students in ways that would enable two kinds of outcomes, a) the
achievement of immediate goals related to employment or to further studies and b) the
enhancement of the quality of citizenship, learning to be political subjects. In this sense
of quality, there could be exceptional colleges, which enable both kinds of outcomes to a
degree not usually seen elsewhere and there could be exceptions within otherwise
ordinary colleges, poorly endowed in terms of basic facilities. The latter may involve
exceptional teachers or administrators, highly motivated and / or qualified, who manage
to survive and inspire despite the system. What do we mean by problems of the system?
We use the term system to refer to two kinds of influences on the arts and science
colleges, the first, the university system of affiliation, which render colleges unable to
remedy specific problems like delays in the conduct of examinations, announcement of
results or problems related to admission procedures and the second, the larger socio-
political system, which makes way for interference by political parties to the detriment of
the provision of quality education.

We will suggest that extraneous factors (socio-economic and political) have an important
role in shaping barriers to the delivery of good quality education in arts and science
colleges in the sense indicated above. In the current context, extraneous socio-economic
and political factors have a direct and deleterious influence on college environment,
making it difficult for administrators, teachers and students who may be interested in
2
raising overall quality to do so and supporting those who may be indifferent or who may
have vested interests in maintaining the status quo. In this chapter we will be concerned
with the self assessment of colleges with respect to the major problems they encounter.
We will also examine one of these problems, reported by the largest number of colleges
and related to the scarcity of regular teachers. However, we will first provide a
background for this discussion and for the discussions in chapters 4 and 5 through a
picture of the scale of operations of colleges, their inception in different phases of
development of the state and of the ratings of colleges in terms of standard indicators.
Other important problems reported by colleges are that of politics, which is discussed in
chapter 5, and the lack of basic facilities, which is examined in chapter 4.

Problems encountered by colleges could vary considerably according to their location
and to the nature of their managements. With respect to the issues discussed in this
chapter, location is an important determinant of teacher availability and the more
remotely located colleges suffer intensely because of the lack of regular teachers. We
also see that there are notable differences in the reported problems of colleges according
to whether they are in the government or aided sectors. Three issues are reported most
frequently teacher scarcity, inadequacies of physical infrastructure and excesses of
politics. We will discuss only one of them in detail in this chapter but will look at the
relatively minor problems in terms of the proportion of colleges reporting them.
During our field work we realized that these problems were far from minor, they were
reported less because most colleges faced other more severe ones as well. Problems like
the scarcity of colleges are shaped from within the system at least partially because the
publicly funded nature of the arts and science colleges in both the Government and the
private aided segments, which means that the Government pays the salaries of teachers
and sanctions teaching posts, also gives political parties in power the ability to thwart
colleges from recruiting, depending upon it financial situation and its political vested
interests.

However, there are also extraneous factors that impinge equally on all colleges,
irrespective of the nature of management or location such as the delays caused by the
3
university system in declaration of the results of examinations, delays in the admission
process, the use of college premises (in the case of Government colleges) to conduct
examinations not concerned with that college at the cost of regular classes, the use of
college teachers for evaluation of exam papers of not only students of government and
aided colleges but also of private registrations. Many of the delays and shortages arise
from poor planning and coordination between the Government department, universities
and colleges but affect the colleges. This latter set of problems is only heightened in the
context of the introduction of the Choice based Course Credit Semester System (CCS),
on account of its tight schedule and strict observation of schedule that it requires.
College principals and teachers we spoke to contrasted this requirement with the routine
nature of delays in the current system, which results in students losing an entire academic
year on account of delay in the announcement of final year results at the degree level.

3.2 Inception of Colleges, Scale and Quality
It is generally observed that a long and distinguished history of providing higher
education adds considerably to the abilities of a college or university. The older colleges
often have at their command valuable physical infrastructure in central locations in towns
and cities, along with greater social resources in the form of associations of former
students and teachers and intangibles such as reputation, which draw to it a motivated
student body and committed teachers. These are factors that give older institutions a
head start over more recent entrants. The CMS college in Kottayam started by English
missionaries in 1817 is the oldest surviving arts and science college in Kerala. It was
handed over to the CSI, Madhya Kerala Diocese, a non Catholic group belonging to the
FC Syrian Christians, and is currently managed by them (NAAC Peer Report on CMS
College, 2006). Three other colleges (in our data set of 115 colleges) started in the 1800s
are in the Government sector - University College, Trivandrum, Government Victoria
College, Palghat and Government Brennan College, Kannur. These colleges have
distinguished legacies and alumni. While they remain important institutions in their
respective regions, not all of them have maintained their reputation. Table 3.21 shows
that most of the colleges in the government and aided sectors were started in the decades
following independence up to the 1990s. The process of setting up of aided colleges
4
gained momentum relatively earlier than the government colleges, over 70 per cent of
government colleges in our sample were set up after 1965 whereas nearly half the aided
colleges were set up prior to 1965. The table also shows that there is a college started
prior to 1900 in each of the university regions.

Indicating the level of competitiveness of colleges in the state, roughly half the colleges
are currently accredited by NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council)
though over 80 per cent have been accredited at least once since 2000 (table 3.22). Some
of them have initiated proceedings for re-accreditation after the lapse of the five-year
period, we have not documented those in the process of re-accreditation. Importantly,
however, 25 per cent of colleges have not been accredited at all. Almost 40 per cent of
colleges in the Government sector have not been accredited so far as against only about
20 per cent of aided colleges. However, some of the colleges that had not been
accredited so far are making improvements in their infrastructure in a bid to apply to
NAAC, indicating a growing feeling that it is necessary to comply with existing
standards. Generally it is noted that the more remotely located colleges with poor
facilities and networks are not accredited. College authorities at College G2 for instance
did not think they were in a position to apply until substantial additions were made to
existing facilities. Government colleges also seem to have less incentive to seek
accreditation whereas the private aided colleges have tended to take the lead in getting
accredited. This is evident from that most of the colleges with lapsed accreditation are in
the aided sector (table 3.22). All the colleges under Kannur university have current
accreditation, which indicates that they sought accreditation later than colleges under
other universities.

It is also notable that the NAAC accreditation process, which is optional, is becoming
institutionalized gradually (table 3.24). Since 2004, a significant number of colleges
have been assessed each year and the small number of colleges assessed in 2008 is
because we started the survey before the year was over. At the time there were two
colleges that were awaiting results of assessment and four that had applied for
5
accreditation.
1
Moving to the currently applicable NAAC grades (for colleges accredited
in 2004 and later) only one college in our sample, an aided one, had an A+ (table 3.23).
Overall, over 50 per cent of colleges with current accreditation have B+ grades or below
i.e., the lower grades. However, there are noticeable differences between universities and
sectors. Colleges in the regions of MG and Kerala university have relatively better
grades than in Calicut and Kannur university regions. But there was greater variation in
the grades of colleges under Kerala university, with over 30 per cent of colleges showing
grades B or below. Colleges in MG, Calicut or Kannur university regions had
significantly smaller proportions of colleges in this category. The only currently
accredited A+ college is in the MG university region, a college that was started in the
1920s by the Syrian Catholic diocese and has an enduring reputation. Less than 10 per
cent of aided colleges had poorer grades i.e., of B or less whereas over half the
government colleges had poorer grades. Among the three Government colleges with a
long past, Government Victoria College in Palghat has an A whereas the other two have
B+. This is significant as Victoria College is located in one of the smaller towns and
serves a relatively large socially and economically backward population but is reported to
have a motivated student body and teaching faculty (NAAC peer report on Government
Victoria College, 2008). The private aided colleges are clearly ahead of the government
colleges both in being accredited but also in the ranks secured.

At College G1, the only Government College in the caste studies that has been
accredited, NAAC procedures came in for criticism, especially from teachers union
leaders, who highlighted scams involving NAAC teams and were suspicious of the
methods used by private aided colleges to gain better grades. More generally too there
was resentment in colleges about the focus on beautification of the campus at the cost
of academic affairs. In College A2 there was criticism that many of the facilities that had
been spruced up for the NAAC visit had slowly fallen into disuse, including the
computers. The teachers expressed their resentment by saying that they expected the
computers to start working again when the next NAAC visit was due. However, they

1
As we had asked only for status of accreditation, date and grade, some colleges, which were in the process
have not provided this information.
6
generally agreed with the problems identified in their colleges by the NAAC teams and
admitted that NAAC had contributed to an effort at improvement. Further, the process
set afoot by NAAC was certainly having a visible effect in many colleges, which had
constituted IQAC (Internal Quality Assessment Cells) or were trying to get them off the
ground. In the five colleges that had been accredited (among the seven in our study), we
found that the degree of response to NAAC differed. College G1 for instance had started
add-on courses, activated its alumni associations at the department levels and was making
an effort to get the IQAC working teachers admitted that it was not working. We do
not have a system of documentation and its taking time to evolve one, said the trade
union leader / teacher. In College A1, however, the initial enthusiasm of accreditation
had given way not so much to complacence as to a sense of bitterness among some
teachers, who felt that it allowed some teachers to show case their talents at the expense
of others. The teachers who were at the forefront of NAAC activities were kept out of
the IQAC, when it was formed. We also learnt that there was little further activity. In
contrast, at College A3 and College A4, the IQAC has been institutionalized.
2


Generally it is observed that the aided colleges are more competitive with respect to
NAAC accreditation. However, this was also the case with other indicators of quality in
higher education, despite differences among colleges within the sector. This is apparent
in the motivation in aided colleges with interested managements to tap public funds
available through research projects. In College A3 and College A4, there was
considerable emphasis on UGC funding for research projects and teachers are encouraged
to apply. However, teachers did tell us that their achievements were not always
recognized, but that depends upon the Principal, in office at that time (a senior teacher
at College A4, who had received a Fullbright scholarship).
3
A young teacher at one of
the government womens colleges pointed out to the cynicism with which her efforts to

2
For instance, at College A3 a committee of 15 members elected for the purpose holds tenure until the next
NAAC evaluation. It meets every third Saturday of the month to take stock and compiles a report at the
end of the year. This report is evaluated by an evaluation committee, and the suggestions made are
analysed by the staff council, comprising heads of departments. The next years plan is drawn up on the
basis of the report. Student evaluations are also considered in this process.
3
He seemed pained that he was not even asked to share his experiences when he returned but he
emphasized that the college took every care to see that he was permitted to go, but of course I had taken
care of my teaching.
7
compete for a UGC major project was greeted by the seniors and the administration. She
said, when she went to get her leave approved to attend the interview, the Principal
turned to some of her colleagues who were present in the office and said somewhat
disparagingly that so far nobody had received a major project. It made me feel so
foolish. I felt like dropping the idea. When she was selected for a project, the
reception in the college was not at all what we would expect, especially as I am most
junior in the college. Some teachers actually came and asked me how much money I had
paid. She said these were the forthright ones, others were talking, I knew, she added.
She explained that there was a feeling that the allotment of these projects involved
corruption. However, she too felt that this may be the case because, how is it that so
many aided college teachers get projects whereas government college teachers dont,
she asked me. More generally she said there was a systematic effort to put you down if
you showed any signs of talent and there was absolutely no encouragement. A teacher
from a Government College in the north of the state pointed out that none of the teachers
in his college had ongoing projects and it was rare for teachers in the college to receive
projects. However, he pointed to the absence of a system to process and forward the
project applications on time and to the generally careless attitude of the administration
towards research projects. We cannot even be sure that the project applications reach
the appropriate offices in Delhi or that they leave the college at all. They are not a
priority with the administration.

Another indicator of quality that we have analyzed is the percentage of students who
were successful in the final year degree exams in 2006-07, the year preceding the survey
(table 3.25). Less than 20 per cent of colleges in the state had a pass percentage of 90 or
more, whereas over half the colleges had pass percentages of between 70 and 89. The
table also shows that there a slightly higher proportion of private aided colleges than
Government Colleges had pass percentages of 90 per cent and above but also that about
four per cent of aided college had pass percentages of less than 50 per cent. Colleges
under the Calicut university region performed better than in other regions with over 70
per cent success in more than 90 per cent of colleges. Further, MG and Calicut
universities had about 20 per cent of colleges with good results - 90 per cent or more of
8
successful candidates. Colleges under Kerala university performed relatively poorly with
below 70 per cent student success in 60 per cent of colleges. This is in contrast with the
NAAC grades that rate colleges in the Kerala university region better than in the Calicut
university region.

The scale of colleges, in terms of the number of courses offered and the number of
students differed widely with some of the prominent government colleges offering the
largest number of courses. College G1 for instance had 19 courses at the undergraduate
level and 21 at the post graduate level, besides offering M Phil in several departments.
Underlining the scale of the college in terms of courses offered, the Principal said that the
college needed two Principals. According to him, the college was hugely understaffed at
every level beginning with the sanitation staff. We have one person for a block but each
block is the size of a small college. In terms of scale, College G1 was an exceptional
college; it had the maximum number of courses in any college in Kerala. Also
significant, its courses were entirely of the basic disciplines in arts and science, unlike
several of the prominent and old aided colleges, which had a focus on science disciplines
and several new age courses. Table 3.26 shows that a higher proportion of government
colleges offered arts than science or commerce courses. There is little difference in the
proportion of government and aided colleges offering BA, but a higher proportion of
aided colleges offered science and commerce courses than government colleges. The
difference is quite big in the B Com, which is also a sought after course. There seems to
be a tendency for the Government colleges to be saddled with the less sought after
courses. This could be interpreted as a sign of lower competitiveness or of greater social
responsibility in so far as the study of basic disciplines are seen as essential in achieving
objectives that go beyond immediate job oriented ones. In terms of university regions, all
colleges in the MG region offered BA and B Sc courses and 90 per cent of colleges
offered B Com as well, thus the coverage of courses is relatively wider in this region than
others. Further, the regions of Kerala and MG university have the highest proportion of
colleges offering B Com and B Sc.


9
Table 3.21: Inception of colleges in Government and aided sectors
SECTOR Up to
1899
1900 to
1924
1925 to
1949
1950 to
1964
1965 to
1979
1980 to
1994 Total
Government 3 (11.5) 2 (7.7) 1 (3.8) 1 (3.8) 10 (38.5) 9 (34.6) 26 (100)
Aided 1 (1.1) 3 (3.4) 9 (10.1) 29 (32.6) 21 (23.6) 26 (29.2) 89 (100)
Total 4 (3.5) 5 (4.3) 10 (8.7) 30 (26.1) 31 (27.1) 35 (30.4) 115 (100)
UNIVERSITY
Kerala 1 (3.1) 1 (3.1) 4 (12.5) 14 (43.8) 4 (12.5) 8 (25.0) 32 (100)
MG 1 (5.0) 1 (5.0) 2 (10.0) 7 (35.0) 4 (20.0) 5 (25.0) 20 (100)
Calicut 1 (2.2) 3 (6.7) 4 (8.9) 5 (11.1) 19 (42.2) 13 (28.9) 45 (100)
Kannur 1 (5.6) 0 0 4 (22.2) 4 (22.2) 9 (50.0) 18 (100)
Total 4 (3.5) 5 (4.3) 10 (8.7) 30 (26.1) 31 (27.0) 35 (30.4) 115 (100)
CURRENTLY NAAC ACCREDITED
NAAC* 3 (75.0) 4 (80.0) 4 (40.0) 16 (53.33) 20 (64.5) 13 (37.1) 60 (52.2)
* Colleges that have current NAAC accreditation, i.e., accredited since 2004. Figures in parenthesis are
percentages. Source: Response from Kerala colleges



Table 3.22: Status of NAAC Accreditation of Colleges in Kerala since 2000
Accredited at least once UNIVER
SITY Currently
accredited
Lapsed
Total
Not ever
accredited
Result
Awaited Applied
TOTAL
Kerala 12 (37.5) 9 (28.1) 21 (65.6) 10 (31.3) 0 1 (3.1) 32 (100)
MG 11 (55) 4 (20) 15 (75) 4 (20.0) 1 (5.0) 0 20 (100)
Calicut 28 (62.2) 8 (17.8) 36 (80) 6 (13.3) 1 (2.2) 2 (4.4) 45 (100)
Kannur 9 (50) 0 9 (50) 9 (50.0) 0 0 18 (100)
Total 60 (52.17) 21 (18.3) 81 (70.4) 29 (25.2) 2 (1.7) 3 (2.6) 115 (100)
SECTOR
Govt 13 (50) 2 (7.7) 15 (57.7) 10 (38.5) 0 1 (3.8) 26 (100)
Aided 47 (52.8) 19 (21.3) 66 (74.2) 19 (21.3) 2 (2.2) 2 (2.2) 89 (100)
Total 60 (52.17) 21 (18.3) 81 (70.4) 29 (25.2) 2 (1.7) 3 (2.6) 115 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Response from Kerala colleges



Table 3.23: Current NAAC grades according to college (from 2004)
SECTOR NAAC GRADES ACHIEVED BY COLLEGES TOTAL
A+ A B++ B+ B C+
Government 0 1 (7.7) 1 (7.7) 4 (30.77) 6 (46.15) 1 (7.7) 13 (100)
Aided 1 (2.13) 7 (14.89) 19 (40.43) 17 (36.17) 3 (6.38) 0 47 (100)
Total 1 (1.67) 8 (13.33) 20 (33.33) 21 (35) 9 (15) 1 (1.67) 60 (100)
UNIVERSITY
Kerala 0 3 (25) 4 (33.33) 1 (8.3) 3 (25) 1 (8.3) 12 (100)
MG 1 (9.1) 3 (27.3) 4 (36.4) 2 (18.2) 1 (9.1) 0 11 (100)
Calicut 0 1 (3.6) 9 (32.1) 13 (46.4) 5 (17.9) 0 28 (100)
Kannur 0 1 (11.1) 3 (33.3) 5 (55.6) 0 0 9 (100)
Total 1 (1.67) 8 (13.33) 20 (33.33) 21 (35) 9 (15) 1 (1.67) 60 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Response from Kerala colleges


10


Table 3.24: Colleges according to year of obtaining NAAC accreditation status
Name of University Year
Kerala MG Calicut Kannur
Total
2000 0 2 0 0 2
2001 1 0 3 0 4
2002 1 0 0 0 1
2003 3 2 2 0 7
2004 4 0 7 3 14
2005 4 2 8 2 16
2006 2 2 4 3 11
2007 1 6 7 1 15
2008 1 1 2 0 4
Total 17 15 33 9 74
Source: Response from Kerala colleges


Table 3.25: Ratio of Successful candidates in colleges in 2006 - 07
UNIVERSITY Ratio of successful candidates in the final degree examination Total
Below 49 50 to 69 70 to 89 90 and above
Kerala 2 (7.7) 14 (53.8) 8 (30.8) 2 (7.7) 26 (100)
MG 1 (5.3) 5 (26.3) 9 (47.4) 4 (21.1) 19 (100)
Calicut 0 3 (7.7) 27 (69.2) 9 (23.1) 39 (100)
Kannur 0 1 (5.6) 14 (77.8) 3 (16.7) 18 (100)
Total 3 (2.9) 23 (22.5) 58 (56.9) 18 (17.6) 102 (100)
Sector
Government 0 6 (25) 14 (58.3) 4 (16.7) 24 (100)
Aided 3 (3.8) 17 (21.8) 44 (56.4) 14 (17.9) 78 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Response from Kerala colleges


Table 3.26: Colleges offering various courses according to sector and university
COURSES SECTOR
B A B SC B COM
Government 25 (96.2) 23 (88.5) 18 (69.2)
Aided 87 (97.8) 88 (98.9) 78 (87.6)
Total 112 (97.4) 111 (96.5) 96(83.5)
UNIVERSITY
Kerala 30 (93.8) 32 (100) 30 (93.9)
MG 20 (100) 20 (100) 18 (90)
Calicut 45 (100) 43 (95.6) 36 (80.0)
Kannur 17 (94.4) 16 (88.9) 12 (66.7)
Total 112 (97.4) 111 (96.5) 96 (83.5)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Response from Kerala colleges





11
Table 3.27: Accreditation status, year and grade of select seven colleges

NAAC status
Year of
Accreditation Grade
In re-accreditation
process
University Yes 2003 B + 2010
College A1 Yes 2007 B +
College A2 Yes 2006 B +
College A3 Yes 2007 A
College A4 Yes 2001 5 Star 2009 (A)
College G2 No NA NA
College G3 No NA NA
Source: Response from Kerala colleges


3.3 Problems reported by colleges
Scarcity of teachers followed by disturbances due to political excesses and lack of or poor
physical infrastructure are the most frequently reported urgent problems of arts and
science colleges that responded to our questionnaire (table 3.31).
4
In over 60 per cent of
colleges, scarcity of teachers is said to be one of three most pressing problems, 37 per
cent suffered from disturbances occasioned by political excesses and 35 per cent said
they had inadequate or poor quality physical infrastructure. Under the category of
disturbances due to political excesses, we have brought together a variety of problems
ranging from specific mention of the violent nature of student politics on campus to loss
to working days due to hartals and strikes. Politics, whether within the campus or
outside, has a strong influence in shaping college environment and especially the nature
of political space that is available on campuses. In over 10 per cent of colleges, problems
cited included the lack of non-conventional (or new generation) courses, the
underprivileged background of students and / or quality of students and poor transport
facilities.

The quality / background of students was cited as a pressing problem in colleges ranging
from the reputed Christian colleges located in the major towns to a marginal college run
by the Government. It was cited as a pressing problem in a smaller proportion of college
under Calicut university than elsewhere. However, in several colleges the quality /
background of students did not figure in the list of three problems because of other more

4
We asked each college to name the three most pressing problems they faced and while we provided
examples of the kind of problems that may be cited we did not provide options for them to choose from.
12
pressing ones but Principals or teachers of these colleges emphasized this in
conversation. Thus, questionnaires citing this as a problem were those of colleges with
good or relatively good basic facilities on the one hand and those where despite poor
basic facilities this was considered an overarching problem. College principals and
teachers we spoke to referred to two kinds of problems. One related to the academic
quality of students per se. According to authorities at the more reputed aided colleges the
relaxation of evaluation standards at the higher secondary levels, which had led to a
significant increase in the pass percentage at the state level, also meant that a large
number of very poorly achieving students are eligible to apply for the degree courses. In
some regions these colleges faced an overall scarcity of applicants for some of the basic
science courses and could not afford to neglect applicants on the basis of quality alone.
Thus, there were colleges with induction programmes effectively in place to help out with
the poor achievers and yet at least some of them had higher cut off marks that prevented
some of the low scoring candidates from getting admission. The second aspect of poor
quality students related to the socio-economic backgrounds that students came from and
this was heard frequently in colleges in the more marginal locations. The problem here
was of two kinds a) those encountered by first generation college students, who depended
almost entirely on the college for academic support and b) the poor levels of financial
support these students had. The problems of first generation college students are more
acute in the marginal colleges than elsewhere and are exacerbated by the relative
isolation of the place. Thus, the students have few options for educational support and
material outside the college and teachers also pointed out that students tended to lack a
family environment that encourages the pursuit of higher education or is conducive to it.
In this context, a teacher at College G2
5
pointed out that the exposure of the students is
limited and few are able to think of careers beyond lower level Government jobs and
teaching. Only a few students of Functional English attempt a career in the media. This
teacher has been making valiant efforts to widen the exposure of students, building a
network with former students who had successful careers and inviting them to give talks
and interact with the students at the college but also exposing them to classic films and

5
This college did not mention poor student quality as a problem in the questionnaire indicating more
pressing problems.
13
initiating debates around them. Yet, according to him, few students were able to move
into newer areas.

The relatively poorer families they came from raised other kinds of hurdles. For instance,
the Principal of College G3 college pointed out that it was not at all uncommon for
parents to express their inability to contribute to the PTA (Parent Teacher Association)
funds, which were relied upon by colleges to meet several needs. In the more wealthy
colleges, PTA funds are used to pay the salaries of guest lecturers and to fund the setting
up of computer centres but in College G3, they were forced to use it for the small
expenses such as purchasing electrical equipment for lighting, for which they were
unable to locate other funds. This was occasioned by the delay in receiving maintenance
grants from the government or UGC. In such contexts, even the amount spent by the
students on transport to reach the college could be a drain on the family. It is pointed out
in the NAAC peer review report of the Government Victoria college, Palghat, that 13 per
cent of students dropped out in the preceding year from the undergraduate courses largely
on account of financial difficulties (NAAC Peer Team on Government Victoria College,
2008). At College G2, a teacher pointed out that students are sometimes unable to attend
classes taken after the end of the official term because they do not receive students
concession during this period. Nor was it possible to avoid extra classes because of the
poor planning of the academic schedule by the university, which left colleges drastically
short of working time. Table 3.31 shows that poor transport facilities was cited as a
pressing problem in a higher proportion of colleges under Kerala and Kannur universities
and in Government colleges rather than private aided ones. Notably none of the colleges
under MG university cited this as a pressing problem.

The need for new generation courses in colleges is linked inextricably with the system
such as it exists currently because if colleges need to get the sanction of the Government
in order to start a new course, they also need to take the initiative to identify courses that
would have meet the needs of students and pursue the process of getting sanction for
them with the Government. Need for new generation courses is cited as a pressing
problem by a higher proportion of colleges under Calicut university followed by MG.
14
This does not indicate by any means that colleges under Kerala or Kannur university have
adequate new generation courses but may simply be on account of more severe problems
in this colleges. Indeed, we found that aided colleges under MG university that had new
generation courses felt the need for more such courses. Thus, the problem here is of two
kinds a) of a perceived need which could be felt despite new generation courses already
offered by the college and b) the absence altogether of such courses.

A higher proportion of Government than aided colleges reported this to be a problem.
We have noted a tendency for the Government colleges to be saddled with the
conventional courses sometimes at the cost of any new generation course. For instance,
the peer committee report of NAAC for at least three major Government colleges in the
state, University College in Trivandrum, Maharajahs College, Ernakulam, Government
Victoria College in Palghat town recommended new generation courses pointing out that
they suffered from a strong focus on conventional courses. At least part of the problem
is the virtual absence of a management in the Government colleges, where the higher-
level work of administration is entrusted to teaching faculty appointed as Principal and
committees that assist him/her. In the Government colleges, while, the teaching faculty
may already be overburdened with work and / or may have little interest in governance, it
is difficult to bring pressure on them to take the initiative in such matters. The lack of
initiative in expanding the existing courses could also arise from the administration
teachers not having a formal stake in the performance of the Government colleges or in
the students it attracted. In contrast, managements that are proactive or at least functional
in several private aided colleges are likely to contribute to the process of identifying and
pursuing new courses and also could bring pressure on the college administration to
pursue these matters.

However, in the smaller Government colleges the problem was very much more basic
than the absence of new generation courses. College G2 does not have a science courses
and the teachers felt that this really hurts the college. College G3 college does not have a
Masters course in any discipline, which the Principal believed was a major drawback. He
told us that this was not because of lack of effort on their part as their application had
15
been denied. The application procedure could be expensive as you have to remit a fee of
Rs 2,500, which is not returned if the course is not allotted to the college. He suggested
that the government should carry over the fee if the course is not allotted so that colleges
with less resource than others will not be affected. We also learnt from interactions in
other colleges that there is a feeling that the government allotment of courses is
influenced, thus a colleges with less resources and voice in the circles of power than
others stand to lose. In this matter, we learnt that the teachers organizations try to
influence allotment decisions when it concerns their interests, like retaining teachers in a
particular college where the delinking of the pre degree rendered them superfluous.
Ironically, the possibility of interference (porosity of government decision making
procedures) could work against the interests of Government colleges. This is all the more
so as the private colleges may be more proactive in pursuing their interests as against
Government colleges, where the administration and teachers have less stakes in
performance.

About 10 per cent of colleges report that drop out of students is a pressing problem.
Significantly, this was cited by about 15 per cent of colleges in MG university, where the
problem was on account of students dropping out to join professional colleges, thereby
leading to a shortage of enrolment in some of the courses. In contrast, colleges under
Calicut university raised the dropping out of women students on account of marriage and
due to poor financial ability for their families as pressing problems. Even where this was
not identified as among the most important problems, college authorities emphasized it
especially in the more marginal settings. For instance, in College G2 a teacher told us
that several girls tended to drop out by the third year because their families get them
married. He said that in Functional English, student join sometimes because of a craze
for English and when they find the going tough they start to absent themselves and drop
out. Dropping out is also related to the financial security of students as we saw in the
case of Victoria College in Palghat (NAAC Peer Team on Government Victoria College,
2008). There is a constant threat of dropping out of students in colleges with a relatively
higher proportion of students who resort to paid work to support their families and to pay
for their education.
16

Lack of autonomy is cited as a pressing problem by only five per cent of colleges, all of
which are in the private aided sector. While this is a small section of colleges, the
problem is an important one. It is also notable that the colleges reporting this as a
problem are the reputed ones with good basic facilities. The Peer team reports of several
colleges have recommended that the colleges pursue autonomy in view of the problems
associated with the system.
6
The frustration of an affiliating system, that holds back the
performance of colleges, is felt all around in terms of the delays in examination results
and admission procedure and its cumulative effect on the academic calendar. The
conduct of examinations too is delayed creating real problems for students and teachers.
Students pointed out that when they have to study for an exam of the previous year /
semester, this takes their attention away from the current classes and creates a lot of
stress. In the better performing colleges, delays occasioned by the system are represented
as an external constraint on their ability to move ahead. The Principal of College A4 said
the post-graduate course has virtually become a three year course owing to delays in
conducting exams. Give us autonomy to conduct exams and evaluations. Let the
university prepare the questions. The frustration of the affiliation system are reflected in
the words of the IQAC coordinator of a reputed college in central Travancore cited at the
beginning of this chapter or in the words of the manager of College A2, Permit me and I
would seek affiliation to any other university in this world. There could not be any worse
than this one. Ironically, teachers in charge of NAAC re-accreditation efforts in College
G1 in early 2010 pointed out that some of the recommendations of the previous peer
committee could be achieved only with autonomy, for instance, that the teachers should
engage in more consultancy work.



6
For instance, the peer team noted that University College in the capital would do well if it were granted
autonomy (NAAC Peer Team on University College, 2002, see also NAAC Peer Team on Maharajahas
College, 2006). Being a Government college, however, there is little scope for autonomy within the
system. However, University College is the nodal college in the Cluster of colleges inaugurated in early
2010 among Government colleges in Trivandrum city. Several aided colleges have also been asked to seek
autonomy (see for instance NAAC Peer Team on Assumption, 2007, NAAC Peer Team on St Teresas
College, 2006, NAAC Peer Team on Farook College, 2009).
17
Table 3.31: Urgent problems reported by colleges according to University
UNIVERSITY REGION
KERALA MG CALICUT KANNUR TOTAL
PROBLEM
N % N % N % N % N %
Infrastructure Physical* 12 37.5 6 30.00 16 35.55 6 33.33 40 34.78
Infrastructure IT 3 9.38 2 10.00 4 8.89 2 11.11 11 9.57
Scarcity of teachers 21 65.63 12 60.00 25 55.56 14 77.78 72 62.61
Political excesses 12 37.50 7 35.00 12 26.67 11 61.11 42 36.52
Poor Library facilities 10 31.25 3 15.00 6 13.33 0 0.00 19 16.52
Need for new generation courses 2 6.25 3 15.00 9 20.00 1 5.56 15 13.04
Students background / quality 5 15.63 3 15.00 3 6.67 3 16.67 14 12.17
Poor transport facilities 6 18.75 0 0.00 5 11.11 2 11.11 13 11.30
Drop out of students 4 12.50 3 15.00 2 4.44 2 11.11 11 9.57
Lack of autonomy** 0 0.00 4 20.00 2 4.44 0 0.00 6 5.22
No problem specified 1 3.12 1 (5.00) 12 26.67 1 5.56 15 13.0
* Lack of adequate funds included ** University delays, large size of class included
Source: Response from Kerala colleges


Table 3.32: Urgent problems reported by colleges according to sector
Colleges by sector
Government Private Aided Total
PROBLEM
No % No % No %
Infrastructure Physical* 14 54 26 29 40 35
Infrastructure IT 4 15 7 8 11 10
Scarcity of teachers 12 46 60 67 72 63
Political excesses 9 35 33 37 42 37
Poor Library facilities 8 31 11 12 19 17
Need for new generation courses 5 19 11 12 15 13
Students background / quality 1 4 11 12 14 12
Poor transport facilities 4 15 9 10 13 11
Drop out of students 0 0 11 12 11 10
Lack of autonomy** 0 0 8 9 6 5
No problem specified 3 12. 12 14 15 13
* Lack of adequate funds included ** University delays, large size of class included
Source: Response from Kerala colleges

3.4 Availability of Teachers
Scarcity of teachers is probably the biggest single problem faced by the arts and science
colleges in Kerala and this is acknowledged widely. Colleges have not only seen a
decline in the number of teachers over the years but also face numerous hurdles in the
way of recruitment and in ensuring that teachers allotted to colleges stay at their posts
i.e., without seeking transfers immediately. At the state level, the number of regular
teachers in arts and science colleges decreased by 3134 between 1999 and 2006 (GoK,
18
various issues).
7
Currently, the Education department of the state estimates that there are
1600 posts of teachers lying vacant in colleges across the state and apparently the Finance
department has given clearance for the appointment of 1063 teachers in arts and science
colleges (G Mahadevan, May 4, 2010, The Hindu). Indeed, there have been several
announcements by Ministers and other Government functionaries over the recent past
indicating that vacancies of teachers will be filled in. This has been in response to fears
being expressed about the ability of colleges to manage the politically somewhat
contentious shift to the CCS system without adequate numbers of teachers. However, the
problem of scarcity of teachers is considerably more complex than may be resolved by
filling up of vacancies alone.

Vacancies are addressed in two different formats in the Government sector, where it is
done through a centralized process of recruitment and in aided colleges, where it is done
through direct recruitment at the level of the college. The two formats of recruitment also
generate differences in the nature of the problem of teacher scarcity. Thus the source of
the problem is different between government and private aided colleges. Government
colleges in the northern region are less able than in other parts of the state to attract
teachers or retain their services for long periods. Further, colleges, which are located in
the cities and the bigger towns, attract teachers towards them but those in the remote
areas are unable to do so. It is generally felt that there is no dearth of the appropriately
qualified people looking to work in the towns and cities, thus there is no problem in
locating guest teachers either. However, when they are selected for the Government
college service and posted in one of the remote areas, they take the first opportunity to
shift out. The problem in the remotely located colleges is accentuated by the lack of
infrastructure, particularly residential quarters for teachers and for the Principal.

The problem is rather different in the private aided colleges, as the selection is not done
on a centralized basis and teachers are not transferred from time to time. Thus, turnover
is not a major problem. Here the problem seemed to be that of getting government
sanction for recruitment. Managers, Principals and /or teachers in the aided colleges

7
See chapter 1.
19
express reservations about the Governments intentions pointing out that in the past the
Government has resorted to indirect tactics to prevent them from filling up vacancies.
Though the aided colleges recruit teachers individually or in the case of corporate
management in a collective manner, they cannot do so without the Government
facilitating the process, in terms of sanctioning posts and sending its representatives to be
on the selection committee. The Principal of College A4 and the Manager of College A2
complained bitterly about the Government attitude towards private aided colleges in this
regard. The Principal of College A4 said the Government does not allow aided colleges
to fill vacancies but recruits teachers for the Government colleges. According to him, it
is the Finance department that creates problems. In this context, a number of aided
colleges had approached the court and had been able to recruit based on court orders.

Another factor, here is that the separate format of recruitment of teachers has been used
by private aided colleges in the state to raise money from appointees in the form of
donations and in ways that are likely to compromise merit. For instance, it is possible for
the private colleges to make prior deals with specific candidates, in return for a
substantial donation, to ensure appointments, despite the presence of government
representatives on the selection committee. The other existing practice is to take
donations from those candidates who are selected. During the study we learnt that a
corporate management was keeping its list of selected candidates pending (by not
appointing them to posts in colleges) as the candidates had refused to pay the stipulated
donation. Such a list would lapse after a specified period and could be the basis of not so
subtle bargaining by both parties. It is of some import that even the teachers unions have
not shown the willingness to take a strong position against this practice. The practice of
paying donations for appointments in aided colleges seems to be widespread in the state
and is acknowledged privately by managements and teachers. Table 5.82 (in chapter 5)
shows that nearly 70 per cent of students in the four private colleges, where we conducted
surveys, believed that it was not one of the strengths of their college that the college took
donations for the appointment of teachers.

20
Representatives of managements, where they are willing to concede informally that such
a practice exists, point out that they are starved of funds and the money raised through
donations are used for the development of facilities in the college. A young teacher in an
aided college told me that the amount she had paid could be recouped in two years and
that she was told that the amount would go towards building a compound wall for the
college. She had also said that the college charged less as donation than other colleges.
Now of course there is nothing in the given circumstances to prevent the private college
managements from profiteering out of funds raised through informal or illegal means
such as donations. However, in a context where we find that even the Government
colleges lack facilities and complain about scarcity of funds, it is not unreasonable to
think that the aided colleges too would have such problems. The question that arises here
is: why do private agencies want to manage colleges if it so difficult to raise funds? Even
if we discount profiteering, it would be reasonable to assume that running a college
allows the management to dispense patronage and garner influence and power at the local
level. The private aided colleges have a quota in the admission of students, which may
be given without considering merit ranking, another channel through which private
colleges raise money but also dispense patronage.

We collected information from colleges about the number of regular teachers appointed
as against the sanctioned strength. Analysis of this data as well as the inquiries we made
at colleges in different regions of the state show that besides an overall scarcity, there is a
problem of spatial and regional distribution. There are indications of the regional
variation in the distribution of colleges reporting scarcity of teachers as an urgent
problem. Table 3.31 in the previous section shows that if over 60 per cent of colleges in
the state report this as among their three most urgent problems, the proportion of colleges
doing so under Kannur university was nearly 80 per cent whereas it was 55 per cent
among colleges in Calicut university. Table 3.41 shows that overall, the scarcity of
teachers may be said to be acute in about five per cent of colleges, where the proportion
of regular teachers appointed is less than 60 per cent of the sanctioned strength. In some
colleges in this class the ratio dipped below 50 per cent of sanctioned strength. As
against this, forty per cent of colleges in the state had a ratio of 90 per cent or more and in
21
28 per cent of colleges the strength of regular teachers was between 80 and 90 per cent.
Let us turn to the more disaggregate picture at the level of university regions. Table 3.41
shows that colleges under Kannur university are the worst affected as nearly 50 per cent
of colleges have a ratio of less than 70 per cent of regular teachers to sanctioned capacity
and more than 10 per cent have less than 60 per cent. In accordance with this, table 3.43
shows that a higher proportion of colleges in the Kannur university region rely more
heavily on guest teachers than in other university regions. It is pertinent that this
corresponds with the higher proportion of colleges under Kannur university reporting that
teacher scarcity is among the most pressing problems. Within the other three university
regions, there is a greater extent of variation under Kerala university where about 10 per
cent of colleges suffer what may be called an acute scarcity of regular teachers i.e., below
60 per cent, but the more general situation is considerably better than in the Kannur
university region. Indeed, nearly 80 per cent of colleges have a ratio of 80 per cent or
more of regular teachers to sanctioned strength. The deficit of regular teachers is least
pronounced in colleges under MG university, where no college had a ratio of less than 60
per cent regular teachers to sanctioned capacity and 45 per cent of colleges were in the 90
per cent and more category. In keeping with the lower intensity of the problem in these
areas, table 3.53 shows that the ratio of guest teachers to regular teachers appointed was
less than 20 per cent in about 45 per cent of colleges in the MG and Kerala university
regions.

At the state level, teacher scarcity is also more pronounced in government than aided
colleges. We saw in table 3.31 that a significantly higher proportion of private aided
colleges (67 %) than government colleges (46 %) report teacher scarcity as an important
problem. However, table 3.41 shows a more varied picture and highlights the
distributional aspect of the problem. In the highest deficit class there is a higher
proportion of government than aided colleges, though the distribution in subsequent
classes indicates less teacher scarcity in government than aided colleges. Over 60 per
cent of government colleges are in the class showing the least teacher scarcity whereas
only about 35 per cent aided colleges are in this class. The reliance on guest teachers
corroborates this picture (table 3.43). While about 30 per cent of colleges in both sectors
22
rely the least on guest teachers (ratio of guest teachers to regular teachers appointed is
below 20 per cent), in the highest ratio class (where the ratio of guest teachers to regular
teachers appointed was 80 per cent and above) there was twice the proportion of
government colleges than aided colleges. Table 3.42 indicates that the colleges with the
greatest teacher scarcity were in Trivandrum, Kollam, Palghat, Wayanad and Kasargod.
Colleges that relied heavily on guest teachers too were in these districts with the addition
of two colleges in Trissur (table 3.44). Further, while this provides a picture of the
problem at the college level, there could be considerable variation between departments
within a college. For instance, the English and Electronics departments in College G3
relied entirely on Guest teachers as they did not have even a single regular teacher
whereas the situation was considerably better in Commerce (75 per cent) and Economics
(100 per cent).

Table 3.45 shows us the variation across region and space among colleges we had taken
up for detailed study. Notably, the problem of teacher scarcity is most intense in the two
government colleges located in poorly connected rural areas, where only about half the
sanctioned posts are filled. In contrast, College G1 located in a city in south Kerala has
an enviable strength of regular teachers. We need to keep in mind that College G1 with
over 200 sanctioned posts of teachers has almost no scarcity whereas College G2 is
unable to fill up a mere 18 sanctioned posts. The Principal of College G3 is from the
south of the state and had been at his post for a year when I met him. He said he planned
to be there for at least another year before considering a transfer and this would be a
record of sorts. According to him the college suffers hugely because of the high turnover
of people in key administrative posts and of teachers, which means they have little
interest or scope for making improvements and executing development plans. The same
is true of appointments at College G2 though the current Principal who is from central
Kerala has been at his post for a number of years. According to one of the teachers at
College G2, the joke is that when a teacher is appointed to the college, s/he first makes a
visit to the Government department in Trivandrum to arrange a transfer and then visits
the college to arrange for long leave. If it is difficult to get allotted teachers to stay in
their posts in these colleges, it is also difficult to locate guest teachers. The Principal of
23
College G3 pointed out that there are few qualified people in the area itself and on the
other hand the remuneration was far from attractive to bring in people from other places.
In contrast, in the cities and towns the availability of qualified people looking for work
meant that it was relatively easier to locate guest teachers. But again as several Principals
pointed out, even in the well-staffed colleges, guest teachers are not a solution to the
scarcity of regular teachers despite the fact that currently there is widespread and heavy
resort to them (table 3.43, 3.44). The incentives of the guest teachers to work differ
considerably as they are paid poorly (at an hourly rate up to a maximum of Rs 6000 per
month when we started work on the study which was enhanced to Rs 10,000) and may
well have to take up additional paid work outside the college to make ends meet. This
restricts the time they can spend in the college and with students. As regular teachers
pointed out to us, it is the students who suffer because the lack of regular teachers
restricts their access to tutorials, computer facilities and so on.

The only college with a higher ratio than College G1 is College A4, also located in one of
the bigger cities in the state. The aided colleges were affected by a government ban
imposed in 2004 on recruitment of teachers by them (which was removed only in 2008).
College A4 had gone to court twice and appointed teachers on the basis of court orders.
The Principal pointed out that last year they had more than 30 guest lecturers but they had
appointed 20 teachers during the last selection.
8
Among the private aided colleges,
teacher scarcity is less pronounced than in the two rural government colleges but quite
severe in the two Christian colleges, one of which is located on the periphery of a big city
and the other in a major town. Given their urban location, the two Christian colleges are
likely to find it less difficult to find guest teachers than remotely located colleges.

8
Private aided colleges were also beleaguered by the refusal of the government to pay the salaries of
teachers appointed to sanctioned posts when retirement or other factors cause vacancies citing lack of
government approval for such appointments. Petitions by teachers noted that they were appointed through
the duly constituted selection committee, which included Government representatives. The Syndicates of
the respective universities had approved their appointments and they were working at the time of filing
cases. Taking up a series of such petitions, Justice K. S. Radhakrishnan declared that it is obligatory on
the part of the Government to release salary due to the teachers whose appointments are approved by the
University. Government have however no obligation t disburse salary if appointments are made by the
aided colleges to a non existent post when a new subject is sought to be introduced or division is sought to
be started for which Government sanction is a pre condition (The State of Kerala and Others vs Dr Sina
A. R. and Others on June 21, 2007, see also The Manager, Pazhassiraja College and ano vs The University
of Calicut and ors in WP (C). No 2881of 2007).
24
College A2, where scarcity is more acute (ratio of about 60 per cent) than in College A3,
also has a problem of unutilized teachers. Three teachers were rendered without work
when the pre degree course was delinked because their subject is not offered at the degree
level. The college made an effort to terminate them but they went to court and also got
their trade union to lobby with the government to sanction a course in their subject.
However, the college refused to apply for it, choosing instead to apply for a masters
course. Hence they remain without work, sitting all day in the library, and are at
loggerheads with the management. College A1 too faced a problem of excess staff when
the pre degree was delinked but they started two degree courses and a masters course to
accommodate those teachers. However, teacher posts have not been sanctioned for these
departments so that the college will have to wind up the courses when they present
teachers retire. Our interview with regular teachers in College A1, showed that several of
them had moved to these areas on getting the job and settled down there. Thus as we
noted earlier, the spatial dimension is linked to teacher scarcity in the Government
colleges but not so much in the private aided colleges.

There is another aspect to the scarcity of teachers as the colleges experience it and this
goes beyond the ratios presented so far. The burden of work on the currently appointed
teachers includes evaluation work for the university as well as a range of administrative
tasks in the college. The admissions process is particularly long winded owing to the
way the calendar is planned. The admissions begin before the selection process for the
professional courses are complete and thus encounter a series of drop outs at each stage
of admission process in the professional courses. Thus, whereas the course is supposed
to begin in July, the admission process is delayed well into September. Teachers
involved in the process may have to forgo teaching during this period. A teacher at
College G2 pointed out that he barely had 45 working days in the first semester of the
first CCS system for classes whereas the term extends over 90 days. The same thing
happened in the second semester as well because of the delay in examinations and
because of several unscheduled cancellations of working days owing to strikes and other
problems. At College G2 he said the teachers in his department took extra class after the
end of the term. He said the guest teachers took class out of the kindness of their hearts
25
though they are not paid. Colleges with little deficit in teachers are not so badly affected
by the delays in admission.

However, well-staffed colleges face teacher scarcity on other grounds. As only regular
teachers are used for evaluation of exam papers, there is a heavy demand for them.
9
In
Calicut university for instance, 70 per cent of students are privately registered, adding to
the work load of the regular teachers. In College G1, the Principal said that the university
takes the teaching staff away on examination duty and other tasks making it difficult to
conduct classes. The university is supposed to protect the academic environment but it
destroys it. We observed that teachers even go away on such duties without properly
negotiating leave with the college administration, adding to the difficulties of the college.
An aided college with a Catholic management in south Kerala, that reported teacher
scarcity among its acute problems, added that teachers also prefer to take up university
work as they are paid to do the same.

Our analysis suggests that the problem of scarcity of teachers is considerably more
complicated than it may seem at first. Certainly, it is not something that may be
addressed through fresh recruitment of teachers alone, though that would be a necessary
step. There is urgent need to supplement and improve the facilities that are currently
available at the remotely located colleges, which suffer the most acute scarcity of
teachers. Yet, this too may not be enough as even Government colleges in the bigger
towns of the northern districts, Wayanad and Kasargod, have faced acute scarcity of
teachers despite providing accommodation for staff. However, these colleges are still
better off than the remotely located ones in so far as they would be able to find guest
teachers. We need to think of decentralized resolutions to address the problem in the
northern districts and the remote colleges. Further, there is also the distinction between
private aided and government colleges with respect to the recruitment of teachers that
enables dubious practices such as donations. The different underpinnings of the problem
of scarcity in aided colleges highlights on the one hand the need to dispel the ambiguities

9
We learnt that guest teachers were used in the evaluation of the CCS examination papers in the last
session.
26
in the existing framework for the appointment of teachers so that private aided colleges
do not compromise merit for pecuniary interest and on the other hand ensuring that the
government is bound to facilitate recruitment to sanctioned posts as and when they arise.
We also need to deliberate seriously about alternative and accountable ways of ensuring
that colleges are able to raise funds, whether they are Government or aided, in the
interests of the provision of quality higher education. We have seen in section 3.2 that
the private colleges are able to maintain a higher level of competitiveness and achieve
higher quality standards than the Government colleges. The system would benefit by
building on the strengths of this rather than squeezing the private aided colleges out of
existence. This, however, would require a firm regulative framework in place to curb
profiteering.
Table 3.41: Colleges by University / Sector and Strength of regular teachers
UNIVERSITY Ratio of regular teachers appointed to sanctioned strength
Up to 59 60 to 69 70 to 79 80 to 89 90 and above Total
Kerala 3 (9.4) 1 (3.1) 3 (9.4) 8 (25.0) 17 (53.1) 32 (100)
MG 0 2 (10.0) 3 (15.0) 6 (30.0) 9 (45.0) 20 (100)
Calicut 1 (2.4) 5 (11.9) 8 (19.0) 14 (33.3) 14 (33.3) 42 (100)
Kannur 2 (11.8) 6 (35.3) 1 (5.9) 3 (17.6) 5 (29.4) 17 (100)
Total 6 (5.4) 14 (12.6) 15 (13.5) 31 (27.9) 45 (40.5) 111 (100)
SECTOR
Government 2 (8.3) 1 (4.2) 3 (12.5) 3 (12.5) 15 (62.5) 24 (100)
Aided 4 (4.6) 13 (14.9) 12 (13.8) 28 (32.2) 30 (34.5) 87 (100)
Total 6 (5.4) 14 (12.6) 15 (13.5) 31 (27.9) 45 (40.5) 111 (100)*
* Four of the 115 colleges did not provide this information. Figures in parenthesis are percentages.
Source: Response from Kerala colleges

Table 3.42: Colleges by District and ratio of regular teachers to sanctioned strength
DISTRICT Ratio of regular teachers appointed to sanctioned strength TOTAL
Up to 59 60 to 69 70 to 79 80 to 89 90 and above
Trivandrum 1 1 1 4 10 17
Kollam 2 0 2 3 5 12
Pathanamthitta 0 0 0 2 3 5
Alappuzha 0 0 0 1 1 2
Kottayam 0 1 2 4 4 11
Ernakulam 0 1 1 0 3 5
Trissur 0 3 4 5 4 16
Palghat 1 1 3 0 4 9
Malappuram 0 0 1 7 1 9
Kozhikode 0 1 0 2 5 8
Wayanad 1 1 0 0 0 2
Kannur 0 3 1 2 4 10
Kasargod 1 2 0 1 1 5
Total 6 14 15 31 45 111
Source: Response from Kerala colleges
27

Table 3.43: Colleges by University / Sector and strength of guest teachers
UNIVERSITY Ratio of guest lecturers to regular teachers appointed
Up to 19 20 to 39 40 to 59 60 to 79 80 and above
Total
Kerala 15 (46.9) 10 (31.3) 1 (3.1) 3 (9.4) 3 (9.4) 32 (100)
MG 9 (45.0) 4 (20.0) 2 (10.0) 5 (25.0) 0 20 (100)
Calicut 9 (21.4) 13 (31.0) 14 (33.3) 3 (7.1) 3 (7.1) 42 (100)
Kannur 3 (17.6) 5 (29.4) 4 (23.5) 2 (11.8) 3 (17.7) 17 (100)
Total 36 (32.4) 32 (28.8) 21 (18.9) 13 (11.7) 9 (8.1) 111 (100)
SECTOR
Government 8 (33.3) 6 (25.0) 4 (16.7) 3 (12.5) 3 (12.5) 24 (100)
Aided 28 (32.2) 26 (29.9) 17 (19.5) 10 (11.5) 6 (6.9) 87 (100)
Total 36 (32.4) 32 (28.8) 21 (18.9) 13 (11.7) 9 (8.1) 111 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Response from Kerala colleges

Table 3.44: Colleges by the ratio of Guest teachers in each to regular teachers
DISTRICT Ratio of guest teachers to regular teachers appointed Total
Up to 19 20 to 39 40 to 59 60 to 79 80 and above
Trivandrum 9 3 1 3 1 17
Kollam 4 6 0 0 2 12
Pathanamthitta 4 1 0 0 0 5
Alappuzha 1 1 0 0 0 2
Kottayam 4 3 1 3 0 11
Ernakulam 2 0 1 2 0 5
Trissur 2 7 5 0 2 16
Palghat 3 2 3 0 1 9
Malappuram 0 3 5 1 0 9
Kozhikode 4 1 1 2 0 8
College G3 0 0 1 0 1 2
Kannur 3 3 2 2 0 10
Kasargod 0 2 1 0 2 5
Total 36 32 21 13 9 111
Source: Response from Kerala colleges

Table 3.45 Teacher scarcity in seven colleges
RATIO OF TEACHERS COLLEGE
REGULAR TEACHERS* GUEST TEACHERS**
College G1 97.14 3.33
College A1 81.25 25.00
College A2 61.54 38.46
College A3 70.24 51.19
College A4 98.04 1.96
College G2 50.00 77.78
College G3 55.56 50.00
*Ratio of regular teachers to sanctioned posts, **Ratio of guest teachers to regular teachers
Source: Response from Kerala colleges

Chapter 4

The Challenge of Providing Quality Higher Education: Access to Basic Facilities

4.1 Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the availability of basic facilities in arts and science
colleges and the access that students have to them. In addition we will also examine the
availability of specific student support facilities, over and above what we have
categorized as basic facilities. By basic facilities we mean physical infrastructure, IT
facilities, tutorials or mentorship programmes, extension activities and sports and by
student support facilities we mean add-on courses (short duration career oriented courses
sponsored by the UGC), psychological counseling, career guidance and channels of
information dissemination. We understand these facilities to be foundational to enable
the provision of quality education. These could be facilities that are habitually taken for
granted in some colleges and by sections of society, but in practice they do not exist in
many colleges. We use information from various sources to examine the position of
colleges with respect facilities. We sought student assessment of select basic facilities
and of additional or supporting facilities in terms of whether they thought these facilities
were good, adequate or poor and the proportion of students reporting that these facilities
are good is shown in table 4.31 and 4.34 respectively. In the course of the discussion we
will refer where relevant to assessments as poor. In interpreting student assessment we
rely on other information available to us through field work in the colleges. Some of this
information has been collected directly from colleges or is available on their websites and
in their calendars. We also draw upon the views expressed by teachers and students
during interviews, group discussions and informal interactions with them.

4.2 Basic Facilities
We saw in the previous chapter that inadequacies of physical infrastructure are cited by
35 per cent of colleges in the state as among the most important three problems.
However, there is a distinctly higher proportion of government colleges (over half)
compared to private aided ones reporting this as a problem (table 3.31, previous chapter).
2
A similar pattern is noticed regarding library and IT facilities among Government and
aided colleges in the state. Physical infrastructure is reported to be an important problem
by over 30 per cent of colleges across university regions and IT infrastructure by about
10 per cent of colleges, whereas poor library facilities was reported by a significantly
higher proportion of colleges under Kerala university than elsewhere.

However, the nature of the problem involving physical infrastructure such as class rooms,
computer centers, auditoriums, hostels, staff residential quarters etc, varies across
colleges in the state. They range from an absence of basic facilities to poor or declining
quality infrastructure. Our observation in the colleges selected for in depth investigation
was that Government colleges suffered more on account of the lack of infrastructure for
various reasons. In the bigger government colleges located in the major towns and with
valuable buildings and other property, the problem is one of poor maintenance, which has
rendered some of it unusable. In these colleges, Government agencies are responsible for
maintenance and but colleges reported that despite them reporting problems there was
little response from the concerned agencies. The former Principal of a government
womens college, said she had to call up the agency and tell them that the girls were on
strike because of the unusable state of a section of the class rooms. As against this, the
smaller Government colleges in remote locations are looking at the challenge of building
basic infrastructure such as would be required to apply for NAAC accreditation.
However, there is considerable unevenness in the availability of IT infrastructure. We
found that the more remotely located government colleges College G2 and G3 are
well equipped with IT infrastructure. G3 has 80 systems and a well-equipped computer
centre whereas G2 had purchased systems but the computer centre was still awaiting
electricity connection because of bottlenecks in the system. As against this the more
reputed and urban Government Victoria College and Krishna Menon Government
Womens College reported that poor IT infrastructure was a major problem. This was
also noted in its NAAC peer team report, which pointed out that UGC funds are available
for the same (NAAC Peer Team Report on Government Victoria College, 2008). In the
case of private aided colleges, those that report facing a major constraint in IT
infrastructure are more remotely located.
3

The established and older private aided colleges have reasonably good basic
infrastructure including buildings to house class rooms and other facilities and have been
able to build on these facilities and modernize where necessary. Some of them suffer for
want of space because of their inability to expand owing to their location in the middle of
towns and cities. However, there are examples of private aided colleges, especially those
run by the Church that had fairly ample space even in the big cities. Nevertheless, during
fieldwork we did come across complaints from some private aided colleges about lack of
funds to expand infrastructure for basic needs. However, the complaints ranged from
dearth of funds to delays and lags in receiving public funds that were due. In a
comparative sense aided colleges were more willing and active in mobilizing resources of
their own effort while also making efforts to tap as much as was possible through public
channels, mostly through project funds. Some of the private colleges were exemplary in
this regard.

The assessment of students of facilities offered by colleges in the seven colleges where
we conducted surveys allows us to consider this issue further.
1
Table 4.31 and 4.34 show
the proportion of students in whose assessment select basic facilities and support facilities
provided by the college respectively are good. Here we have looked at physical
infrastructure such as class rooms, auditoriums, hostels, staff quarters etc, computer and
IT facilities, library facilities, tutorials, sports facilities and extension activities i.e., NSS /
NCC. The tutorials are a forum offered under the existing system in the arts and science
colleges in Kerala for the students to express their needs, usually of an academic nature
and have them addressed. Every student is allotted to a tutor, who is a teacher in the
same department. Usually an entire class is allotted to one or more teachers, depending
on the size of the class and the teachers could work out their method of working with the

1
We asked the students to assess each facility according to whether they thought it was a) good, b)
adequate or c) poor. Only in College G1, College A1 and College A2 did more than 20 per cent of students
assess physical infrastructure as poor. The discrepancy in assessment i.e., that a section of students assess
the facilities as good, while others assessed it as adequate or poor, is accounted for at least partially by the
uneven nature of facilities over departments. Thus in a college where the overall state of the physical
infrastructure may be poor, a particular science department may be well furnished and with excellent
facilities owing to research grants and capabilities of one or more faculty. Where these facilities are
accessible to the undergraduate students, it influences them to respond differently from others.
4
students. The effectiveness of the tutorials depends crucially on the rapport that the
teachers are able to establish with the students so as to discern their needs. Where they
worked well, the tutorials extended to provide an outlet for personal problems of students
as well, which the teacher could take up with the college for further intervention where
she thinks necessary. In some colleges there was pressure on the teachers to take this role
seriously but in others it depended on the teacher. Teachers are also allotted NSS duty,
which requires them to co-ordinate NSS activities for a period of time, whereas NCC
activities are under the jurisdiction of an instructor employed for the purpose alone. The
NSS activities are of a wide range but for most part they include a week long camp which
is undertaken by student to provide voluntary service. Specific services undertaken
include voluntary blood donation and pain and palliative care service. The colleges also
have physical instructors employed to look after sports activities.

4.3 Overview of facilities in sample colleges
In this section we provide an overview of the facilities offered by each of the colleges
taken up for study. We anchor our description to the assessment of these facilities by the
students in these colleges (in table 4.31 and 4.32) and try to understand the problems
students face even when reasonably good facilities are available. In each of the colleges,
we try to focus on the major areas of concern that emerge from a comparative analysis of
student perceptions and observed facilities.

4.31 College A1
In some important respects, student assessments correspond broadly to the pattern
emerging from the analysis of the problems reported by colleges and to our own
observations about the college. College A1 is the only aided college in our sample where
less than 30 per cent of students rated the physical infrastructure as good, assessment that
was similar to the government colleges. Significantly, according to the College A1
authorities too physical infrastructure is its most important problem (table 4.3) and this is
also immediately apparent to an observer. However, the circumstances in this case are
exceptional owing to a nearly 20 year old law suit which is still pending and which barred
the college from making any changes / improvements / additions to the existing
5
buildings.
2
Within the existing structure, however, significant improvement had been
made in select areas of work. Thus, the science departments have better facilities than
arts on account of research projects awarded to individual faculty members but also
because laboratory based work is premised upon a minimum level of facilities. In this
case the Chemistry department is particularly well endowed as a faculty member had
been awarded research projects that enabled him to acquire state of the art equipment and
attract research students. While it is not clear to what extent the benefits of such
specialized work flowed to the undergraduate classroom, the teacher pointed out that
research students from other colleges were permitted upon request to use these facilities.
The teacher himself was on research leave during the study, exempting him from
teaching.

Further, the college has a Wi-Fi enabled campus, and is reported to be the first aided
college to get this facility, which it sourced through the MPLAD.
3
It had plans for a
digital library with UGC funding but while these facilities were expected to enrich the
resource base of the college, access to Wi-Fi was restricted to teachers, postgraduate and
research students. Undergraduate students had very little access and this is reflected in
their assessment of the computer and IT facilities in our survey. Over half the students
rated the library facilities as good but only 22 per cent rated the IT and computer facilities
as good, despite the facilities available at the college. The students whose class rooms
are close to the computer lab manage to use the computer and internet during the lunch
hour. We learnt that the internet connection was switched off quite often and the teacher
in charge told us that this is because the band width is very low. The head of the
department of physics was very critical of the idea of enabling the campus with Wi Fi
saying that any facility in the college should cater to the needs of the type of students in
the college. First the students should be trained and along with it they should be
encouraged to use internet as a tool for study. Simply making the campus wifi is of no
use. A few of the students ventured to suggest that the college is deliberately denying

2
The college was started by an ashram but it found it difficult to run and gave it over to the current
management. However, when the Government started to fund the private aided colleges, they filed a case
to get the college back from the current management.
3
This was reported in the newspapers but we do not provide the reference to protect the identity of the
college.
6
them access by citing one problem or other. The head of the department of physics was
critical saying, why do we go after such facilities when they are of no benefit to the
students. That 60 per cent of students at College A1 rated the library facilities as good is
in accordance with a pattern among colleges in marginal settings, where students depend
largely on the college for educational resources. There are suggestions that the access
students have to a facility influences their assessment of the availability of the facility in
the college. Thus in the case of the library the assessment of students did not necessarily
correspond to the level of resources that are available in the library but to the access they
have. In College A1 the library did not have adequate space and given the statement with
respect to construction they could not expand through new construction. We were told
that, for this reason, students are not allowed to browse among the racks rather they had
to give the names of the titles to the staff who would locate the books for them. We also
learnt that there are periods when there is great demand for the same books, prescribed
texts during the assignments, and then it is difficult for all the students to get access. The
chemistry and physics departments have separate libraries, with a teacher in charge.
Because they have projects, these departments are able to subscribe to standard journals
as well.

About 36 per cent of students rated the tutorials as good, which is less than the overall
average for the seven colleges. However, only ten per cent rated it as poor. In College
A1, the management is generally not interventionist and the teachers are divided over
important issues (like NAAC), a situation in which the Principal is not able to assert
authority, therefore issues like tutorials are left to the initiative of teachers. In this
context, responses of the teachers ranged from being proactive to indifferent. Students
expressed disappointment with their history teachers in particular for the methods they
used whereas there is visible respect for the science teachers. College A1 has poor sports
facilities though it is known to have students with a flair for sports. In the past, it has put
good performances in team events and students recounted how a college, with much
better facilities, had taken away an entire football team from College A1. The students
were very critical of the management for its indifference to sports.

7
Among the additional facilities analyzed in table 4.34, only the add-on courses are rated
as good by over 40 per cent of students and few rated it as poor. Two courses are offered
by the college and they relate to computer applications and laboratory techniques. Both
are considered to impart useful and job oriented skills and students are generally keen to
invest time in them. There is even a feeling that the add-on courses are more interesting
than the general classes, they seem to hold the students attention, where the general
classes, some of the students say induce boredom. The faculty told us about an effort to
start a structured psychological counseling initiative but many students were not aware of
it. A senior woman teacher of Malayalam with good communication and networking
skills was entrusted with the responsibility. She was introduced to me as a person with
cultural interests and the person who is entrusted with all difficult non academic and
sensitive responsibilities. Besides counseling, she was also in charge of the Womens
cell and was the IQAC coordinator. She was clearly having a difficult time giving
structure and content to all of these. Nothing had been undertaken under the womens
cell in the past three years though prior to that she had mobilized the girls students into
organizing what seemed to be a very interesting seminar on the violence women face
while traveling. Part of the problem lay in the framing of these initiatives on the margins
of college activity as cultural and not something all the teachers understood and
therefore could take responsibility for. A science teacher had made an effort to organize
career guidance but said he did not receive much response from the students.

There is a Greek saying that fish rots from the head. The problems faced by students at
College A1 are closely tied to the general indifference of the management. Indeed,
beyond holding a stake in admission of students and appointments of teachers, the
management seems quite unconcerned with the nitty gritty of higher education. Some
teachers pointed out that this has its benefits in granting greater academic freedom within
the college. We saw this in effect in the case at best of a few teachers, who were able to
use the space afforded by an indifferent management productively by tapping public
funds for research and setting up good facilities in their departments. Thus the Chemistry
teacher was appreciative that the management had not prevented him from taking up
research work at the college. He was well networked and had published in standard
8
journals but was keen to continue at the college. Here non intervention is translated into
support and in this respect it did seem to hold the potential for greater autonomy for
teaching staff. However, as a former teacher of another college under the same
management pointed out, this would depend on the general attitude among teachers.
Today, teachers are less inclined towards work and this attitude is promoting
irresponsibility. The effect at College A1 seems to be deleterious as the indifference of
the management bred a sense of complacence among teachers and staff. Worse, it breeds
ill will towards the teachers who took greater interest and led to infighting thereby
curbing their ability to work for the benefit of the college as a whole.

Largely unconcerned with the higher education process within colleges, the management
has made no effort to design an incentive structure that would prompt a response from
teachers or the administration. Other aided colleges, especially those under Christian
managements, did provide some incentives like recognition of teachers who achieve
something through felicitation and mention in their newsletter. A former teacher of
another College A1 college said that the management was poorly informed about higher
education (either about the changes taking place in the area globally or about the
problems faced locally by colleges under its management) but also that it was not
interested in associating with those who are better informed. The problem seems to run
deeper in the fear of loss of control and exposure of their weaknesses if they resort to an
association with independent experts. This fear is linked, inextricably, with the nature of
the organization, structured as it is to dispense patronage rather than to promote
excellence. Thus, the organization not only does not rely on professionalism but also is
suspicious of it. Not surprisingly, unlike the other aided colleges taken up for study, the
management of College A1 is not visible in tangible or intangible ways in the college.

4.32 College A2
In College A2 the impression that a visitor gets from the buildings, layout and the
apparent facilities do not correspond with the assessment of students. The college is
especially well designed and laid out on a sprawling campus in an airy building which is
well maintained and furnished. But with the exception of NCC/NSS, less than half the
9
students rated any facility in this college as good and a higher proportion of students than
in any other college rated many of them as poor. In this context, student assessment
needs to be read in relation to the availability of these facilities for their use. It was
noticed that students were allowed to be on campus only during class hours hence all
facilities, including the library and sports facilities, could be used only during these
hours. Classes left little time for students to use other facilities. Further, there was strict
vigilance around classes. On campus even small infringements that would otherwise pass
unnoticed were punished. Students are suspended for even a minutes delay in going to
class, which means that they have to get the Principals permission to rejoin the class.
Even on college day, when programmes were organized in the auditorium, the teachers
were found to be in position, virtually patrolling (attach picture) the event keeping a
distance but constantly moving around. Students trooped out of the college campus at
3.00 pm at the end of the last hour of class even as the teachers trooped into the
Principals office to take leave by signing the register kept there. In this case, better
utilization of facilities has fallen prey to the managements heightened vigilance and
suspicion.

About 40 per cent of students rated the physical infrastructure as good and over 20 per
cent rated it as poor.
4
Only 12 per cent of students rated the IT facilities as good
(whereas over 50 per cent rated it as poor) and about 36 per cent rated the library
facilities as good, which was the lowest among the colleges surveyed. The library had
the smallest collection of books and subscribed to the smallest number of newspapers in
our sample but this was not the major complaint of students, whose opportunities to use
the library are limited. With respect to the computer facilities, the computer lab is
maintained for the use only of those students who have computer science as a subsidiary
subject. There is a smaller facility with internet that is open to all students but it was
always found to be closed during the field work. We do not even get to see a computer,
how can we use it, a student commented. The manager said the facility was closed
because he didnt want to appoint additional staff to manage it, and if the students desired

4
Only College G1 and College A1, which have severe problems related to physical infrastructure have
similar or higher levels of assessment as poor.
10
to use it they could always approach him, make the required payment and he would open
and connect the facility for them. The teachers too were scathing about the computer
facilities. They said that computers had been acquired for all departments prior to the
NAAC process but that they had gradually stopped working and no maintenance was
undertaken. Only in one department physics - were the computers in working
conditions. While teachers in other departments attributed this to the proactive effort of
the head of that department, the latter admitted that he pursues matters tirelessly with the
management. This teacher is generally well respected among the students and especially
those of his department. To the latter, he is a source of inspiration. Some of the teachers
resorted to pejorative comments about his enthusiasm. They said the department has
good facilities because he is willing to comply with the requirements of the management,
something they see as beneath their dignity to do. However, we noticed that he was
unaffected by the hushed whispers and continued to work with energy and enthusiasm.
Not the least because of his efforts, the department enjoyed a good reputation in the
college and sustained a sense of motivation among students and teachers.

Sports facilities were rated particularly badly, with less than 20 per cent of students
saying it was good. At student commented that, [o]ur college is not providing enough
sports and arts facilities and encouragement. Even through there are talented students. I
am highlighting this point. Our football ground is not beneficial for the students of the
college or for the playing purpose for the local children Students are not allowed to
play in the ground. Grass is grown on the ground and given to dairy farm and money
taken for that. Students of College A2 assessed poorly the additional facilities shown in
table 4.34. A teacher who had been entrusted with planning the career guidance cell a
year previous to our field work reported that she was not given the freedom to do so. Fed
up she had handed over the responsibility to another teacher. While allocating
responsibilities, it seems the management is not willing to back the initiative of teachers
and allow them the autonomy to work. This has contributed to disillusionment and lack
of morale among the larger body of teachers. The physics department head is an
exception in this context and entirely due to his own abilities to stay focused on students.
The college did not have any add-on courses or a structured initiative to provide
11
psychological counseling but some of the talks organized by the womens studies cell
addressed issues of mental health and stress. Not surprisingly, the majority of students
assessed these facilities as poor.

The poor assessment of basic and additional facilities at the college reflected on the
overall environment that prevailed, where there was little good will among teachers and
students for the management. The manager, who is a hands on man and highly motivated
tended to micro manage affairs. He was clearly the most powerful person on that
campus, overshadowing the Principal and relegating him to a bureaucrat. He believed
that the teachers are generally more interested in their salaries than in work and laid the
blame for the poor quality of education in colleges at their doors. In College A2 he said
he had ample evidence that the teachers lacked the initiative to address problems and to
get involved in academic processes and events. He said that he was interested to
facilitate seminars and workshops and had offered the funds necessary to do so but had
found that the teachers were mostly unwilling and had to be prodded heavily before they
could be made to take up a responsibility. While not denying the poor state of the
computers he said that he was interested in having better maintenance only if the teachers
showed more interest and brought problems to his notice regularly. He had recently
removed the internet connection provided to the college to the managers building as it
was not being used but was willing to restore it if there was a need to do so, he said. The
manager had very strong views on what constituted quality higher education. He gave
precedence to class room learning and defined success in terms of the ability to achieve
immediate goals of gaining employment. Whereas in College A1, the management did
not seem be motivated about the education process itself, beyond providing a minimal
amount of governance, at College A2 the manager was a huge presence and had very
rigid uncompromising ideas, which he sought to implement even at the cost of passive
non cooperation from teachers. However, the implications were not necessarily any
better, if we go beyond the building up of good quality brick and motor structures. One
of the more vocal teachers at College A2 expressed disbelief at the NAAC grade it has
received saying, I dont know what this college has done to deserve a B+. The
management must surely have done something. In turn, the manager told us that he had
12
received the best rating within the college, that the NAAC team had greatly appreciated
the work he was putting in. The hiatus did not seem easy to bridge.

4.33 College A3
In the case of College A3, student assessment corresponded relatively better with our
own observations of facilities and with what emerged in our interviews and conversations
with college authorities and teachers. All facilities shown in table 4.31 had relatively
better ratings by students than in the other colleges, with the exception of College A4.
The inventory of physical infrastructure reads very impressively and is a world removed
from colleges that want for class rooms and seating furniture (discussed ahead). College
A3 had two seminar halls equipped with current audio-visual facilities and an auditorium
to seat 450 people. They even have a health and fitness centre among an array of other
facilities. Physical infrastructure and computers and IT facilities are rated as good by
slightly less than half the students in College A3 but only a negligible proportion of
students rated them as poor. Students pointed out that most teachers encouraged them to
use the internet as a source of learning but some also expressed worry about the
authenticity of the information they would get from it. The library facilities are rated as
good by over 60 per cent of students and few rated it as poor. College A3 has a very
impressive library spread over three floors, computerized and with an electronic
information centre for browsing. It received about 300 periodicals including 64 journals
apart from a large store of books (see table 4.3). Notably, they also had bar coded
identity cards to register daily attendance. This is no doubt part of the sense of vigilance
in College A3 though it did not raise barriers to access as in the case of College A2.

It was also apparent that the administration spared no effort to raise funds from available
public sources. At the start of the fieldwork, we had difficulty meeting the Principal and
several teachers owing to their preoccupation with submission of research projects for
funding. College A3 also had a number of ongoing and completed research projects,
comparatively more than in the other colleges with the possible exception of College A4.
Students tended to agree that the academic facilities were good. The general diligence
with respect to academic instruction is reflected in the student rating of the tutorial
13
facility at College A3 - 70 per cent said good though over 20 said poor. Notably,
however, this was at odds with the rating of students of their relationship with teachers
(in Chapter 5). Over 20 per cent of students rated this as poor and less than half rated it
as good. This was because of the poor rating by one class. Nevertheless, this does not
seem to affect their rating of the tutorials, where a single teacher is in charge of a class.
The college had five add-on courses, which it seems was well received by the students.
5

Each of them was conducted by one or more departments in association with a separate
facility that also conducted enrichment courses, short term courses of a practical or job
oriented nature, for students and locals. Three out of five add-on courses were in areas
identified with women in gender terms housing and interior decoration (Home
Science), health management, yoga and beauty care (physical education), horticulture and
mushroom cultivation (Botany), Journalism and Mass communication (English and
Malayalam) and a course offered jointly by computer science and commerce.

Notably, College A3 and College A2 share catholic managements and vigilance, which is
generally a part of the environment in such colleges, intrudes into daily activities. In
womens colleges, vigilance is heightened in directions of moral policing, which is seen
as the very core of overall discipline for women. In College A3, students did complain
about being subjected to surveillance and especially in the hostels. While their worst
comments were reserved for the administration, we noticed that teachers expressed
restrictive beliefs regarding gender norms and of what constituted appropriate behaviour
for girls. They also spoke to us about their efforts to chide, advise and caution students,
who crossed the line of modest behaviour. A section of the students were highly critical
of the administration / management, who they felt infringed on their basic rights to
privacy and resorted to tactics such as rumors to affect student reputation and morale.
Psychological counseling is a case in point.
6
Some of the students told us that it was used

5
The question regarding the add-on courses was not part of the first set of questionnaires used in College
A3 and College G1. However, it was in College A3 that we learnt about the importance attached to the
add-on courses by the college and saw that the students too were receptive to them. College A3 also
offered a large number of enrichment courses, on the lines of the add on courses but these were open to
outside students as well.
6
We conducted the first round of surveys at College A3 and University and modified the questionnaire
slightly after this. In the first round the question on add on courses and psychological counseling was not
included.
14
to harass them. They insist on us going to the counselor and speaking only to use the
information against us if we talk about our problems the word gets around. All the
students were asked to go and meet the counselor taking turns. Some of the students said
that even if they did not have any problems, they would be subjected to searching
questions. Clearly they feel counseling is being used to invade their privacy and are
suspect about the intentions of the administration in this regard.

Further, there is a strict regimen regarding dressing. While once a week a uniform is
worn, which is a saree, on other days the girls are expected to wear the shalwar kameez
with a shawl, not even a long skirt is permitted. At student pointed out, yes, certain
greater discipline is expected from me as I am a girl, like getting up earlier, in college it
pertains to dressing, cannot make noise as it is a womens college etc.. Another
wondered, in a womens college why should there be such strictness in case of dressing.
The way we dress, putting the shawl . The more vocal of them told us that they were
suspicious what the administration did with the money they collected as fine for breach of
discipline (as not wearing the saree on the prescribed day) for they were not given
receipts, they said. However, during the group discussion most of the girls were reserved
or clearly unwilling to voice criticism. The group with self financing students was
critical of some of the restrictions. In others students were mild. Its a traditional view
that girls should be so and so. Thats rights that we should be more careful than boys,
wherever we go. Some students were understanding of the restrictions or strongly
supportive. The problems in the society that we see in our everyday life may be the
reason for girls being told to be extra careful. Our parents preferred this college for this
reason too as it is safe and secure over here. In another group a student pointed out
that, we do not think that it is so strict. Its only understood when we go out. Many say
that our gate is closed always as students bunk classes. But actually it is to keep us safe
from outside. For example, if a strike comes all of a sudden. Other rules, like restriction
on the use of mobiles are also for our good.

Nevertheless, it was frequently pointed out by students that the reputation of the college
drew them to College A3. It may be the case that College A3 is able to function better
15
than College A2 because of intangible like reputation but also importantly because it is a
womens college and restriction are expected to be imposed. Indeed, girls seem to
internalize this and / or resist less explicitly than boys. Also College A3 did not have to
struggle against the ghost of politics, which for most part girls did not seem to miss.
Only the exceptional girl student pointed out that they were losing out in being able to
exercise their choice of a candidate. Otherwise, politics was perceived as something that
happens outside and something they could anyway keep abreast with through the mass
media. In this sense, there was a general environment that supported the restrictions
enforced by the college authorities.

4.34 College A4
In College A4, with the exception of tutorials, nearly 70 to 100 per cent of students rated
all other facilities as good. The facilities offered were if anything better than in College
A3 and on a far more spacious campus. It has a seminar hall, auditorium and even an
indoor stadium. Over the years, College A4 has been able to mobilize considerable
resources from a wide range of sources towards development and modernization of
facilities. It had been able to tap public funds, related to education through project grants
and general development funds like the MPLAD
7
, and several private trust funds. The
Principal pointed out that he had visited several Gulf states in 2008 to raise funds from
the college alumni, a visit that garnered about 75 lakhs. Some of these funds have been
used specifically to supplement its IT facilities, which are ample and sophisticated
compared to other colleges. It has a campus wide network, which the college plans to
upgrade into a wireless facility soon. The college also has a language laboratory for the
improvement of communication skills with 30 computers. The IT facility was rated as
good by nearly 70 per cent of students and as poor by a negligible proportion. Also the
college has a relatively new and spacious library complex with an audio-visual theatre. It
is computerized and has a corner for internet browsing. It also has facilities for the
visually challenged. The library is said to be the best in the city and claims to be among
the best in the state. Table 4.32 shows that its collection of books in the library is second
only to College G1 and that it subscribed to the largest number of newspapers. Unlike

7
MPs local Area development funds
16
College G1 however in College A4, the resources are in one place. All the students
surveyed rated the library as good, reflecting both the quality of the facility and their
access to it. The additional facilities offered (table 4.34) are also rated as good by a
majority of students.

College A4 has various other ongoing developmental activities and several associations
were working well to support the college in its activities, both by raising funds and
contributing their services. These included the alumni association, the retired teachers
association and the PTA. According to him, the extension activities were one of the
strengths of the college and they relied extensively on the service of the retired teachers.
Over 90 per cent of students rated the NSS/NCC activities as good. Apart from the
routine NSS outdoor camps, volunteers contributed to the extension activities i.e., the
pain and palliative care clinic, trauma centre and blood donation forum. Among the
extension activities, the sociology department operates a 24-hour childline and there are
also specific research and documentation activities. College A4 was also able to use its
funds for the improvement of sports facilities and to attract the best sports talent to the
college. Indeed, College A4 was a study in imaginative and effective mobilization of
resources for maintaining standards and improving facilities in a college.
8
At least some
of this owed to the community base of the college and its ability to reach out to the large
group of well to do alumni in the Gulf and elsewhere. We noted that private individuals
sponsored specific facilities. For instance the AV theatre had been sponsored by a Gulf
based businessman. Efforts like the palliative initiative added to the good will the college
enjoyed, though it was embedded in a more general environment in Malabar
characterized by a strong palliative care movement. Notably, College G2 in Kasargod is
the only other college where we found palliative care incorporated into the NSS
activities.

The state of infrastructure, residential facilities and the quality of facilities offered by
College A4may well be linked to the socio-economic profile and the academic character

8
It was in the process of seeking re-accreditation in 2009 hence the NAAC grade (5 star corresponding to
A+) in our data set is from the first accreditation, which had lapsed.
17
of students it draws. We saw in the previous chapter that College A4 draws students with
relatively better academic performance, especially among the boys, and relatively higher
proportion of students from economically better off families - about half of its students
were from families in self employed and regular salaried jobs. In the case of College A4,
self employment comprised well to do business families and farmers.

College A4is not entirely exempt from the stranglehold of vigilance that characterizes the
private aided college discussed earlier. However, this vigilance does not intrude into
student access to facilities as is evident in the student ratings. We learnt however that girl
students in the hostel needed to take special permission to visit the library after class
hours. Thus, College A4 is able to maneuver better than College A2 in such a way as not
to deny students access to facilities. In a group discussion we organized with students,
they were critical of the restrictions of what they called a religious management. This is
notable for the college authorities point out that they are especially interested in the care
of the moral standard of the students which are operated through religious and spiritual
discourses and are seen to help them enrich their personality as well as their social
identity. Students were critical about gender segregation in particular but also about the
administration and teachers not being able to rise above a fear of freedom. There is a
rule that girls and boys should not be found speaking to each other after 3.00 pm i.e.,
when class hours are over. Yet, they indicated that there was space for dissent for they
pointed out that the rules regarding gender segregation were bound face resistance from
the students and they were working towards such resistance. And even while college
authorities emphasize the care exercised to keep peace, they do not dismiss the value of
politics, as the managements of the Catholic colleges are quick to do.

4.35 College G1
Unlike the four colleges discussed so far, College G1 is in the Government sector. Table
4.31 shows that the students of government colleges rated their physical infrastructure
very poorly in comparison with the aided colleges. College G1 sits on heritage property
in the city center but wears an unkempt look even as it sports valuable oil paintings of
former Principals from the 19
th
century on the walls of its entrance. The PWD is
18
responsible for all repairs and maintenance. According to the Principal, the PWD is
supposed to undertake renovation and repairs regularly but has not been doing so even
after requests from the college. However he steered clear of blaming the PWD of apathy
and instead said the delay was because they were overburdened and short of funds. He
added that the existing buildings are not enough for the number of programmes that the
college runs, that they were short of space for class rooms but could not initiate new
buildings all of a sudden. They needed to proceed with an estimate from the PWD,
which would take time. Instances of acute neglect are many. The History department
library functions out of a room on the first floor with a wood paneled high ceiling that
leaks profusely during the rains, damaging the furniture and the books with the dampness
that it leaves behind. Most of the buildings are poorly maintained and the class rooms
have broken furniture or in the case of bigger classes like general English, the furniture is
inadequate to seat the entire class driving students out. We found that though girls
usually do not hang out at the cost of classes sometimes there were groups of girls in the
common room during class hour. When asked, they told us that there was a dearth of
seats in the class, which we found was true. The Principal admitted that there is a
shortage of furniture but added that the college was in the process of acquiring new
benches and desks.

The library and NSS/NCC were rated as good by over 60 per cent of students in College
G1. Table 3.52 shows that the library was well stocked but it does not provide a good
picture of the actual situation in the college. Further, College G1 was a huge college with
the largest number of courses at the UG level and with research programmes at the M
Phil and Ph D levels. Hence, it would not be misguiding to compare its library resources
with other colleges. Though over 80 per cent of students rated the library facilities as
good there is considerable unevenness in the library facilities available at College G1.
All departments had their own separate libraries, which meet most of their needs. We did
not come across any major constraints to access to library resources and this may well be
reflected in the rating. In some departments not all the library resources were open to the
undergraduate students but sizeable section was. The science departments have managed
to resist the general decline in facilities at College G1 better than others, and this was the
19
case especially with those with laboratories and research projects. These departments
were able to build up good library, IT and other facilities. Thus, within an unkempt
heritage structure were laboratories with state of the art equipment and modern facilities.
The Botany department had even produced a patent.
9
The department libraries in the
sciences were much better stocked and had at least a minimum of the standard
international journals in dire contrast to departments like History, which did not subscribe
to even a single journal. The Head of the Department of History expressed concern about
the neglect of the arts disciplines with respect to allocation of funds for purchase of books
and journals and said it was despite her efforts to get a better deal in the concerned
committee meetings. According to the Principal the arts departments relied entirely on
plan funds of the college for the library resources whereas the science departments were
also able to mobilize additional resources from projects and from public funding for the
sciences.

Despite complaints by the administration about paucity of funds, there was little effort to
mop up available public funds in College G1, especially when compared with the private
aided colleges. Here projects funds were left to individual initiative, the administration
was not involved in actively motivating teachers to look for such projects. Indeed, there
were some very distinguished scholars, who were proactive in garnering projects and had
through their own efforts set up laboratories that had excellent facilities. One of these
scholars pointed out how he was able to tap unused funds of the Government department
to fund equipment that was not available in the University department. In the case of IT
facilities, the very low proportions of students rating it as good may be seen in the
context of regular access being limited to the post graduate and research students, the
undergraduate students had access only if there was some prescribed activity. Tutorials
were rated as good by about 35 per cent of students and as poor by over 25 per cent. We
noted in the previous chapter that boys tend to be absent from class in greater proportion
than girls for various reasons. However, if they shirk classes they also make up for it by
attending coaching classes, usually outside college hours. One teacher called this a
fashion taking note of the irony of their opting for coaching from sub standard teachers

9
The faculty member who had received the patent has since left the department.
20
in tutorial centers who teach out of popular guide books as against teachers who were
selected through merit for the Government service. In such a context, there is likely to be
less appreciation by the students of facilities like the tutorials. The Principal and teachers
at College G1 admitted that they were working to revive the tutorial system that had
fallen into disuse.

The student experience of NSS seemed to vary from year to year. Usually they are able
to participate in an annual camp which is combined with social service, something the
students seem to look forward to and enjoy. During the fieldwork, the girls were not
allowed to stay overnight at the camp and felt cheated by that. This was because a
woman teacher was not able to stay along with them and it was not considered to safe for
them stay without proper chaperonage. The overnight experience is part of the
excitement of the NSS camps, when they organize cultural programme and other
entertainment. A much-emphasized part of the NSS in College G1, is voluntary blood
donations. However, there is some amount of confusion regarding how voluntary this is
as the students organization at College G1 are known to force students to make voluntary
blood donations.

Moving to other facilities, the physical instructor told us that there were virtually no
improvements to sport facilities in the recent past and there was little interest in sports in
the college administration. Table 4.4 shows that the students rated the facilities for
student support quite poorly. Though we did not canvass the question on add on courses
and counseling, College G1 had only recently initiated three add-on courses Functional
English, Functional Arabic and Travel and Tourism management - in response to the
suggestions of the last NAAC committee. Previously they did not have add-on courses.
Psychological counseling too has been introduced recently with the assistance of the
psychology department. The college was making an effort to make it functional through
the tutorial system. The college administration underlined the need for it in the context of
the social class from which the students were drawn. During the field work, a student
committed suicide underlining the need for detection of problems and counseling.

21
The uneven character of facilities at College G1 and the poor state of the arts departments
in particular is linked to the general indifference that characterizes the administration.
During the first part of our field work, the administration, led by the Principal, was
marked by a passive position. It is generally felt in College G1 that the Principal is
unable to do anything unless s/he has the support of the teachers and the students. The
vice Principal during the period, who was strongly critical of the indifference of the
teachers organizations pointed out that a teacher whose views she constantly opposed
had challenged her saying, what have you been able to accomplish? She said it is true
she had not been able to do anything because she does not have the support that is
needed. Because I have strong views and I mince no words, I do not have support, she
said. There is a strong presence of the organizations of both students and teachers on this
campus. The Principal during the latter part of the field work was a trade union person
with no previous experience of working in College G1. He felt that the latter was very
useful as he did not carry any baggage and could treat everyone at the same distance. He
was making efforts and it seemed to us that he had the support and blessings of the
powers that be (political party in power). In chapter 5, we discuss in greater detail how
higher education in College G1 is held to ransom by one political party.

4.36 College G3 and College G2
If problems of infrastructure in College G1 are inextricably connected to the decline of a
once prestigious institution, in the marginally located College G3and College G2 the
problem is of the absence of facilities and / or bottlenecks in commissioning them. Both
colleges were established in 1981 to serve the socio-economically underprivileged
populations in two backward northern districts - Kasargod and Wayanad. While 20 per
cent of students rated the physical infrastructure as good in College G2 to 38 per cent did
so in College G4. However, while less than five per cent rate it as poor in College G2
and College G4, over 30 per cent in College G1 did so. We may also recall that a higher
proportion of Government colleges reported suffering from inadequate physical
infrastructure. The inadequacies of physical infrastructure are quite different kinds in
these colleges when compared to College G1. Both these colleges functioned out of
fairly large single blocks of three storied buildings. College G2 had finished construction
22
of 18 staff quarters and a computer centre in 2006 at considerable cost using MPLAD
funds but they have been lying unused because of problems in the way of getting
electricity connection and wiring. A teacher pointed out that the problem was mired in
corruption. The original contract involved a lot of money but did not include wiring and
electrical connection. The PWD did not find a contract for the wiring and electricity
alone sufficiently attractive and hence was delaying it. The college had filed a complaint
under the RTI act and was awaiting a response. The computers and the software were
acquired and stored in the seminar hall on the third floor of the main building. There was
an upcoming project for a students hostel. At College G2, the lack of a hostel was
acutely felt. Students from distant locations currently stayed in shared accommodation in
nearby houses, which they located for themselves. A teacher pointed out that hostel
accommodation would extend the time available for interaction with the students and
would enable them to organize additional events like film screenings, which were now
restricted to the NSS camps. College G3 had initiated work on an indoor auditorium,
students hostels, a Principals quarters. Both these colleges were making efforts to
mobilize local resources. In this context, student assessment of the physical
infrastructure of these two colleges reflects their predicament.

Notably, however, 80 per cent of students at College G2 and about 50 per cent at College
G3 rate their library facilities as good whereas only a negligible proportion in both rated
it as poor. As noted in the context of College A1, student assessment of the library
facility may not correspond with the actual resource position of the library but may
depend on several other factors, the availability of alternative libraries and the level of
access they enjoy to this one. About 30 per cent of students in both rated the computer
and IT facilities as good. While only 10 per cent rated these facilities as poor in College
G2, 20 per cent did so in College G4. In the case of College G4 College G4, despite a
well stocked computer facility with internet connection in one in every four computers
student complained that their access was restricted. Students were not charged any fees
for the use of internet but they were not able avail of the facility because of several
reasons. Student comments ranged from that the computer facility was not open all the
time to that teachers were not available when the students had time and wanted to use the
23
facility. A student referred to this as strict control. They could use the facility only in
the presence of a teacher. The comments of the student also suggest that they would like
to see the use of computers and IT better integrated into the mainstream learning process.
Currently it seems to be treated as an add-on facility. This would be one way of
overcoming the barriers to fuller utilization of the resource. College G2 was still waiting
for the computer centre to become operational and until then students were dependent on
the facilities in the departments. Among the department we chose for the survey
Functional English and Economics - the students of Functional English had access to
computers and internet because of the language lab attached to the department and
because the permanent faculty member in the department was keen to encourage the
students to use the facility. Students of economics however had little access and the
Functional English students pointed out that the Hindi students had virtually no access to
the language lab. Their teacher explained to me that they had Hindi software in the lab
but the shortage of regular teachers in the department was preventing it from being used.
Additionally, for the students to be able to use the lab a teacher had to be present so
unless the teachers were willing to make the effort student access would be reduced.
Students also pointed out that they needed proper instruction in the use of computers and
IT and this was not being arranged in a systematic way. One of the students said that
only a few of the teachers were adept in using the facilities and this was a problem for the
students.

In the rating of the tutorials, we have some indication of the initiative shown by teachers
in each of these colleges. College G3had about 35 per cent of students rating the tutorial
facilities as good whereas in College G2 it was 60 per cent. Further, in College G3and
College G2 only about 10 per cent of students rated this facility as poor. In College G4,
the students complained about the scarcity of teachers, that some of the teachers make a
rare appearance. As students in these two settings were heavily dependent on the
resources of the college problems were likely to affect them more intensely. The
Principal of College G3 pointed out that students cannot afford to skip classes as there
are no alternatives unlike in the cities where coaching centres abound and many students
study at the coaching classes not at the college. Thus, tutorials are likely to be an
24
important resource and the failure of teachers to attend to it sufficiently could disillusion
the students.

Assessment by colleges of their own problems, the information we collected through
interviews and conversations with different segments of the college community and the
assessment by the students of the facilities offered by their college suggest quite clearly
that there are major inadequacies in basic infrastructure available in the Government and
aided arts and science colleges in the state. The problems are inflected somewhat
differently among colleges in different sectors. Overall there are problems of absence of
basic facilities, poor quality or declining quality of facilities and also barriers to the
utilization of existing facilities. All of these add up to significant constraints in the way
of providing better quality education but also direct our attention to the need for better
identification of problems, co-ordination and planning. Student assessment and
discussion with them showed unambiguously that it is not enough to have facilities; they
must be available to the students. They also show that students are clearly responsive in
contexts where facilities are minimal but inspired teachers are able to intervene and raise
their level of access.
Table 4.31: Student assessment of basic facilities / working of college
% STUDENTS INDICATING BASIC FACILITIES ARE GOOD COLLEGE
PHY
INFRA
LIBRAR
Y
IT, COMPU
TERS
TUTOR
IAL
NSS /
NCC SPORTS
College G1 29 87 21 37 68 NA*
28.4% 85.3% 20.6% 36.3% 66.7% NA
College A1 30 62 24 40 89 30
27.8% 57.4% 22.2% 37.0% 82.4% 27.8%
College A2 33 29 10 22 50 14
40.7% 35.8% 12.3% 27.2% 61.7% 17.3%
College A3 60 77 58 88 67 NA*
47.2% 60.6% 45.7% 69.3% 52.8% NA
College A4 55 81 54 44 76 63
67.9% 100.0% 66.7% 54.3% 93.8% 77.8%
College G2 8 32 12 24 34 19
20.0% 80.0% 30.0% 60.0% 85.0% 47.5%
College G3 39 48 32 36 81 40
37.9% 46.6% 31.1% 35.0% 78.6% 38.8%
Total 254 416 211 291 465 166
39.6% 64.8% 32.9% 45.3% 72.4% 25.9%
* The question was not asked in these colleges. Source: Seven-college survey
25
Table 4.32: Overview of basic Library resources at select seven colleges
COLLEGE BOOK TITLES ECONOMIC AND
POLITICAL
WEEKLY
ENGLISH
NEWSPAPER
MALAYALAM
NEWSPAPER
College G1 138215 Yes 5 6
College A1 22383 Yes 2 3
College A2 14651 No 2 3
College A3 58952 Yes 4 6
College A4 75034 Yes 5 10
College G2 15778 Yes 2 4
College G3 14500 No 1 4
Source: Responses from Kerala Colleges

Table 4.33: Problems reported by seven colleges
COLLEGE PROBLEMS REPORTED
College G1 Poor quality infrastructure; Loss of working days due to strike; Insufficient library
facilities
College A1 Poor quality infrastructure; Scarcity of teachers; Loss of working days due to strike
College A2 Scarcity of teachers; Loss of working days due to strike
College A3 Not Available
College A4 Scarcity of teachers; Delay in publication of results by university; Delay in updating
syllabus
College G2 Scarcity of teachers
College G3 Availability and cost of transportation for students coming mainly from remote areas
and poor families; Difficulty in getting guest teachers hence need permanent staff;
Lack of office staff
Source: Responses from Kerala Colleges

Table 4.34: Student assessment of quality of additional / student support facilities
% STUDENTS INDICATING SUPPORT FACILITIES ARE GOOD COLLEGE
Useful add on
courses
Counseling for
personal problems Career guidance
Information
networks /
dissemination
College G1 Not asked Not Asked 33 (32.4) 60 (58.8)
College A1 49 (45.4) 26 (24.1) 42 (38.9) 33 (30.6)
College A2 No courses 11 (13.6) 15 (18.5) 16 (19.8)
College A3 Not asked Not Asked 67 (52.8) 49 (38.6)
College A4 57 (70.4) 53 (65.4) 67 (82.7) 64 (79.0)
College G2 No courses 8 (20.0) 23 (57.5) 22 (55.0)
College G3 29 (28.2) 15 (14.6) 33 (32.0) 20 (19.4)
Total 152 113 280 (43.6) 264 (41.1)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


4.4 Conclusion
The three government colleges in our sample College G1, College G2 and College G3
have the worst basic facilities, particularly with respect to bare essentials like class
26
rooms, hostels and staff quarters, where they are most needed. We have seen that the
reasons for this are different in College G1 as against the other two. The issues thrown
up by the private aided colleges are quite different. Two of the private aided colleges
suffered on account of the views of their management - because of excessive
management or because of indifference. In this light, College A4 and College A3 are
better placed than all the other colleges. Most of all they do not share the negativism and
disillusionment that characterizes the environment in College A2 and College G1, a
problem we probe in greater detail in the following chapter. Both, College A4 and
College A3 have built on community support but also there is a high level of motivation
in the colleges to contribute to improvement of facilities and standards. This is evident in
collaborative effort by administration and teachers to tap public funds through academic
routes as also through other channels. These colleges breathed a sense of restrained well
being i.e., of good overall facilities and access to them for students. However, when we
scratch the surface there are obvious tensions emerging from the frameworks they operate
in and the nature of citizenship they promote.

Chapter 5
Negotiating Quality in Higher Education: Politics and College Environment

The Committee in its deliberations debated over the fact that placing restriction on affiliation to political
parties may be viewed as contrary to the fundamental right of association, as provided in the Constitution
of India. However, it is also true that the right to association, as under Article 19 of the Constitution, is
amenable to reasonable restrictions, as are all other rights under Article 19. It is true that the aim of
prescribing a system of elections is not only to provide representation of student issues, but also to provide
a base for young students to learn the basic fundamentals of representing others, as well as the principles
of good governance. However, it is not appropriate to permit the level of interference being exercised by
political parties at present, as the primary function of a university is, after all, education, and not political
indoctrination, especially when such political influence brings with it all the indiscretions that political
parties are known for. (Lyngdoh Committee Report, 2006: 46)

5.1 Introduction
Politics is a defining aspect of college environments in the arts and science segment in
contemporary Kerala with the potential to make or break the reputation of a college,
whether through its presence or its absence. The aided colleges have made use of a
Kerala High Court judgment that enables colleges to prohibit political activity on their
campuses.
1
Yet, even in colleges where politics has been successfully suppressed, its
ghost lingers to haunt the administration / management, which feels the need to be
constantly vigilant. We already noted in chapter 4 that in College A2 vigilance intruded
in the everyday aspects of life in the college restricting student access to basic facilities
and reducing higher education to its barest minimum or skeletal structure. In colleges
where political activity is a legitimate part of higher education, not infrequently, it is the
source of disturbances and the administration and teachers are drawn into a constant
struggle to limit the damage in terms of loss of time for academic activity. In this
chapter, we will deal in the main with the articulations of the tensions around politics
arising invariably from the stakes that mainstream political parties have in campus
politics. At one extreme, the stakes of political parties in campus politics leads to and

1
Sojan Francis vs M G University, 2003. In this case, St Thomas College, Pala refused permission to
Sojan Francis to write the exams because of lack of attendance. Sojan Francis argued that he was not able
to get the required attendance owing to student union work as he was the President of the student union.
This indicates that the students organizations frame their work of politics as being at the cost of academics.
2
supports efforts by students associations (covertly supported by teachers associations) to
capture and retain power through highly dubious means and at the other extreme it leads
to prohibition of political mobilization on campus and thereby the denial of a crucial
forum of education and for the expression of citizenship. Campus politics also mobilizes
gender in ways that affirm restrictive gender norms, discourages girls from active
participation and seeks to protect them through moral policing. On the other hand, it
masks caste-based discrimination through a discourse that presumes that caste is no
longer relevant. The nature of politics on campuses (whether through its excesses or its
prohibition) impedes the quality of education offered in arts and science colleges in
Kerala in the two ways we defined quality in chapter 3. First, by obstructing everyday
activities in colleges on a regular basis to serve the vested interests of political parties, it
cuts short the time available for academic and other essential pursuits and thereby renders
it difficult for different sections in the college to carry out their responsibilities in a more
effective way. Second, capture of power by dubious means and the prohibition of
political mobilization and activity deny political space and thereby the exposure of
students to a vital domain of learning and to an expression of citizenship. This chapter
foregrounds the importance attached by colleges to the need to control or regulate
politics, whether that of students, teachers or political parties, if they are to be able to
carry out even their routine functions with a measure of effectiveness. This is followed in
subsequent sections by discussions of the character of politics on campuses and its
implications for students in general as well as for boys and girls differentially. We also
examine student participation in political organizations, where they exist, as well as their
perceptions of the interests that student politics serves. Further, we address the question
of politics among teachers and its ramifications for student politics. More importantly,
we examine how the nature of existing politics among teachers as well as the general
environment of political capture by student organizations foster indifference among
students to the learning processes in the college on the one hand and is exploited by
teachers to evade their teaching and other academic responsibilities on the other hand.
3

5.2 Excesses of Politics
In table 3.31 in chapter 3, we noted that over 35 per cent of colleges reported political
excesses as among the major problems encountered by them. Under the category of
political excesses, we have brought together disturbances owing to factors ranging from
the violent nature of student politics on campus to loss to working days due to hartals and
strikes. In clubbing rather diverse problems we relied upon the understanding that
politics, whether within the campus or outside, has a shaping influence on college
environment. It is of import that near equal proportions of colleges in the Government
and private aided sectors reported suffering on account of politics (table 3.32 in chapter
3). Clashes among college students belonging to rival political organizations are far from
uncommon.
2
It is important to note that even incidents of severe violence in colleges
have failed to mobilize the government into any serious moves that would cut across
party loyalties. Stake holder in private aided colleges have expressed their
disenchantment with the state of politics on campuses in 1996 when they filed a suit
seeking a writ directing the State of Kerala and various Universities to take steps to
ensure peace on campuses (OP no. 15204, 1196 cited in Kerala Students Union vs Sojan
Francis, 2004).
3


Many private aided colleges have resorted to prohibition of politics, which are effective,
so they are less likely to face a problem of strikes and demonstrations on their campus.
Table 3.31 shows that while over 60 per cent of colleges under Kannur university
reported this as a major problem only about 25 per cent of colleges under Calicut
university did so. Part of the reason for the latter may lie in the shared community base
of college managements and the dominant students association in the case of the Muslim

2
See Two MG College students hurt, The Indian Express, July 31, 2009, Violence at Mar Ivanios
College, The Hindu, Sept 26, 2008; University college closed, Feb 7, 2007; Police, Students clash at
MG college, The Hindu, Nov 24, 2005; Police storm University College, The Hindu, Sept 28, 2001,
Torture: Case against eight SFI activists, The Hindu, Nov 14, 2000.
3
The petitioners included Council of Principals of Colleges in Kerala and All Kerala Private College
Managements Association and a few Professors. Several other suits were also pending before the courts
seeking a ban on political activities or on the excesses of student organizations filed by individual colleges
and one by a group of students. In the last case, the students sought a writ to provide adequate politic
protection to themselves and other non-striking students and staff and to the properties of the college. The
PTA too had impleaded itself (Kerala Students Union vs Sojan Francis, 2004). .
4
managements in Malapuram and Kozhikode districts, both under the Calicut university
region. This is only a hypothesis that could be explored. Shared community basis
moderate differences in interests and enable greater checks and balances to be placed on
student political activism. We were alerted to this factor while probing the reason for why
politics was not prohibited in colleges managed by some of the Muslim trusts whereas
Catholic managements frequently resorted to a ban. In case of the Catholic colleges,
even where they have a predominantly Christian student body as in the case of College
A2, community affiliation is not expressed in students associations, leading to
antagonistic relations or at least significant tensions between student associations and the
management / administration.

5.3 Prohibition
Students and teachers have degraded themselves to the level of becoming servants of political parties
Independent academic debates are dead. The high court verdict is quite welcome (K. Kunhaman, a
professor of economics at Kerala University in John, Mary, 2003).

The judgment of the High Court in 2003 permitted colleges to prohibit political
mobilization on campuses upholding clause 9 of the college calendar dealing with
General Discipline. Many colleges state explicitly, among the rules specified in their
brochures, that they prohibit political activity on campus.
4
Notably, the education code
of the government (clause 9 of the college calendar) specifies that, students are
forbidden to organize or attend any meeting in the college or collect money for any
purpose or to circulate any pamphlet without the express permission of the principal.
5

Predictably, the judgment achieved a closing of ranks between rival students
organizations, which filed a joint plea against the judgment contending that clause 9 is

4
We examined the brochures of 34 colleges, five Government and 29 aided. Of these, 18 aided colleges
make specific mention that political activity is banned on their campus more often than not citing explicitly
the High Court Judgment. They include nine Christian colleges, three Muslim colleges, four SNDP
colleges, including a womens college, and two College A1 colleges. Some of them go into detail of the
nature of activity that is prohibited including strikes, demonstrations, political assemblies, bringing into the
college material such as posters, banners, flags, badges and boards meant for political activity.
Interestingly five brochures of womens colleges managed by Catholic organizations make no mention of
political activity though it doesnt exist on their campuses, indicating that they take it for granted that there
will be no political activity. The Government colleges and six aided college do not mention a ban but they
do cite the Government regulations (rules of the Education code) regarding proper conduct on campuses.
5
The college calendar of University College in Trivandrum, which has a reputation for violence, highlights
this part in italics (University College, Trivandrum, Calendar, 2008-09).
5
highly undemocratic, unreasonable and violative of Article 19 (1) of the Constitution of
India (Kerala Students Union vs Sojan Francis, 2004). It also evoked some protest from
Left intellectuals though the Left has shown little inclination to reign in violence on
campus at the level of political parties or in Government.
6


Colleges that prohibit elections on party lines cite the High court judgment explicitly in
their calendars. There has been outright resistance from students in cases where the ban
has included a shift in the system of election to a student council from the presidential
form, where political organizations field candidates for each post in the union, to the
parliamentary form, where each class elects a representative.
7
It is in these cases that the
prohibition becomes effective as it disables student political organizations from
participating in elections. However, the college administrations have remained firm and
tided over the resistance over a couple of years.
8
Some colleges have continued to permit
election on the basis of political parties even where they state that politics is prohibited
and include among the prohibited activities, those that are routinely undertaken during
party based elections.
9
In one such college, the Principal was scathing about the student
political organizations on campus but said that the management was not able to enforce a
ban (shift in form of election) because they did not have sufficient local support to back
them in the face of an agitation by students. This was a multi party college but the
Principal told us that the resort to coercion and violence was no less. During the election
in 2009, the teachers on election duty in this college were locked up in a room. This is a
Catholic mission college. However, the colleges managed by the diocese organizations

6
Prominent left intellectual, K.N. Panikkar, sought to highlight the denial of political space, Colleges are
also expected to impart training in citizenship. They are forums for serious political debates. The verdict
negates all this in John, Mary, 2003. Krishan Iyer 2003. This was subject to lengthy discussion in the
Malayalam media.
7
The Universities in Kerala issued notifications to the colleges constitute student councils through the
Presidential form of elections after the High Court judgment. This was again taken to court by the college
managements and it was following this that the Lyngdoh Committee was formed on the orders of the
Supreme Court to form guidelines for the conduct of student union elections (Lyngdoh committee report,
2006: 1-6).
8
In several cases we learnt that the imposition of a ban (shift in election form) led to cancellation of
elections for a year or two but after that the college was able to establish its writ.
9
This is the case in St Josephs College, Devagiri (see Handbook 2008 09), In one case, after pointing out
that political activism is banned on campus the handbook goes on to outline the rules of the election to the
college union where it recognizes the role of students organizations (Sree Narayana college for women,
Kollam, Calendar, 2008-09).
6
and drawing support directly from their parishes seem better placed to impose a ban and
have done so effectively in many cases we are aware of.
10
In a few cases, we found that
colleges seek to make a distinction between politics on party lines and the rights of
students to dissent and to fight for the legitimate rights of studentry (sic) but point out
that it should not infringe upon the right of other students to attend class and / or of the
teacher to conduct his / her lesson.
11


Among the colleges we took up for detailed study, in College A2, political mobilization
was prohibited in 2007. There was protest initially from the students leading to
disturbances and the college was closed for two days. However, the management acted
decisively, suspending a few students and quelling the protest. Since then there has been
a shift in the form of elections from the presidential form to the parliamentary form.
Students, who were in the third year of the degree at the time of our field work, were in
their first year at the time the prohibition was introduced. The predominant view among
students as it emerged during group discussions is that prohibition is an infringement of
their right to represent their views however they had reservations about the violent form
of politics being practiced in some colleges. Moreover the prohibition coupled with the
resentment of students had shaped a situation where any attempt to raise their voice by
students was seen as suspect and branded as politics. In this context, the students find
themselves unable to mobilize on any issue or even to make any demands on the
management. This had led to congealed discontent and is reflected in the consistently
poor assessment of the facilities of the college in chapter 4. Students also indicated that
the college was way down in the preferences of students in the city it is located in.
However, it had a strong base in the parish and drew its students mostly from the
backward community represented in the parish. In these circumstances, the students were
held in check by threats that their parents will be informed and summoned.

10
A teacher of S.B. college recalled how in the face of a prolonged agitation by the SFI, which had brought
the college to a standstill several years ago, the parish had mobilized and uprooted the infrastructure of the
strike bringing it to an end. The college approached the court and a judgment in 2000 upheld its rights to
conduct elections to the college union according to the parliamentary system (St Berchmans college,
Changanassery, Prospectus). This was before the judgment in 2003, which spelled out the general case and
has been drawn on by private aided colleges to prohibit politics.
11
Prajyothi Niketan college Handbook-calendar, 2008-09, see also St Thomas college, Trissur, Manual,
2008-09
7

In College A3, the parliamentary form of elections to the students union has deeper roots
and resentment, if any, against the absence of political mobilization was subdued. In
group discussions, several students expressed their disapproval of politics. Divisions
based on parties and violence on that basis. It is not at all necessary. There is also a
strong tendency among girls wash their hands off the issue saying that they were not at all
interested in politics. In this context, in one group a student of economics ventured to say
that she liked a little politics. It should not be violent. It can be an opening into politics
in future. Only in one group, did a girl express her view in favour of the presidential
system as it gives opportunity for everyone in the college to cast their vote. There was
little recognition of politics as part of a quest for justice, representation and the
expression of citizenship rights. As against the few who said that prohibition deprived
them of the opportunity to learn about politics, it was pointed out that you did not need
politics on campus for that, you could learn all about it from the media. Thus, politics
was framed as something outside their lives and clearly nothing to do with the shaping of
their selves. In College A3 the sense of loss because of the lack of political mobilization
was less than in College A2, where prohibition was recent. And this may explain at least
partially why the vigilance did not impede student access to basic facilities as it did in the
case of College A2.

The Nair Service Society banned politics on its campuses in 2007 after a policeman was
killed in a clash between the SFI and ABVP on one of its campuses. However it has been
less successful in implementing the ban.
12
In College A1, there was a strike for two
weeks when the ban was introduced and the students organizations continue to mobilize
and to hold demonstrations against the ban, leading to the loss of working days. There is
a stalemate with respect to elections, which had not been held for the second year in
succession. The students organization continued to struggle against the ban but this did
not mean that the students wholeheartedly endorsed the violent brand of politics that
prevailed on several campuses. In the discussions we organized, the students

12
For instance, political mobilization continues to be a visible part of life in the MG College in Trivandrum
despite the College A1 prohibition and in some of the other colleges the students have refused to cooperate
with the administration leading to a stalemate and resulting the absence of a students council.
8
categorized politics as potentially of two kinds violent (akrama) and friendly
(souhrada) - and were very critical of the former. In this situation, in the previous year,
the teachers came together to conduct the youth festival, a responsibility of the students
union.

5.4 Political mobilization on campuses
What proportion of students are members of student political organizations? Table 5.41
shows that in the five colleges where there is ongoing political mobilization, though
politics is prohibited in one of them (College A1), a little over half of the students are
members of one or other political organization. We have not included here two of seven
colleges taken up for survey, where the prohibition of politics was effective, as they do
not provide fair ground for mobilization. Thus, they are likely to present underestimates
of the proclivity that student may have for politics represented by membership in an
organization.
13
Overall, the dominant political organization is the Students Federation of
India (SFI), the student organization of the CPI (M) (table 5.41). Though one or two
students reported membership in organizations other than the SFI in College G1 and
College G2, on these campuses there was only the SFI i.e., they were one-party colleges.
In both these settings, it is likely that students come under pressure to take membership
and during the field work we were aware of this, which may answer for the significantly
higher proportion of students, including girls, who had membership (table 5.41). The
Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student body of the Congress party has a rather
meager membership base. This may be at least partially because the SFI is the sole
organization in two colleges we surveyed, College G1 and College G2 and a major force
in two others, College G3 and College A1, whereas we do not have a college in our
sample where the KSU held power. However, most observers point out that the KSU
holds power only in a small minority of colleges and that their base in the state is
comparatively thin. Among the colleges in our sample, only College A4 showed higher
levels of student membership in organizations other than the SFI. Here the Muslim
Students Federation (MSF) the student body of the Muslim League has a strong base

13
In both these colleges there were a few students (five in College A2 and two in College A3) who reported
membership in student organizations. We chose not to include them in the table as it would affect the
overall proportions.
9
among students. College A4 and College G3 have several organizations and in College
A1, the ABVP had a vocal if small presence. The very low level of membership in
College A1 needs to be seen in association with the effort of the management to prohibit
politics.

Table 5.41: Membership in student organizations
STUDENT ORGANISATION COLLEGE
SFI KSU OTHER TOTAL
College G1 76 (74.5) 0 1 (1.0) 77 (75.5)
College A1* 15 (13.9) 4 (3.7) 6 (5.6) 25 (23.1)
College A2 * NA NA NA NA
College A3 * NA NA NA NA
College A4 17 (20.98) 5 (6.17) 19 (23.46) 41 (50.6)
College G2 21 (87.5) 1 (2.5) 1 (2.5) 24 (60.0)
College G3 35 (33.98) 13 (12.62) 11 (10.68) 60 (58.2)
Total 166 (38.24) 28 (6.45) 38 (8.76) 227 (52.30)
* Student organizations are prohibited on campus. Total of five colleges = 434; Figures in parenthesis are
percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

5.5 The nature of political mobilization
The practice of politics, where it is not prohibited, is quite different in each college. The
trajectory of student politics at College G1 since at least the 1980s is marred by ruthless
violence and bloodshed of the kind that could have few parallels in the state. This has
considerably eroded the reputation of the college, one of the earliest to be established in
the state and with a distinguished tradition of imparting higher education. A senior
teacher characterized campus politics at College G1 as fascist. She pointed out that it is
sustained on the one hand by generating a sense of fear through routine shows of
strength, threats against those who dare raise their voice and by herding students into
demonstrations against their will and on the other hand, by generating a serious lack of
awareness of the political. This is done in total disregard for all norms of democratic
behaviour. It is not as if I am against politics, she said underscoring the burden of
intellectuals who criticize the Left in Kerala. In fact, I am very political but even the
vendors, serving tea and snacks outside the gate, are more aware and open to discussion
than are the student leaders here These leaders are mere pawns in the hands of their
political bosses. The college and higher education have been compromised by their
stranglehold. Here we find a senior teacher suggesting that students are denied political
space so that the vested interests of political leaders outside the college are served. It
10
emerges from the responses of other teachers as well that the capture of political space by
a student organization is embedded in the external political environment. The physical
proximity of the college to the centers of state power affected the circumstances in
College G1 greatly and drastically. For instance, during the field work there were no
incidents of overt violence, barring demonstrations, strikes and cancellations of class that
are almost routine in the college. Teachers often attributed the state of relative calm to a
cyclical pattern of violence depending on which coalition was in power. Periods of
relative peace correspond with the tenures of the LDF government. It is at such a time
that we conducted field work in the college. Long time observers, including teachers
with over a decade of experience in the college, pointed out that when the UDF is in
power the college is in a constant state of siege. The CPI (M) is perceived widely as
inciting violence within the college when it is out of power and making an attempt to
curb it when it is in government. A senior science teacher is far from optimistic that the
current lull will sustain, beyond the tenure of this government. He is a senior associate of
the dominant trade union, yet very critical of the nature of political activism, it is not the
students organization but political interference from outside that is the problem.
Another science teacher pointed out that many of the hoodlums who used to hang out at
the college have disappeared in the past few years. Maybe the party has other work for
them now that it is in power. A state level office-bearer of the SFI underscored this
pattern of violence when he said in the build up to the state convention of the
organization in 2009, the SFI is losing its relevance day by day. No new issues are being
taken up for protests. As the CPM is in power, the SFI withdrew from several possible
fronts of rebellion (The Indian Express, Dec 2, 2009). Without intending to do so, a
trade union leader / teacher in the college revealed the lethal implications for students of
the shadow boxing by political parties. The student organization is compelled to use
force to round up students for demonstrations because student will not go otherwise.
There is another side to this that of the lure of consumerism students are no longer
interested in protest. But when the UDF is in power there is no certainty that you will
come back after a demonstration as there could be firing by the police.

11
The Principal of College G1 told us that he held regular meetings with the student leaders
on campus in an attempt to control strikes and demonstrations. He had been an active
member of the trade union affiliated to the CPI (M) and though he said that as Principal
he felt the need to take a distance from the organization, he was muted in his criticism of
the student organization. We have to educate them, he stressed. However he too
indicated that the students organization on campus is not fully empowered to take
decisions, not really in control. They have their limitations, but they have told us that
their senior leaders have asked them to cooperate (emphasis added). Apparently, they
had agreed not to disrupt classes when they hold demonstrations and to return to class
after the demonstrations, unless it was a declared agitation, he said referring to
agitations declared at the national or state level, which the college unit did not have the
authority to amend.

In College G3 and College G2 too, the Principals have negotiated with the student leaders
to avoid strikes and disturbances except where they are called at the state or national
level. The Principal of College G3 college told us of his efforts to maintain peace on
campus. On taking over he had initiated all-party talks, with the representatives of
student organizations, and they had agreed that when there was an issue they would bring
it to his notice to initiate negotiations and would desist from launching immediately into
an agitation. During the elections, he spoke at the meet the candidates programme,
assuring the student organizations of his support for the process and requesting them to
maintain peace. He said he specifically asked them not to entertain outsiders during this
period. When he received complaints informally from the KSU that the SFI were
planning trouble to bring outsiders to beat up some leaders - he went around campus
and spoke to the SFI leaders. He emphasized the need to intervene when tensions arise
and to prevent them from growing. Some thoughtful monitoring can solve problems.
In this context it seemed that student leaders are less subject to the dictates of senior
leaders. In College G1, it would be difficult for the administration to lay the ground
rules so firmly and get the student organization to observe them.

12
Despite being a one party college, unlike College G1, College G2 does not have a
reputation for violence. Overt violence has been used in both contexts to suppress
alternative political mobilization even in the recent past. Yet our conversations with
students, teachers and the Principal indicated that the students organization was not
perceived as a menace in College G2, the way it was by sections of the college
community in College G1. On the contrary it was perceived as more or less benign.
Concerns at College G2 are more mundane. The Principal pointed out that the absence of
an opposition led to complacence and lethargy in the students union as there was nobody
to question its performance. In the previous year he said the college day was not
observed and the college magazine was not brought out, both organizational
responsibilities of the students union. The other side of one-party domination, according
to him, is that there was no conflict leading to open fights and strikes. In both colleges
political territory was marked and policed but the commonalities may not endure beyond
this. Comparisons are limited also because as the Principal of College G3 college
pointed out, the college is the size of a department in College G1.

In College A4, there are several student organizations. The Principal is less worried
about trouble from organizations within the college as he is about the potential for
external interference. In the context of the proposal of the Higher education Council to
have a cluster college scheme, with sharing of resources among colleges within a
geographical area, he said the college had reservations as the scheme could provide entry
to those seeking to create trouble on campus. We maintain discipline in the college.
The scheme may allow student politics to take a destructive turn We dont want to
spoil the academic environment. Here, the discourse on politics is not drowned out
completely by violence and / or the fears it generates. A teacher tells us that, there is no
effort to eliminate political organizations here. Even the most negligible groups are
represented. But he is critical about the practice of politics on campuses today. I do
not see a form of student politics that is bound to principles and has respect for ideals.
Because of this student politics is not able to contribute to the substance of a college.
Here too (in College A4) I do not see a form of student politics that either enhances the
education of students or bolsters my ability to teach.
13

Responses of the students reflect the character of politics on each campus. Table 5.51
shows that over half the students in College G1 said they had been forced by the students
organization to take part in protests against their will. In interviews some of the teachers
at College G1 acknowledged the harassment the enforced violence caused to students,
who are not inclined to participate in creating disturbances. A student pointed out that I
joined the college with a lot of expectations but now that a year is getting over I a
beginning to feel tired (madukunnu). I feel I should not have come here. But there were
teachers who said it was just as well for students to participate in protest. These teachers,
including Left trade union leaders, posed the reluctance of students to take part in strikes
not to the nature of politics on campus but to the larger socio-economic climate and
particularly the ill effects of globalization, which according to them was de-politicizing
the student body.
14
In College A4 and College A1, about 12 per cent reported having
been forced to participate in protests whereas in the other two government colleges a
negligible proportion said they had been forced. Thus, despite being a one party college,
politics at College G2 is experienced by students in a less coercive manner.

Even while up to half the students may be members of political organizations, it was
reported in all the colleges that only five to ten per cent of students are actively involved.
More often than not, active involvement came at the cost of academics. It is said
derogatorily that the student leaders are drawn disproportionately from History or other
arts subjects that require less effort, given the rating of these subjects in the preferences
of the students. Thus, there is a widely held view that politics is the resort of those who
are not qualified for better things. There are few exceptions to challenge this view. But
the Principal of College G3 college was on the whole more optimistic about politics in
places that are far removed from the centers of state power. In a clear departure from
what he was accustomed to, he said, (he had spent nearly two decades in service at

14
The danger of de-politicization is very apparent. We learnt that students who worked making posters etc
for the SFI in College G1 offered their services to the ABVP elsewhere and commented that, at least the
ABVP pays us. A teacher told us that students with an affiliation to the ABVP would join the SFI here,
for it made no difference so long as you had access to power. She also pointed out that with respect to
affairs in the college, there was little difference between the two rival teachers trade unions. They come
together to protect their interests and are willing to stand by and watch the worst kind of violence among
students.
14
College G1) the chairperson of the students union in the College G3 college was also a
university rank holder. Besides, the students organizations were responsive to initiatives
by the administration and were willing to keep within reasonable parameters so long as
the administration was firm and was able to establish trust.

We collected student impressions about politics on their campuses to probe their
experience as well as interpretation (table 5.52). Only in College G2 did a significantly
high proportion of students (65 per cent) think that campus politics raised awareness
among students. This is consonant with the view of the college community that the effect
of politics was benign despite the capture of political space by the SFI. Further it also
reflected the relative isolation of the college, rendering it into a key resource. While it
was lowest in College G1, nearly half the students thought so in the others. In contrast to
this, 80 per cent of students thought that politics is useful in addressing student problems,
even in College G1 where a large majority feel that it does not raise awareness. This
suggests that the students are clearly aware of the instrumental value of campus politics
even when they know that it does not serve to extend their citizenship rights. Students
depend on the student organization to get just treatment. I feel an affiliation with the SFI
but the activities of those working in the organization are not correct. It needs a lot of
change (a male student in College G1). Almost 60 per cent of students recognize that
political parties exercise control over campus politics though this is significantly less in
College G2, reflecting at least partially its isolation. Not surprisingly, in College A1 the
students expressed the view that their college interfered in student politics. Significantly,
about 20 per cent of students in College A4 also expressed this view. Despite the shared
community interests of the management and the major student organization in College
A4, conversation with the Principal indicated that the administration was alert to the
possibility of student organizations disturbing the peace on campus. The administration
was likely to take all steps to curb any potential for disturbances. The SFI was a strong
influence on the campus with representation in the students union and was less likely than
the MSF to heed the interests of the administration with respect to maintaining discipline.

15
We also asked what the students felt about the ability of politics to raise womens issues
and caste related problems. Notably, in all colleges, the majority of students did not think
there was any failure in raising womens issues. This response merits a fuller discussion
in the context of the nature of the gender problematic in higher education in Kerala and
will be taken up ahead. About half the students felt that it did fail to raise problems
related to caste. Notably a higher proportion of students from College G1, College A1
and College G3 noted a failure to raise issues of caste, colleges that had a higher
proportion of SC / ST in their student body.

Table 5.51:Students who were forced to join strikes or protests by sex
FORCED TO JOIN IN PROTEST / STRIKES COLLEGE
Male Female
TOTAL
College G1 27 28 55 (53.9)
College A1 2 3 5 (4.6)
College A2 * NA NA NA
College A3 * NA NA NA
College A4 2 4 6 (7.4)
College G2 4 1 5 (12.5)
College G3 2 11 13 (12.6)
Total 37 47 84 (19.35)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

Table 5.52: Student Impressions of politics on campuses
COLLEGE RAISES
AWARE
NESS
ADDRESSES
STUDENT
PROBLEMS
UNDER
CONTROL
OF
POL
PARTY
COLLEGE
INTERFER
ENCE
FAILS TO
ADDRESS
WOMENS
ISSUES
FAILS TO
ADDRESS
CASTE
ISSUES
College G1 35 88 61 0 31 56
34.3% 86.3% 59.8% .0% 30.4% 54.9%
College A1 50 94 69 50 28 56
46.3% 87.0% 63.9% 46.3% 25.9% 51.9%
College A4 42 48 43 18 23 28
51.9% 59.3% 53.1% 22.2% 28.4% 34.6%
College G2 26 35 14 2 10 10
65.0% 87.5% 35.0% 5.0% 25.0% 25.0%
College G3 50 83 69 11 31 49
48.5% 80.6% 67.0% 10.7% 30.1% 47.6%
Total 203 348 256 81 123 199
46.77 80.18 58.98 23.39 28.34 45.85
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

16
5.6 Denial or capture of political space
In the discussion so far we have emerging a rather stifling picture of the access that
students have to political space in four out of seven colleges. Students are denied even
the most basic right to raise their voice or to elect a students union of their choice.
Whereas, prohibition is the tool used by managements to deny political space, the student
organization in monopoly positions resort to violent suppression of counter
mobilizations. Ironically, managements frame prohibition as a response to the unruly and
destructive character of campus politics, which they say instills fear and disrupts the
education process on a routine basis. This is articulated as a fear of politics and leads to
rigorous effort to keep it at bay. Student organizations that capture political space work
precisely by instilling fear. They resort to routine disruptions of everyday processes and
to shows of strength (through demonstrations and raising slogans) in order to exhibit their
power serving to warn those who may entertain ideas of resistance. Their vigilance is
directed at preventing counter mobilizations that would threaten their supremacy but it is
exercised through instilling fear in students and begetting submission. A student of
College G1 commented that, what is right to us may be wrong for the students
movement. Hence any protest can be taken up only with the consent of the movement.
This serves to impose their views against our beliefs. Ironically, students are starved of
political space and the quality of education is compromised in the process of elaboration
of two quite contrary approaches to education. The approach of the Left parties and their
students organizations frames private initiative in education as driven by the thirst for
profit and thereby prone to exclude the socially and economically marginal groups and /
or compromise on quality. The private sector on the other hand maintains that state
intervention such as it exists in higher education is misused by political parties to
consolidate their power and thwarts efforts of educational institutions to impart quality
education.

In the two sets of scenarios outlined so far, the management or the student organization
seeks to assume a position of supra authority within a college, transcending all other
authorities and pervading all spaces. They are in a constant struggle to achieve
overarching power and to get all authorities within the college, whether the Principal,
17
administration or teachers to submit to them. It is this that leads to excessive vigilance.
Literally they seek to be everywhere at all times. The manager of College A2 was
explicit about his design to introduce bio metric punching as a means of disciplining
errant teachers and staff and his plan of installing a CCTV in the office room of the
administrative staff. Mercifully, he seemed to think that doing so in the staff room of the
teachers would constitute an intrusion though he was scathing in his view of the work
ethics of the majority of the teachers in the college. Not surprisingly, the Principal of the
college was not empowered to take decisions except of the very routine sort.
15
In College
G1 there is a pervasive sense of being watched, whether or not this was actually the case.
On one occasion, the researcher in this study and I were seated in the Principals office
speaking to the senior teacher who was in the chair as the Principal was on leave that day.
I had established a rapport with this teacher and she was speaking forthrightly about the
rot that had set in largely on account of politics, such as it was practiced. At one point
she directed our attention to the peon, who is positioned outside the room but kept
coming in for no particular purpose, have you noticed the way he strides in and out of
the room. He is a spy. He has been told to watch what goes on here and to report to
them, she said to my surprise.

The senior teacher indicated that the student organization achieved its purpose by
fragmenting the college community and disrupting the flow of communication between
different segments. In this scenario, they seek to be the only channel of communication.
Having worked in several colleges, she said she had observed that at College G1, the
teachers are alienated from the students and the students will not speak openly with them,
not even with those who actively seek such conversation. A teacher and trade union
leader who believed that the student organization on campus played a beneficial role even
if on occasion it stepped beyond the limits nevertheless provided more insights into the
nature of their stranglehold. Commending the student organization for being so well

15
He was forthright in directing me to the manager when I first approached him for permission to
undertake this research. In College A3 the Principal said she would have to consult the management
before giving me an answer whereas in College A4 the Principal gave me the impression of being able to
take such a decision. I had approached the College A1 management before going to one of their colleges in
Palghat district initially but was denied permission by the Principal, who was also very rude in doing so. In
the college that we took up eventually the Principal exhibited caution in speaking with me but gave me
permission.
18
organized he said unit-committees, in all the departments of the college, are very strong
and well informed. Even we refer to them when we need something. If I want all the
students to attend a meeting it is better I approach the unit committee. If I ask the
students directly they may not come . Without a touch of irony, he added, the
students listen to them more than they listen to us. We should be making use of them.
There were other indications too of the manner in which the students organization
exercised control. A student pointed out to us that the student leaders go on rounds
regularly checking on students and disbursing groups if they found senior students
together with junior students or girls with boys. Ostensibly, this was a measure used to
prevent ragging but it was not clear why to do so, there could be no interaction between
senior and junior students.

The stranglehold of the political organization in College G1 has material implications in
several practices that are entirely unconstitutional and exploitative. If recruitment drives
on campus serve to channel funds to the organization, there is systematic extraction of
money from students in other ways that are blatantly against the disciplinary norms of a
college.
16
In a college where a large section of students are from daily wage labour
families, this is especially harsh. Activities ranging from excursions to blood donations
are used by the student organization for this purpose. Students going on the excursion are
required to pay a specified amount to the unit committee, which sends its representative
to collect it. A teacher pointed out how on occasion he has had to bail out students in
difficulty. Pointing out that the representatives did a final check on the bus in which the
students left for the excursion to ensure that all the students paid up their dues to the
student organization, the teacher said he would ask the bus to park outside the college to
avoid this trouble. Another teacher remarked that she was amazed at the number of times
there had been requests for blood from her class during the last six months. She had
noticed how the students shrank, refusing to look up, as the request was made for
volunteers of a particular blood group. On one occasion she offered to donate as it
happened to be her group but there was no response so she asked the student leader
whether her blood would not do. He apparently responded by saying there was no

16
The norms assert that students are not to collect money without the express permission of the Principal.
19
problem so she asked him to wait till the class was over. However, he did not contact her
after the class. She said no record was maintained when students were taken for blood
donation and it was very murky for that reason. In other colleges, such requests had to
receive the sanction of the Principal in writing.

Thus, in the seven colleges studied, with the exception of College G3 and College A4,
which sustain politics of a multi party character, there had been overt and unabashed
infringements on political space, either through prohibitions or through the exercise of
violence to suppress counter mobilizations and to monitor everyday life. While the effort
to suppress counter mobilization of students at College G1 is mired in its proximity to the
centre of state power and even its symbolic importance to the CPM, efforts to do so at
College G2 signal a dangerous tendency towards fascism because the isolation of the
college reduces external stakes in it. Here the opportunity to expand citizenship and to
participate in democratic processes is being held to ransom by a small group of students.
The barriers to using politics to learn about and consolidate citizenship are also evident in
multi party campuses. In College G3, as we saw the urge to violence raises its head
during elections indicating the failure or the refusal to internalize democratic processes
and forums. We have seen that clashes are reported round the year among college
students in the state. In this context, the college administration has an important role to
play in securing political space and in ensuring that it is not held to ransom. This
becomes difficult when the political bosses in power not only do not extend support to
them, but also actively thwart their efforts. As the trade union leader and teacher at
College G1 said to me, a Principal who tries to reform College G1 would be doing so at
considerable risk to himself. Who would be willing to take such a risk? Meanwhile
the easier option is to control the damage, make the odd changes and move on.

Clearly College G1 can be made to turn the bend only if there is political will. On the
other hand, College A2 may be an extreme case even among those that have resorted to
prohibition of politics, where the fear of politics has taken the form of surveillance and
denial of not only the right to mobilize but also of use of basic facilities. Several catholic
colleges with reputations for academic excellence have prohibited politics on their
20
campuses but the reputations of these colleges depend on the access that student have to
facilities. In this context, the importance of the College A2 case lies in it providing a
logical elaboration of an extreme position on politics, even as College G1 is the logical
culmination of the contrary position. Ironically, both produce similar results in denying
political space and in imparting inferior quality of education.

5.7 Politics and Identity
As an entry point into gender as it is evoked, experienced and mobilized on campuses in
Kerala, I draw upon a portrayal of the sensation that a college with a reputation for
violence evokes in a new undergraduate student. A former chairman of the students
union in such a college said in the light of his experience as researcher for this study in
the College G3 college, [I]t was a novel experience walking into this campus (College
G3). I didnt feel like I was entering a college campus at all The first time I walked
into X college as a boy straight out of school, I could feel the violence and it filled me
with a sense of exhilaration. This feeling does not arise from witnessing any explicit act
of violence on that first encounter but violence was in the air and the researcher seems
to have experienced it as a sense of masculine vitality. In the context of field work in
College G1, I learnt that myriad factors contribute to it, including the reputation of a
college, the posters that are visible all around, the visible gender segregation and manner
of movements as well as body language. However, in a striking gender disparity women
are not expected to share this experience. On the contrary, the vitality of the experience
is premised at least partially upon the denial of full subject-hood to women, who are
expected instead to experience fear. Further, one is not accosted by a sense of violence
on entering College A4 or College A2 and least of all College A3, thereby to some extent
emasculating them. Elaborating this view, the researcher said that College A4 would be
among the preferred choices of girls with high scores in the region but among the boys,
even those with reasonably good scores are likely to turn to a college, where politics has
more teeth.
17



17
College A4 is a co-ed college. It is noticed that where there are reputed girls colleges, they are the first
preference of girls.
21
How are girls doing in terms of basic indicators of political participation? Table 5.71
shows that in the colleges in our sample girls with membership in political organizations
are about half the proportion of boys. Only in College G1 and College G2 do more than
half the girls in sample have membership, but here 75 and 60 per cent respectively of
students report membership. The students of these two colleges are likely to come under
greater pressure to take membership. But also, as membership is a channel for the
mobilization of funds for the organization, girls are more likely to feel the pressure as
they constitute between 60 and 70 per cent of students and are widely observed to be
more reluctant to take part in politics than boys. In terms of contesting elections, women
are more often than not found only in the positions reserved for them. We learnt that a
woman was the chairperson of the students union at College G2 in the year preceding the
study, something that is noted to be a rare event but girls in College G2 were also said to
be less reluctant about politics. About 40 per cent of girls in College A4 and College G3
college were members of political organizations.

There is no dearth of explanations for womens poor participation in politics but also the
ready-ness with which explanations are proffered, suggest that the issue does not receive
serious concern. Indeed, there is little churning on the problem among student
organizations on campuses, despite, the recognition of the immediate barriers preventing
women from taking active part in politics. For instance, student leaders in College G3
pointed to the lack of mobility of girls and their inability to spare time sometimes at odd
hours because of constraints from the family. These explanations, factual as they are,
served even to grant legitimacy to womens exclusion. However, it is rarely
acknowledged that these explanations are voiced from within the perspective of male-
oriented political system, one that also represents politics per se in currently gender
normative masculine terms. A boy from College A4 seems to be drawing attention to
this, I am sorry but in my college the girls politics is mainly focusing towards boys
politics, they do not have their own views and ideas about politics. The Principal of
College G1 had said that, girls are in a hurry to leave the campus. In leadership roles
they have to be here. As we have seen in earlier sections, politics in College G1 (as
also in other colleges where political parties have important stakes) makes heavy
22
demands on time and could be undertaken only at considerable cost to academics.
However, it is not recognized that it is the particular kind of politics that is practiced, the
meaning and relevance of which is considerably at odds with training in citizenship,
which makes such exacting demands. Thus it is not surprising that, it is not only the
girls but some boys also prefer to stay away from politics (a girl from College G1). It is
also notable that a slightly smaller proportion of girls than boys reported having been
forced to join strikes in all except College G3 (table 3.63). In College G1 we learnt that
some restraint was being observed in recent years in forcing girls.

Further, while their critics say that girls are unable to devote adequate time to politics, it
is far from clear that politics needs to acquire the dimensions it has in College G1
where it is designed to dominate over all sections of the college community and hence
resorts to extensive policing. On the contrary, if politics on campuses is channeled
towards raising and protecting the broader interests of students, especially the
marginalized sections, and the public through enabling debates and discussion, the
reasons routinely advanced need not prevent the participation of girls. To some extent
this is consistent with the case of College G2, where women are more actively involved.
Despite the one party character of politics in College G2, it seems to be the lower stakes
of political parties that renders politics less exacting and more accessible to girls.

Nevertheless, there is no denying that the responses from students underscore the highly
restrictive nature of prevailing gender norms. Fear is a predominant factor cited by girls
and boys for why girls fail to participate - fear of family, college authorities and society.
A girl from College A4 said that the, old fashioned belief that when it becomes known
that a girl from an ordinary Muslim family has entered politics her future is ruined
discourages girls. This is a more widely held fear as is evident from a group discussion
with boys from College A1 which shows that political organizations play on this fear to
prevent their rivals from mobilizing and encouraging girls to participate actively.
Students pointed out that the SFI had resorted to slander as a threat when girls became
active in rival organizations, a tactic that fetches immediate response from the family of
the girl. In this context, a frequently repeated response from boys in College G1 that,
23
women are unwilling to enter politics because of the want of better awareness
discounts the interests of rival male dominated political organizations.

In College G1, we found other more important indications that far from challenging
extant gender norms, the student organizations and leaders were closely involved in
enforcing them. One instance of this was in the monitoring of the clothes girls could
wear on campus. Students organizations used threats to prevent girls from wearing
western clothes. Who prevents them? Is it the teachers, I had asked a girl student on
campus. No, the student leaders, she explained. She told me that when they see a girl
in such clothes, they upbraid her and instruct her to, not to try to be modern, dress
neatly, a directive to wear the shalwar kameez and shawl. Girls affirmed this in a group
discussion as well. The senior teacher referred to earlier, said that a smart degree
student had told her that she had been stopped from wearing trousers to college. She
thinks it is an isolated incident and certainly not a dress code being imposed nor did she
approve of girls wearing western clothes to college. You may think I am conservative
but I prefer that girls wear modest clothes to college the shalwar kameez. Otherwise,
teachers rationalized the complete absence of resort to western clothes by girls in terms of
their class background - most of the students came from the villages on the periphery of
the city. What is surprising is the near complete lack of awareness among the teachers of
the restrictions being placed on girls, which only shows how effectively the student
organization had blocked the flow of communication between students and teachers.

A former student leader justified the position of the student organization with respect to
girls clothes on at least three grounds. The first was that the predominant class
background of students in College G1 meant that only a small section of girls would use
western clothes but this would unnecessarily publicize class differences. He however had
nothing to say about why such restrictions are not imposed on boys who could sport
anything from long hair to Chinese dragons on their trousers. The second ground was
that it was a way of contesting the supremacy of the market, which was selling western
ideas that were harmful to public morality. According to him, western clothing promoted
the commodification of women. The third was that it was to prevent the objectification
24
of women who would be vulnerable to the male gaze if they wore figure-hugging
clothes. The reasoning that women had to be subjected to discipline so that they could be
protected from external ills is not very different from the position taken by aided colleges
under catholic managements, which impose a strict dress code. The catholic colleges are
explicit about a dress code, stating it upfront in their college calendars. The web site of a
reputed aided college for women run by catholic sisters announces that, [s]tudents are
expected to dress modestly. Tights, minis, flimsy clothes, short tops, sleeveless and deep
necklines will not be allowed (www.teresas.ac.in, 19/5/2010).
18
In College A3, girls
could wear trousers only beneath a long top but the shalwar kameez was the preferred
mode of dress. Student organizations enforce a dress code through dubious means for
they usurp the authority to do so. The SFI and the Catholic managements share a
framework of protectionism toward girls in imposing a restrictive dress code.

Their vigilance extends beyond this to policing friendships between boys and girls and to
enforcing segregation.
19
Not surprisingly, interactions between boys and girls that are not
inhibited by gender and sexual norms (not to speak of courtship) are interpreted as a
danger to public morality and there is effort to restrict it.
20
A senior teacher and womens
cell coordinator at College A4 said that gender segregation was necessary at the
undergraduate level as students came from orthodox backgrounds and did not have the
maturity yet to know how to interact with the opposite sex. If we are confident, then we
will not allow unnecessary touching and holding. But today there are girls who think that
if they do that they will be considered backward. There are girls who give in to
unnecessary demands. As against this a student of the college pointed out that they

18
Do not wear short and tight tops. All Saints college, Trivandrum, Calendar and Handbook, 2008-09.
Students are expected to be properly dressed. Showing (sic) clothes are to be avoided. Women students
are expected to show lady like dignity in their clothes and behaviour. Sacred Hearts college, Trissur,
Handbook and Calendar, 2008-09. The students should wear decent dress, preferably saree / churidar by
girl students and pants / dhoti and shirts by boys. (St Josephs college, Devagiri, Handbook, 2008-09.
Students are expected to dress as simple as possible. They must confirm (sic) to the standards of modesty
maintained by their institution. BCM college, Kottayam, calendar, 2005-06.
19
The rules of a Latin Catholic college includes that, men students are not allowed to enter the quadrangle
(area for women students) behind the main building, which is set aside for the exclusive use of women
students. (Fatima Mata National College, Student Handbook, 2008-09).
20
The Principal of a catholic mission college said gender relations in the college were not at all healthy.
When probed: Why? Do the boys lack respect for the girls? his reply was that the girls were far from
courteous either. They sit in the garden and attract the boys. You do not find them attending class.
Instead, they are nicking picking touching and they even go home with the boys.
25
should have the freedom to do group work for which they should not be classified on the
basis of sex.

In this respect we learnt that College G3, College G2 and College A1 were somewhat less
oppressive. In these settings (rural and socio-economically backward), we did not
observe segregation of the order that exists elsewhere. The Principal of College G3
characterized gender relations in the college as healthy. When probed, he said that in
College G1 on occasion he was forced to tell off girls and boys in hidden corners whose
intentions were clearly no good but that here in contrast boys and girls mingled openly
on the premises. A young teacher at College G1, who had studied in the Government
womens college in the same city said that unlike in her former college you do not have
girls eloping in College G1 and attributed this to the strength of the student leadership,
who are very alert and warn the students. Given the long arm of the student
organization in the state, it is not unlikely that students would heed their warning.
However, all this pointed to something terribly amiss. Here I do not wish to take less
than seriously what many teachers, including the senior teacher at College G1, posed as a
serious problem that colleges confronted today that girls were in danger of being
misused i.e., lured into sexual and emotional relations by men with dishonest
intentions.
21
What seems surprising in this respect is the grievous lack of effort to raise
awareness, not to speak of awareness specifically about gender. On the other hand, the
vulnerability of women, which is shaped substantially through their lack of such
awareness, is used to justify moral policing. In this respect, the words of a senior male
teacher at College A4 is a cry in the wilderness, I promote free and open exchange

21
In fact the feminist writer, Sarah Joseph, traces the name of a womens organization, Manushi, formed at
the Government college in Pattambi in the early 1980s, to protest initiated by girls after the suicide of a
young girl, when her relations with a lecturer in the college was made public and there was a demand that
he make a public apology. To the question, why should there be a public apology if one person falls in love
with another, Joseph responds. [t]he issue was not love; the accusation was that the college premises were
misused to carry on this affair. Later, it was proven that the man didnt love her, but was just taking
advantage of her. He was indeed prepared to apologize. When the girl heard about this she was shocked.
. Joseph points out that she had told the group that a girls life was linked to the demand for a public
apology but not everyone thought along the same lines. She says the incident galvanized the girls in the
college, who held a demonstration under the banner of Manushi an organization of thinking women.
(Joseph, S and G Hiranyan, 2009: 259). This must be among the first efforts to organize independently on
the basis of an understanding of womens problems. Joseph points out that they made it clear from the
beginning that they were not aligned to any political organization or party even while encouraging active
conversation with some of them.
26
between girls and boys because whatever you say in a co-educational set up that itself is
education. A girl learning to speak to a boy and a boy learning to speak to a girl, that is
perhaps more important than the subjects you learn.

We could situate the response of the majority of the students that student politics is
effective in raising womens issues in a serious lack of understanding of what constitutes
womens issues (table 3.64). In fact, we found that colleges have interpreted the mandate
of the womens cells, established in most colleges following instruction from the
Government three or four year ago, as the provision of various kinds of inputs to women
students ranging from job oriented and social skills to legal literacy, counseling and
information about health and hygiene. We found little indication of effort to impart a
political understanding of gender or sexuality or even to address questions of gender and
politics. In College A4, for instance, the womens cell was initiated prior to the
government order. Because there is an increasing number of girl students here and they
encounter some problems that are specific to women. Its also because this is a mixed
college. We formed the cell to provide training, to discuss and find solutions to their
problems and for their general development, the coordinator of the cell told us.
22


However, the lack of political awareness affects the interpretation of not only womens
issues. The senior teacher at College G1 mentioned earlier spoke about how a Dalit
academics lecture at the college some years ago was interpreted as an insult to Hindus
by the dominant teachers trade union and used as a pretext to harass the teachers who
had invited him. This teacher however cautioned me against seeing this as a problem
across the state. She said she knew that such lectures and discussions were held in
teachers forums of Government colleges in other regions (College G1 is in south
Kerala). Indeed, the teachers, we spoke to in College G1, dismissed, invariably, the idea

22
Even the coordinators understanding of gender is hemmed in by commonplace charges against what
gender-based mobilization has achieved for women. There is no denying that it has strengthened women.
Taking up a stand against harassment, that has improved but at the same time there is misuse then we
talk about atrocities (against women) inside the house but there are many places where the opposite
happens. There are cases reported of women walking out because a man takes good care of his mother. So
we should not think in a one-sided way, that all women are dignified and all men are bad. Instead, we
should be more balanced. There are good people on both sides . Here gender gets reduced from a
system or a regime to the moral quality of men and women.
27
that there could be caste discrimination in the college. One of the teachers went to the
extreme of saying that it had been many years since he had even heard the name Potti (a
Brahmin surname) in this college. It seems that with the take over of College G1 by the
lower castes, caste has become a non-issue. We found that caste was a difficult question
to crack even in colleges in central and northern Kerala. In College A1, boys dismissed
any possibility that there could be discrimination on the basis of caste. They share food
with people of all castes and even religions, they said, pointing to a Muslim boy in the
midst of a group that was predominantly Hindu. During this exchange, a boy said that,
of course, there are differences between boys and girls but caste, no there is no
difference. There seems to be a prevailing notion that problems of women students (not
the issue of gender as politics) are being addressed through different forums but that caste
no longer was relevant. There are a significantly higher proportion of ST students in
College G3 than elsewhere and yet questions of tribal rights are not part of every day
discussion in the college. Further, we drew a blank when we asked specific questions or
tried to initiate a discussion on the issue. The Principal, who had made notable efforts to
retain a student from a particularly underprivileged tribe, said he thought politics on the
basis of identity was divisive. It will only lead to trouble, he said.

Table 5.71: Participation in student organizations by sex / gender
SEX / GENDER COMPOSITION COLLEGE
MALE FEMALE
TOTAL
College G1 40 (87.0) 37 (66.1) 77 (75.5)
College A1 16 (53.3) 9 (11.5) 25 (23.1)
College A2 * NA NA NA
College A3 * NA NA NA
College A4 17 (73.9) 25 (43.1) 41 (50.6)
College G2 9 (75) 15 (53.6) 24 (60)
College G3 35 (89.7) 26 (40.6) 60 (58.2)
Total 117 (78) 112 (39.4) 227 (52.30)
Male = 150, Female = 284, Total = 434; Figures in parenthesis are percentages.
Source: Seven-college survey

5.8 Debilitating politics and poor academics
A vibrant academic environment could draw considerably on political activism. College
G1 wears the lack of such an environment on its sleeve. On an average day in College
G1, we are bound to find a large number of students just standing around the campus in
28
small groups even as classes are in progress. Some of the classes we noticed in the arts
segment are sparsely attended and have relatively more female than male students, in a
college that had a ceiling of 33 per cent for girls in some of the courses. Rarely if ever do
we see girls standing around the open spaces. On a day when girls were found standing
around, they were waiting to collect their hall tickets for the examinations. They would
congregate in the passages of buildings when a class was not ongoing or they would be
moving. The college administration is fully aware of these circumstances. They are also
well aware that boys make up for not attending class by attending coaching classes after
class hours. Even laboratory work no longer prevents them from bunking class, a
senior science teacher told us. The coaching centres provide for that too nowadays.
According to him, the majority of students attended coaching classes and came to college
only to get attendance. A post-graduate student of science indicated that the malaise of
loitering affected mostly the undergraduate students. She said she had chosen College
G1 over other colleges in the city because the department had a good reputation. The
post-graduate students are exempt from joining strikes and demonstrations because they
had already transited to a semester system hence the entire burden of doing so fell on the
undergraduate students. This student also pointed out that there is a set of
undergraduate students who come here with the explicit purpose of having fun
(adichiopolikan).

In December, January and February of the academic year 2008-09, the college lost four,
twelve and ten days respectively due to strikes on campus. There is a two-week vacation
in December, which may explain the fewer days lost to strikes. Over and above these full
day strikes, the college also suffers partial loss of class hours. Table 3.65 shows how the
students evaluate different aspects that contribute to a college environment. In College
G1, 80 per cent of students said they suffered on account of loss of working days to
strikes and other disturbances occasioned by campus politics. In College A1, the college
had witnessed considerable disturbances during the year of the study. The college was
closed for two months owing to agitation after a student was suspended. Some of the
teachers at College A1 said that because the loss of days they were forced to devote the
class hours to the minimum of activities and unable to take up any additional activities.
29
Because of the time constraint they also ended up giving very simple assignments. We
conducted field work during the fag end of the term and after the end of the term when
the college worked because most of the departments had extra classes. During this period
there was no strike or loss of days on account of it. According to the education code,
students need the Principals express permission to organize or attend meetings (see
rules of the Education code in University College, Trivandrum, Handbook 2008-09: 44).
At College A1, we learnt that they would pester the Principal for written consent to a
strike and if he refused, they would shout slogans and insults after gathering before his
room thereby wearing down his resistance.

Roughly about half the students reported suffering on account of loss of days due to
politics in College G3, College G2 and College A4, indicating that the situation in these
colleges is relatively better. During the field work over three months in College G3, only
on one day was class affected partially by a strike called by a students organization and
in College A4 there was no loss of working days due to strikes by the students
organizations. However, in all these contexts, students were affected by outside
disturbances, like strikes called by public transport operators or hartals, which made it
difficult to attend class.

Among the colleges where we did field work, loitering by students affected College G1
and College A1. In College G3, also a Government college, the greater discipline was
linked to the students dependence on the college for educational resources. The
Principal had pointed out that students here had fewer options of coaching centers and
students too told us that there were few educational opportunities in the region. In
College A3 and College A2, norms against loitering were enforced strictly. In College
A1, we learnt that it was a matter of pride for the male students to absent themselves from
class on one or other pretext. In College G1, the Principal said that over 2009, he had
made serious efforts to discourage loitering on campus. He had constituted a committee,
chaired by the vice Principal, to check loitering and to monitor the situation regularly by
taking rounds around the campus and confronting the loitering students. However, the
parallel system controlled by the students organization made it difficult to enforce
30
discipline. In late 2008 and early 2009 we learnt from teachers that attendance was not
maintained for each class. Teachers cited the difficulty of doing so because of the
interlinked nature of some classes like general English and the subsidiaries. Specific
teachers were appointed to put it together for each class. Teachers also voiced fears
against strict enforcement of attendance. A senior teacher told us that it would affect a
lot of poor students in departments like Islamic history and history who worked for a
living and were unable to attend class regularly. However, in late 2009 the Principal had
initiated greater vigilance with respect to attendance. An English teacher told us that
because of poor attendance the department had threatened to cancel the excursion and the
students had negotiated with the teachers agreeing to make up for lost attendance.

The parallel system in College G1 intervened in two extremes of the education process,
admissions and examinations. Interference in admissions indicated that the student body
could be contrived. According to some of the teachers, there is interference in the
admissions process. We are rendered helpless, a teacher said, but also that as head of
the department you could take a firm stand. A teacher said that a couple of years ago he
found students seated outside the office that sells application forms taking down personal
details of all those who bought forms. On making inquiries he learnt that the list would
be sent to the prospective applicants villages to ascertain their background. Around
2005-06 there were incidents of severe violence on campus owing to efforts at counter
mobilization by a group owing allegiance to an extremist Muslim organization. Others
had pointed out more generally that the students organization made an effort to keep the
middle class out of the college. Teachers said cheating had been rampant during the
examinations until a few years ago when some of the teachers conducted a campaign
against it. A teacher recalled that on invigilation duty he had been instructed to do no
more than supply extra sheets of paper to those who asked for them and specifically not
to interfere with anything else. He could see that the roll numbers scrawled on the
benches were not in serial order but it seemed like they were ordered to facilitate a
specific seating arrangement. Teachers who did not do the bidding of the student leaders
were threatened and there were instances when the student organization acted on its
threat. Cheating was so organized that question papers were supplied to the coaching
31
centers as soon as the package was opened and completed answer papers were sent in
time for the students to submit them. A teacher pointed out that the students
organization reacted against the campaign as if we were denying them a right. They
argued that it could not be restricted when it was happening in another (rival) college.

In the other Government colleges or indifferently-managed aided colleges like College
A1, problems such as cheating if they occurred were practiced by individuals, it was not
organized. It is possible that in a college like College A1 there are efforts to manufacture
attendance through political interventions or negotiations with teachers but the students
organization did not have the influence they did in College G1 over even processes like
admissions or attendance. In the better or excessively managed aided colleges, such
practices are subject to strict punitive measures.

We also asked the students whether the college administration was supportive. Table
3.65 shows that in most of the colleges a minority of students said they had a supportive
administration. We have already seen that in College A3 there was considerable ill will
among students towards the administration, which they thought subjected them to moral
policing. This is expressed in less than 30 per cent reporting that they had a supportive
administration. In College A2 only a very small proportion of students say they have a
supportive environment but there are parallels in the problem encountered here and by
students in College G1. In College A2, the manager was directly concerned with the
administration and there was bitterness among all sections towards him. In College G1
there are explicit accusations from students that the students organization used the
administration to maintain its vigil i.e., as informers. This is also implicit in the senior
teachers charge that the peon outside the Principals office is a spy.

The relationship of students with their teachers varied according to the environment
prevailing in each college but also on individual lines. Table 5.81 shows that only in
College A3 and College G1 about 20 per cent of students rated the relations with teachers
as poor. In College G2 and College G3 none of the students rated relations with teachers
as poor. College A3 also had the lowest proportion of students rating the relations with
32
teachers as good. This is somewhat surprising as in our interactions with students they
generally maintained that they had good relations with most of the teachers. They were
however very critical of the administration. We found that the poor rating of teacher in
College A3 was because of the opinion of majority of Communicative English students.
In College A4 and College G3, the high proportion of students rating the relations with
teachers as good conformed to what we learnt from them in the college.

In each college we discerned that there were some teachers who inspired the students by
taking active interest in their academic progress and devoting time over and above the
prescribed hours to interact with them or to tutor them. Notably, they are proactive in
ensuring better access to facilities by devoting their time to ensure that facilities were in
working conditions and being present where needed so that students could use them.
They also sought out different ways of expanding students exposure by taking an active
interest in extra curricular lie College A1 and co curricular activities, such as the debating
clubs. Such teachers we found were able to use the space provided by the College A1 or
other extra curricular activities to get to know the students well. Students looked up to
such teachers and appreciated their efforts in no uncertain terms. We also observed that
these teachers managed to distance themselves from disenchantment even when it
pervaded the overall environment in the college and continued to work with energy. We
observed in the college and noticed in our interactions with them that they exuded
confidence, which allowed them to allocate responsibilities to students and allow the
students to work without constant interference. One of these teachers (from College A4)
said that he had tried out other occupations but it was teaching that gave him pleasure.
He explained the advantages of being a teacher in terms of being able to interact with
students at their adolescent stage, when their ideas and desires are being molded .
He saw this in political terms, You are in a position to show them how to mold a
perspective. See, this is another way of looking at this. You can tell them this. You
have the opportunities.

Our observation is that most of the teachers remained within their normal brief, carrying
out the responsibilities allotted to them but not going out of their way to engage the
33
students or spend time with them. However, we also learnt that there is a segment of
teachers who are indifferent and who are able to use the environment in indifferently
managed colleges and government colleges debilitated by student politics to shirk work.
In some cases, we were told by the administration that teachers affiliated to teachers
organizations are involved in inciting disturbances through students. In College A1, we
learnt that teachers kept away from student politics but in College G1 we received mixed
responses. Politics, in the guise of external interference inciting disturbances within the
college, affects the performance of teachers at the level of the college because it reduces
the ability of the college authorities to act independently or to take action against errant
teachers. We learnt that in College G1 that there were teachers who routinely came late,
went early and blatantly disregarded the responsibility for finishing the portions.
According to the trade union leader / teacher, the same teachers also resisted any move to
initiate internal reform. He said the moves initiated in the past year by the Principal to
curb loitering among students invariably also exposed the teachers who shirk classes or
come late. When the committee goes around to check the students, it is easy to tell apart
the classes that did not have teachers in them. Aware of this, these teachers started to
indulge in a smear campaign.

I spent a forenoon in the Principals office when the Principal was on regular duty as I
had an appointment to speak with him and, during this time, teachers, students and a few
outsiders flowed in and out of the room with their different issues. The Principal said to a
teacher in charge of some task, who complained that the teachers avoided taking any
initiative, that there are heads of departments who do not come to college council
meetings and when they are questioned they say, big deal, the meeting went on anyway,
didnt it (karyangal nadanille). It has to be a collective effort, he emphasized.
Obviously he was having trouble getting the teachers to observe order. To me, however,
he maintained that teachers are willing to take responsibility. We have to give them
duties. They are also otherwise occupied with their academic studies. We have to
persuade them.

34
The former Principal of a Government womens college in south Kerala said
irresponsibility on the part of teachers is a major problem. She was a passive member of
the dominant trade union, not interested in politics because she believed in individual
responsibility whereas politics is about collective responsibility. About the teachers, she
said, there were some who came late, did not attend class and did not care to finish the
portions. She said despite the burden of administrative work she would sometimes go
around the college and when she found teachers not in class she would send a note to the
head of the department asking for the cause. One head of the department had responded
saying, the lecturer is here, he says that he will take casual leave. What do you do,
when the response is like this? They are totally indifferent, she said.

Political interference also affects the governance of higher education. Whereas the nature
of politics affects the everyday aspects of life in college including the ability of teachers
to carry out their work and breeding indifference among some of them, political
interference at the state / university levels affects the standards that are set for academic
instruction.
23
Teachers appointed to various committees at the state / university level take
important decisions with respect to the curriculum, admissions, evaluations, planning of
the college calendar and so on. Teachers trade unions have an important say in
appointments to these committees. During the field-work we found that teachers with
excellent academic credentials (through awards of national research projects, papers at
international meetings, membership in associations / networks of specialists or with
publications in standard journals) are not members of trade unions and had never been on
any committee of universities in the state. Invariably they said they did not join or had
left the trade union because they are not willing to compromise on academics. A
teacher at College A4 who was no longer associated with the trade union talked about the
degeneration of politics. He said the teachers organizations, may claim to be political
organizations, but I do not accept that they are political. As a political organization it is
one thing to engage in political interaction and discussions but quite another to follow
blindly the dictates of the parent political party. By increasingly toeing the line of the

23
The governance structures of the universities, the senate, syndicate, Academic council and Boards of
Studies are used to appease vested political interests.
35
parent party, a trade union loses the space to criticize and to act against the policies and
practices of their parent party when it comes to power. This was the case in colleges
with the exception of College A3, where teachers were either mild in their criticism of
prohibition or assertive that politics was a baneful influence on academics.

Teachers committed to academics walk a tight rope in the matter of political affiliation.
According to the Principal of College G1, who had substantial experience on academic
committees, the trade union has a small group of hard-core people and a silent majority,
and it usually sends the hard core to the committees. The silent ones may be brilliant
but they do not have a voice. His experience varied. In the board of studies meetings of
M G University, which he was part of, the teachers were not diligent but they had
performed reasonably well in the board of studies of Kerala University, he said. A
teacher in College G3, who was a member of the board of studies of Calicut university,
owing to his trade union affiliation, dismissed it as a forum for tea and snacks. A young
teacher with an active interest in research, membership in specialized networks and with
publications has not been on any committee so far despite being a member of the
dominant trade union. His words suggested that there were double standards and
hierarchy. The chemistry teacher from College A1 with impressive academic credentials
is not a member of a trade union and had not been in any of committee of universities in
the state so far. He said he is on committees of several universities outside the state as
well as IGNOU. When asked whether politics was depriving the committees of qualified
people he said that there were qualified people among those appointed. But he added that
some universities in the state had more up to date syllabi than others indicating that merit
was left at best to chance.

There are instances of teachers who focus on academics and research and have left the
trade union after an initial association with it largely because of its lack of interest in
academics. There is no disputing that teachers trade unions could play a crucial role in
securing the interests of teachers. The dominant Left unions contribution to working out
the transfer norms of teachers in the Government sector was often mentioned. The
Principal of College G1 pointed out that the Left affiliated unions forceful interventions
36
on behalf of the teaching community had earned it a large membership, a majority of who
do not necessarily subscribe to its ideological position. However, it is not clear why
academic concerns such as curriculum and syllabus formulation too are entrusted largely
to the trade union members. So long as it is, the criticism of the more academically
oriented teachers that the union lacks interest in academics is a matter of serious concern.
Indeed, our interviews with teachers too revealed a widespread sense of disillusionment
with the trade unions. Even teachers who continued to be members pointed out that the
unions activities no longer met with their approval. Others were more explicit that the
union had subordinated the interests of teachers to that of party politics. A senior teacher
from College A4, who left the trade union after a long association, described the decline
in terms of the kinds of programmes that receive priority currently. He pointed out that
while there was little interest in politics in its true sense or in academics, the union was
more involved in organizing entertainment programmes.

It is well known that several aided colleges receive money for admission of students on
the management / community quota and for the appointment of regular teachers. Despite
the illegal nature of these transfers of cash, these practices are highly institutionalized. It
is even discussed openly in public forums. At a meeting in 2009 of the womens wing of
the teachers union affiliated to the CPM, when an invited speaker, an outspoken
journalist, provoked his audience by asking why they do not refuse the posts rather than
pay donations to gain them, the members of the union and their office bearers evaded the
question by shifting the blame on to the managements.
24
Ironically, one of the
respondents said that if the selected candidates did not accept the posts, by paying the
donations, the managements would have little difficulty in finding less meritorious
candidates, so merit would be compromised!

Both sets of practices affect the environment for higher education in the state by
interfering with standards (based on merit and reservations) and with the transparency of
procedures. In chapter 3, we have already touched upon the recruitment procedure for
teachers, which involve separate formats for the Government and aided sectors

24
The meeting was held in Trivandrum and I attended it.
37
respectively. We noted that both practices are embedded in a framework of patronage
dispensation, which the system allows the private aided colleges to adopt. The Manager
of College A2 pointed out that some of the teachers were not competent to teach and that
they were recruited in an earlier period by the management on sympathetic grounds,
because their family, belonging to the parish, was found to be in need. Upwards of 70
per cent of students in each of the private colleges assessed taking donations for
recruitment of teachers and for admission to students as a weakness of their college.
Notably there is a higher proportion of students in these colleges assessing the donations
for admissions as a weakness than for recruitment of teachers. Students may be expected
to be better informed about donations taken from students than from teachers. According
to students taking donations is a factor that vitiates the environment of a college.


Table 5.81: Student assessment of factors affecting college environment
% Students indicating the prevalence of factors
Relations with teachers* Administrative support*
COLLEGE
Good Poor Good Poor
Loss of days to
politics**
College G1 70 (68.6) 18 (17.6) 34 (33.3) 28 (27.5) 82 (80.4)
College A1 82 (75.2) 3 (2.8) 35 (32.4) 11 (10.2) 89 (82.4)
College A2 48 (59.3) 6 (7.4) 15 (18.5) 21 (25.9) NA
College A3 59 (46.5) 26 (20.5) 33 (26.0) 31 (24.4) NA
College A4 56 (69.1) 2 (2.5) 49 (60.5) 3 (3.7) 39 (48.1)
College G2 35 (87.5) 0 28 (70.0) 3 (7.5) 23 (57.5)
College G3 71 (68.9) 0 43 (41.7) 3 (2.9) 54 (52.4)
Total 421 (65.6) 55 (8.6) 237 (36.9) 100 (15.6) 287 (72.92)
* Students were asked rate it as good, adequate or bad. ** Loss of working days on account of strikes /
politics, # N = 397; Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


Table 5.82: Taking donations as a weakness of the college according to students
Donations from
College
Teachers Students
College G1 NA NA
College A1 college 61 (56.5) 94 (87.0)
College A2 college 61 (75.3) 70 (86.4)
College A3 college 103 (81.1) 109 (85.5)
College A4 college 46 (56.8) 63 (77.8)
College G2 college NA NA
College G3 college NA NA
Total 271 (70.38) 336 (84.6)
N = 385; Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

38
5.9 Teaching, Learning and Reform
It is imperative that more job oriented courses are incorporated into higher education.
We need an environment that promotes and nurtures students skills and knowledge
(Student of College G1)

The ongoing reforms in undergraduate arts and science education mandate a shift to the
choice based course credit semester system with continuous assessment and grading,
which are currently underway in three of four universities and scheduled to start in the
new academic year (2010-11) in the fourth university. The reforms are expected to bring
about a radical change in the college environment by bringing the present system under
pressure. However, the measures are also politically contentious. The entire set of
reforms are politically contentious, with allegations by the trade union affiliated to the
opposition that it is being rushed through to suit the vested interests of the CPI (M). This
had delayed the implementation of the CCS system in colleges under Kerala university
but in the rest of the state the CCS system came into effect in the academic year 2009-10.
Teachers who are not affiliated to any political party too pointed out discussion of the
reforms and consultations are not broad based. In late 2008, a senior teacher of a city
based Government college said he learnt about the reforms from the newspapers, there
was no effort to channel the views of teachers or generate discussion among them. Not
withstanding these charges, however, in principle most teachers are optimistic about the
nature of reforms that are on board.

Their reservations are regarding the system i.e., whether it would be possible to
implement in the existing context. The delays routinely occasioned by the system as well
as the scarcity of teachers present the most important barriers to effective introduction of
reforms. After the first year of CCS in colleges in three out of four university regions, we
see that the delays in admissions as well as loss of working days on account of strikes or
other disturbances continue to hinder colleges. Though the government has been
reiterating over the past year that more teachers will be appointed, we have seen that
appointments alone will not resolve the problems of colleges in the remote areas and that
39
the underpinnings of the problem of teacher scarcity are different in the private aided
colleges.

The ongoing reforms in undergraduate arts and science education are framed as a means
of addressing some of the current ills of the system. On the one hand it is expected to
bring pressure to avoid delays and loss of working days on account of the tight structure
of the semester system, which provides little space for making up lost time. This makes
the postponement of end semester exams are more unthinkable than in the previous
system. A leader of the dominant trade union pointed out that students would be able to
exercise their choice of courses keeping in mind that reputation of the teachers engaged
in teaching them and thus would exert pressure on the teachers to take their responsibility
seriously. Further, aspects of the new system like the continuous assessment too bring
greater responsibilities on teachers, which they are likely to find more difficult to evade.
The new system is also likely to put pressure on student organizations to refrain from
disruptions. Notably even in College G1, the post-graduate students were exempt from
participation in strikes and demonstration owing to the tight schedule required by the
semester system.

Over 60 per cent of students were aware that reforms were underway.
25
Over 30 per cent
of students in College A3 and College A2 said they were unaware of the reforms. Only
about 10 per cent of students were well aware of the reforms. For over 80 per cent the
students said they had learnt about the reforms from newspaper but 36 per cent said they
had learnt about it from their college. This indicates that there was little structured
discussion of the reforms among students within the colleges with the exception of some.
Notably over 50 per cent had learnt about the reforms from their college in College A4
and 46 per cent in College G1. This indicates that the reforms were being taken up in a
context there was inadequate understanding of it among students.


25
During the period of fieldwork, some of the colleges had shifted to grading but the other reforms were
not implemented yet. However, there was discussion of the reforms in the mass media and the KSHEC
was conducting workshops for stakeholders.
40
The most contentious of the measures suggested is the cluster college scheme, which is
presented as the basis for an alterative to autonomy to colleges. This measure is being
attempted in three cities in the state before it is widened. However, the effort has met
with stiff resistance from some of the prominent the private aided colleges which fear that
it is a move to allow unruly political organizations to force entry into their campuses and
create disturbances. Given the nature of political motivation of student organizations it
would be difficult to deny this allegation. While the Government has made it clear that it
does not propose to enforce a cluster on the colleges, the colleges in turn have pointed out
that they are willing to join clusters of their own choice, not one dictated by the
Government. Besides, several private aided colleges are keen on being granted autonomy
but until recently there was no provision for this under the universities in the state. In
2009, MG university came up with a proposal to grant autonomy but none of the colleges
under its jurisdiction have the required qualifications as yet. Some prominent colleges
felt that they were being denied autonomy for political reasons.

In Government policy discourse (as articulated in official policy, by state officials and
left trade union leaders) there is a veiled criticism of the approach of the private aided
colleges. The draft policy document for instance notes that the private aided colleges are
publicly funded institutions in the sense that teachers salaries are paid by the Government
but also because they receive development funds. Further, they point out that the land on
which these colleges stand has been acquired on 100 year lease from the Government or
through mobilization of resources from the local community. This argument seems to
imply that the private aided colleges may not be within their rights to pick and choose or
to restrict entry of public / students from other colleges. Clearly, however, there are
problems with this argument because if some of the private colleges have built up
facilities and reputations that are clearly better than the best of Government colleges, it
must have to do with more than receipt of public funds. There are reasons to ponder
about the factors that set apart the best of private colleges from the Government colleges
and these would certainly include better management leading to regulatory and
administrative systems built up within these colleges, a higher level of motivation among
teachers and students leading to better performance on several fronts.
41

The ongoing reforms in undergraduate arts and science education in Kerala deal
importantly with the curriculum and promises to initiate significant changes in
pedagogical practice. What are the existing problems with the syllabus and with teaching
practice according to the students and teachers? Student views about the syllabus show
that over 20 per cent felt that it lacked emerging or relevant areas of knowledge and about
17 per cent felt that there were repetitions in the existing syllabus (table 5.92). In
discussions students emphasized the need to include newer areas of knowledge and in
particular those that hold the potential for employment. History students at College A1
emphasized the need to study the subject in a way that had contemporary relevance
indicating that currently it was approached as facts rather than illustrations of
perspectives. Notably only ten per cent felt that the syllabus was either not challenging
or difficult.

However, significant proportions of students find fault with the teaching method used.
The dominant, if not exclusive, method used in undergraduate teaching is lectures
supplemented by notes. Teachers point out that it is difficult to adopt other methods in
the class-room because of the large size of the class. They also point out that lecture
notes are beneficial to the students are not fully able to follow the lectures. However,
there are teachers who say that they make it a point to reach out to students in the class
and try to get them to respond. A teacher added that she is able to identify students with
ability principally by getting them to respond in class and then she makes it a point to
encourage them. At College G1 she pointed out that even in subjects like history, which
often get students with poor grades, there are very motivated students who dodge the
politics to make the best of the opportunities open to them. Table 5.93 shows that nearly
30 per cent of students said that teachers rely on outdated lecture notes. Over 20 per cent
of student also felt that there was a dearth of discussions in the class room, that there was
a lack of group exercises and that they were encouraged to copy from text books for
assignments. Notably, some of the teachers too complained that the only time students
referred to the text books was when they were given assignments. Nearly half the
students surveyed in College G1 said there was a dearth of group exercises whereas about
42
40 per cent said the classes lacked discussions. In College A1, the major problems
pointed out by students were reliance on outdated lecture notes, something they
emphasized in group discussions as well. Over 30 per cent felt the classes did not have
enough discussions and that they were encouraged to copy from text books for their
assignments. Over 40 per cent of students in College A3 felt that none of the problems
were applicable to their college as did over 60 per cent of students in College G2.
Surprisingly, students of College A4 felt there were problems with the teaching methods
(they had rated facilities very well). Half of them felt that teachers relied on outdated
notes and 37 per cent said they were encouraged to copy from prescribed text books. In
the group discussion the students said they were not able to understand some of the
teachers, who flew into English for long stretches of time. Though the medium of
instruction is English at the undergraduate level, teachers were expected to teach using
English and Malayalam and students had the option of writing their exams in Malayalam.
There was difference of opinion among the students on this policy, which some of the
students felt was a barrier to them learning English well.

Over 60 per cent of students reported that the internal assessments were beneficial to
students whereas less than 30 per cent thought that teachers may be biased. This is
significant because we learnt from teachers that they are often under pressure to given
maximum marks in the internal assessment to benefit the students. Some told us that
where they did not give good marks they could even be overruled at the department level.
According to teachers who spoke to us this was done so that the college was perceived
well.

Nearly 80 per cent of colleges said they practiced one or other form of evaluation of
teachers (5.95 and 5.96). The most widespread method was feedback from students,
which was practiced by about 70 per cent of colleges. However, in some colleges we
learnt that through feedback was taken it was not analyzed and used by the college.



43
Table 5.91 : Source of information about reforms

Newspaper From college
Participated in
workshop Other channels
TOTAL
College G1 32 (71.1) 21 (46.6) 0 1 (2.0) 45 (100)
College A1 77 (88.5) 24 (27.6) 7 (8.0) 0 87 (100)
College A2 34 (68) 16 (32) 1 (2.0) 3 (6.0) 50 (100)
College A4 54 (81.1) 36 (54.5) 2 (3.0) 2 (3.0) 66 (100)
College G2
college
25 (83.3) 9 (30) 4 (13.3) 0
30 (100)
College G3 74 (83.1) 28 (31.5) 2 (2.2) 4 (4.5) 89 (100)
Total 306 (83.3) 134 (36.5) 16 (4.4) 10 (2.72) 367 (100)*
*Total excludes those who had not heard of the reforms and the question was not asked in College A3 and
in 30 schedules of College G1. A small number of students provided multiple responses. Figures in
parenthesis are percentages.
Source: Seven-college survey

Table 5.92: Student views about syllabus
Name of college

Not
challenging
Lack of new
relevant
topics
Has out dated
topics
Has
Repetition
Difficult
College G1 15 (14.71) 21 (20.59) 13 (12.75) 23 (22.55) 17 (16.67)
College A1 9 (8.33) 25 (23.15) 7 (6.48) 22 (20.37) 11 (10.19)
College A2 9 (11.39) 9 (11.39) 5 (6.33) 16 (20.25) 9 (11.39)
College A3 11 (9.32) 31 (26.27) 19 (16.10) 15 (12.71) 25 (21.18)
College A4 5 (6.33) 18 (22.78) 16 (20.25) 13 (16.46) 13 16.46)
College G2 4 (10) 4 (10) 0 1 (2.5) 0
College G3 13 (12.75) 31 (30.40) 15 (14.71) 18 (17.64) 11 (10.78)
Total 66 (10.51) 139 (22.13) 75 (11.94) 108 (17.19) 86 (13.69)
999=14; N=642-14=628 Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey

Table 5.93: Student views about the teaching methods used in the class room
Name of
college

Lack of
discussions
Reliance
on outdated
lectures
notes
Lack space
to express
new ideas
Lack of
group
exercise
Encouraged
to copy from
text*
(assignments)
None of this
applicable
College G1 42 (41.17) 29 (28.43) 27 (26.47) 48 (47.05) 20 (19.61) 23 (22.55)
College A1 34 (31.48) 44 (40.74) 12 (11.11) 16 (14.81) 34 (31.48) 17 (15.74)
College A2 10 (12.34) 19 (23.46) 8 (9.88) 29 (35.80) 27 (33.33) 21 (25.93)
College A3 20 (16.39) 20 (16.39) 17 (13.93) 21 (17.21) 16 (13.11) 51 (41.80)
College A4 10 (12.5) 40 (50) 6 (7.5) 9 (11.25) 30 (37.5) 23 (28.75)
College G2 7 (17.5) 9 (22.5) 3 (7.5) 1 (2.5) 0 25 (62.5)
College G3 32 (31.06) 29 (28.15) 12 (11.65) 22 (21.36) 38 (36.90) 17 (16.50)
Total 155 (24.37) 190 (29.87) 85 (13.36) 146 (22.96) 165 (25.94) 177 (27.83)
* Prescribed text books. Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


44



Table 5.94: Student views about internal assessments
Name of
college

Teachers may
express biases
Current lack of
the necessary
environment*
Teachers are
not adequately
equipped
Beneficial for
students
Don't know
College G1 29 (29.59) 45 (45.91) 17 (17.34) 49 (50) 12 (12.24)
College A1 15 (14.01) 21 (19.62) 6 (5.60) 86 (80.37) 1 (0.93)
College A2 27 (34.62) 29 (37.17) 17 (21.79) 27 (34.61) 13 (16.67)
College A3 33 (30.28) 37 (33.95) 6 (5.50) 60 (55.04) 3 (2.75)
College A4 33 (41.77) 23 (29.11) 13 (16.46) 49 (62.02) 6 (7.59)
College G2
college
4 (10) 5 (12.5) 1 (2.5) 36 (90) 1 (2.5)
College G3 33 (32.67) 27 (26.73) 22 (21.78) 68 (67.36) 8 (7.92)
Total 174 (28.43) 187 (30.56) 82 (13.40) 375 (61.27) 44 (7.19)
* Currently lacks the necessary close interactions between students and teachers, N 612; Figures in
parenthesis are percentages.
Source: Seven-college survey


Table 5.95: Colleges taking student feedback of teachers
Practice of Student feedback on teachers UNIVERSITY
Yes No Not specified
Kerala 21 (65.69) 10 (31.3) 1 (3.1)
MG 15 (75) 4 (20) 1 (5.0)
Calicut 34 (75.6) 9 (20.0) 2 (4.4)
Kannur 12 (66.7) 5 (27.8) 1 (5.6)
Total 82 (71.3) 28 (24.3) 5 (4.3)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey


Table 5.96: Other teacher evaluation methods used by colleges
OTHER TEACHER EVALUATION METHODS COLLEGES
Annual Monitoring 15 (13.0)
Department Level Report 3 (2.6)
Personal Inspection 1 (0.9)
Self Appraisal 12 (10.4)
IQAC Evaluation 3 (2.6)
Peer Evaluation 2 (1.7)
Verify monthly diary 1 (0.9)
No method specified 3 (2.6)
No evaluation 26 (22.6)
Total 115 (100)
Figures in parenthesis are percentages. Source: Seven-college survey



45
Conclusion
Notably, several private aided colleges, which have built up a good reputation and have
achieved recognition in terms of standard quality indicators (UGC or NAAC)
compromise heavily on student politics i.e., the processes that are integral to enhancing
the quality of citizenship such as mobilization of students for political activity and
holding of elections on political basis. While the barriers to expression of dissent or the
access to political space is determined by the views of the management, there is a
relationship between the ability of managements to suppress student politics and the
social support for doing so in their immediate context. In turn social support for
suppression of student politics has been shaped by the general decline in standards of
political activism on campuses, from promoting informed debates and enhancing
citizenship to an exercise in vested interest and denial of student rights by using threats of
violence and establishing an environment of coercion. Thus, while there has been a
greater tendency for Christian, especially Catholic, managements to prohibit politics, the
diocese based organizations are better placed to enforce a ban because of the social
support they received from their parishes. On the one hand, non religious private trusts
and mission colleges without parish based support tend not to be able to enforce
prohibition. On the other hand, Muslim managements tended to tolerate politics but also
they have shared interests with Muslim identified student organizations.

In several colleges (government and aided) student organizations sustain a strong
political base at the cost of teaching and learning process in the class room but also
importantly at the cost of building citizenship among the wider community of students.
The latter is the effect of the capture of political space by a small section of students
(with the support of extraneous elements) through coercion and force rather than using
democratic methods to engage in politics. The location of the college is also important in
shaping the severity of political excesses. This is so because the stakes of political parties
differ according to it. Hence colleges in the capital city or in places that are close to the
important nodes of state power seem to be more affected than those in remote areas,
where the stakes of political parties are less.

46
However, we also found that the capture or denial of political space affects the ability of
the college to provide quality education by creating an environment that is far from
conducive to it. In both cases, it spawns an environment of suspicion among students and
teachers and enables them to not take the education process seriously. Thus, it promotes
loitering among students, who exhibit little faith or interest in class room learning in the
college but instead go to coaching classes in order to prepare for the examinations. It
allows teachers who are so inclined to disregard their responsibilities at the college
sometimes making rare appearances. While shirking was prevalent more in government
than aided colleges, it also differed according to the location of the government college.
In contexts, with dire scarcity of regular teachers and where students depended entirely
on the college for educational resources, it was less possible to shirk. College G1
presented the ideal circumstances for a teacher who would want to shirk.

Though most of the colleges have already started implementing the reforms, we found
that there was insufficient discussion of the measures among students and teachers. The
feeling among teachers and college authorities that it was politically motivated is also an
inhibiting factor. Further, our analysis of some of the existing problems with the teaching
methods indicates that the reforms need to be implemented with greater caution. Clearly
the colleges will also have to be more proactive in receiving student feedback on teachers
and using this productively.

Chapter 6: Conclusion

To make higher education effective there must be good standards of governance and
good teachers. (Student of College G2)

6.1 Revisiting hypotheses
We have explored the three broad issues taken up for study - access, equity and quality
over four chapters bringing together evidence of different kinds information collected
from colleges through questionnaires, sample survey of students in colleges, interviews
of stakeholders and observation in select colleges about the arts and science segment of
higher education in Kerala. In the conclusion, we re-examine the research questions and
hypothesis with which we started the study and also raise some issues with respect to the
ongoing reforms in the arts and science segment.

1. Is there greater need than opportunities available in the higher education sector?

Hypothesis: In gross terms, there are more opportunities in the higher education sector in
the state than are currently being utilized.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio computed from the SES is likely to underestimate the
enrolment of students in higher education institutions in Kerala owing to the omission of
significant segments such as the private registrations, who study at unrecognized
institutions called the parallel colleges and who constitute a significant section of
undergraduate enrolment. Given the relatively higher (than all India) and rising GER of
the population in the relevant age group, if we consider the NSS or Census, it is only to
be expected that educational facilities are under pressure for expansion and this will only
grow. There has been virtually no expansion in the facilities in the publicly funded
segment of higher education, particularly in the arts and science segment since the 1990s,
whereas the self- financing institutions in the professional and arts and science segments
have expanded exponentially. It remains that the failure of the publicly funded segments
to grow will impede access to those sections of the population who are unable to afford
2
the higher costs of education in the self-financing segment, particularly in the absence of
adequate facilities to avail scholarships or loans. Notably, students in marginal locations,
in Government colleges in the far north and north eastern hill regions of the state, voiced
the concern that there are inadequate Government colleges and that large numbers of
students, unable to gain access to the existing Government colleges, forgo the opportunity
for higher education. Routinely in these colleges, applications are far in excess of the
available student strength. This is the case elsewhere too, the difference being that in
these regions there are few opportunities outside the existing scarce public funded
institutions.

The question of access has a crucial regional dimension with respect to the distribution of
sanctioned strength and distribution of aspirations for particular courses. A relatively
high proportion of colleges in the central Travancore region face a fairly acute shortage
of applicants for the basic science courses whereas there is a significant resort to marginal
increase to accommodate applications in excess of the allotted student strength in
colleges in south Kerala. In central and northern Kerala, there is less resort to marginal
increase but also little scarcity of applicants for the available courses, including the basic
sciences. Further in central and northern Kerala, a very high proportion of students
continue to be registered privately and educated through the parallel colleges, which have
a strong network in the region. The self-financing courses offered by Government and
aided arts and science colleges are mostly in the applied sciences and in commerce and
business studies and they are concentrated in colleges under M G University.
Significantly, we found that the self-financing colleges too suffered from deficits in
enrolment. Whereas the deficits are pronounced in arts, where they are offered, there are
significant deficits in some of the applied science courses.

2. How is the need versus opportunities question expressed from within the higher
education sector?

Hypothesis: Demand for the general arts and science segment, in terms of students who
opt for it, derives from those ranging from (at two ends of the continuum) those with a
3
well defined academic (intellectual) interest in pursuing higher studies to those who are
putting in time that is likely to be valued in cultural terms. There are likely to be several
categories within this range, including importantly those who failed to get admission into
any or in their preferred technical and professional courses.

A large majority of students reported that they had opted for undergraduate arts and
science education because it would enhance their prospects of finding employment. Less
than 15 per cent said it would raise their status in society or that they wanted to take up
research. The factors cited by the largest proportions of students for selecting a particular
course were its job prospects and their own interest in the subject. This is no less true
among girls than boys. There are few takers among the students for the default thesis i.e.,
that students drift into arts and science education because they are unable to gain
admission to professional or technical courses. In the survey responses, students rejected
the suggestion that they could be in undergraduate education to enhance their marriage
prospects but in group discussions girls they admitted that a degree was considered a
necessity for a girl on the marriage market.

3. Are gender and caste the prominent basis of social exclusion in higher education?

Hypothesis a: The under-representation of the lower castes, tribal and coastal fishing
groups is on account of the lack of adequate staying power (economic resources) and/or
the inadequacy of expected rewards.

Importantly, caste continues to be a constraint on access as colleges at the state level have
not been able to fill in the reservation quota for SC and ST students. In some of the
colleges taken up for study, there were relatively high proportions (but not exceeding 20
per cent) of SC / ST students owing to specific factors such as their location. The overall
enrolment of OBC students also is lower than their population share though in colleges
under OBC managements, there are significantly higher proportions of OBC students.
There is some indication that cultural barriers prevent students from the most
marginalized groups from completing their degree course because of the feeling that they
4
are isolated in the college. Further, a larger proportion of SC / ST students were engaged
in part time work and particularly in daily wage labour, indicating the compulsion to
work. Notably, a higher proportion of these groups said they used the earnings to assist
their families. While a higher proportion of SC / ST students had fellowships, none of
them reported having taken loans. In our interactions with students in the marginal
colleges, the need to make loans accessible to students from poor families was
emphasized.

Hypothesis b: Womens dominating presence in the general arts and science segment of
higher education serves cultural ends, most importantly as an aspect of grooming for a
desirable marriage.

Girls rejected the thesis that they sought general arts and science education to enhance
their marriage prospects and emphasized their desire to take up jobs. The profile of
sisters of students currently in college also showed that higher education enhanced
considerably the possibility of a woman finding a job (this was not the case with brothers
of students where a higher proportion of those with degrees were unemployed than those
in other educational categories). Further their rationalization of the dearth of boys in arts
and science courses in terms of their responsibility for the family (which required them to
invest time in ways that are likely to enhance their value on the job market) implicated
the lower social importance accorded to the job prospects of girls. They are aware of the
tensions that could creep in once they consent to a marriage and also the tactics used by
parents to garner their consent. However, they are less certain that they will be able to
withstand parental pressure and resist the possibility of marriage before their education
was complete. They also admitted that the question of employment would have to be
negotiated with their martial families once they were married. Some of them expressed
determination to finish their post graduation before consenting to get married. Further,
the rationalization of the relatively smaller presence of boys in arts and science education
in terms of their greater responsibility for the family implies that the social expectations
on girls are clearly different i.e., the responsibility for their natal families is not theirs
because they are expected to get married and move out to their marital families.
5

4. Do students from Dalit, tribal and coastal fisherfolk communities experience higher
education differently from upper caste, middle class students?

Hypothesis: Differential experience of students on the basis of caste, ethnicity and gender
limits the potential of higher education to combat social basis of discrimination.

We were able to explore this question more extensively with respect to gender than caste.
At the intersection of issues of equity and quality of education, in chapter 5 we discussed
the processes of gendering within colleges in the context of the nature of college
environments. College administrations on the one hand and student organizations on the
other hand actively mobilize gender to discipline women and to legitimize intensive
moral policing, virtually framing their gender as the rationale for the protection of girls.
At least a section of the girls in the womens college had internalized extant gender
norms; they perceived restrictions and segregation as necessary to protect them; and
turned to womens colleges in search of secure environments. In the college with a
Muslim management, a section of students clearly resented the efforts by the
management to enforce segregation. In this college, in a multi party context and in the
absence of obviously coercive political mobilization of students, about 40 per cent of
girls were members of student organizations. Notably the more remote and rural colleges
did not feel the need to impose restrictions on open interaction between girls and boys
and here girls were less systematically subject to coercive disciplining by student
organizations as also to segregation by college authorities.

There is no effort by students to mobilize on the basis of identity as Dalit. On the
contrary, in discussions among students as well as conversations among teachers, the
tendency is to dismiss discrimination on the basis of caste, as if it belongs to a different
time and place. In one college, with a stronger presence of SC and OBC students than is
general (even in our survey of seven colleges) a teacher went to the extent of suggesting
reverse discrimination. In a further indication of the level of understanding of identity as
the basis of politics or of strategic efforts to prevent its rise as a threat to the currently
6
dominant interest groups in politics, on occasion, the dominant teachers union on a
campus charged Dalit or minority intellectual / political discourse with being an insult
to Hindus and sought to mobilize against those who had attempted to open up space for
such discussion. There is also a tendency by the dominant trade union to brand any
alternative basis of mobilization by teachers as minority fundamentalism and to resort to
personalized attacks on teachers from minority communities who are vocal in their
criticism.

5. How do different stakeholders view the problem of quality in the general arts and
science segment of higher education?

Hypothesis: Differences of interest among stakeholders renders the problem of poor
quality not only acute but also difficult to reform.

There are three scenarios with respect to the administration / management of publicly
funded colleges that present different scope for fostering quality: a) excessive
management, b) indifferent (or lack of) management and c) measured management.

By excessive management we mean a highly interfering management that virtually
eliminates the distinction between administration and management and fails to respect the
rights of different sections of a college community, denying the scope for any expression
of freedom within a campus. Ironically, excessive management may result from an
active interest in higher education leading to a rigid perspective and an inability to
negotiate with different sections of the college community. In such cases, there is likely
to be a relatively high degree of regimentation of work and an excessive stress on the
conduct of academic work class room teaching at the cost of other activities.
Interference by the management creates a sense of distrust and cynicism among teachers
and congealed dissent among students, demoralizing both. By generating a feeling of
discontent among teachers, the college fails to tap their initiative thereby directly
impeding a critical component of quality education. Such colleges are almost certain to
prohibit politics but also are likely to be suspicious of and repress other expressions of
7
dissent by students. Some of the Catholic managements either fall into this category or
are at risk of doing so. Where they have a community base, as in the case of the parish
based colleges, they are likely to use the management quota in the student admissions and
the recruitment procedure for teachers to dispense patronage and may also use them to
raise funds.

The second scenario is likely to be found where the management is neither well informed
nor particularly interested in the process of higher education. They maintain a stake in
higher education as a means of expressing social and political clout and use the stake to
dispense patronage. Two key channels of dispensing patronage are through the
recruitment of teachers and the admissions to students, through the management or
community quotas. Notably, these are also the means of generating funds through
donations taken from teachers and students. Typical instances of such cases are the caste
association managements. Because of their lack of interest in higher education and their
failure to draw on expertise in the management of educational institutions, they weaken
the administration of colleges, which may lead to infighting between teachers and lack of
discipline among students. However, an indifferent management, because it steers clear
of interference in the everyday aspects of life in the college, may generate space for
autonomy and greater freedom for interested teachers to pursue research and academics
or to bolster some other activity but these are likely to be islands. Whether or not they
resort to prohibition of politics they are unlikely to be effective either in generating a
democratic political environment or in stamping out politics with a heavy hand.

Notably, the Government colleges are a variant of the second scenario because they are
marked practically by the absence of a management. The Government as the
management is not unlike the indifferent managements in the aided segment. It neither
penalizes an administration that is tardy nor rewards one that is effective. While it does
not interfere in the everyday aspects of life on a campus and thus may enable some
amount of freedom, its interests in higher education even when it is well defined at the
level of policy is not directly expressed in these colleges. On the contrary, governments
play to the tune of the coalition in power, compromising the performance of colleges for
8
their vested political interests. In this context, teachers or administrators lack the
incentive to perform. While this could be demoralizing and therefore a struggle for the
more motivated of teachers, it presents opportunity for the uninterested to shirk
responsibility and even foment trouble. As the Government is the management of these
colleges, it is unlikely to be able to prohibit politics but also the administrations ability to
regulate politics and avoid an atmosphere of violence would depend on the stakes that
political parties have in the college. Interference by political parties is likely to enfeeble
the administration and generate a coercive environment. In this context, an interested
Principal may infuse some enthusiasm and discipline among different sections of the
college community, but also their ability to bring about sustainable change is limited by
their tenures and the possibility of transfers.

The third scenario of measured managements may be seen where there is an effort to be
discerning of the needs of different sections of the college community and to respect their
rights without however abdicating responsibility for maintenance of order and discipline
on the campus. Such managements are unlikely to interfere in the everyday life on
campus but would provide active support to the administration and seek ways of
maintaining the balance of power between the different sections of the college
community. They are able to a relatively greater extent than in other scenarios to foster
an administration that rises above the urge to reign in students and teachers and maintains
communication among the different sections. The management is also interested and
likely to take an active interest in raising funds from various sources for the development
of the college. With respect to politics, they are likely to be tolerant of political
mobilization among students but also alert to the possibility of disturbances incited by
political parties. However, even this scenario need not lead to a politicized student
community that is open to debates and aware of rights. Some of the non Catholic
Christian colleges, independently managed colleges, even as religious trusts, make
attempts at measured management.

The first and second scenarios present strong barriers to raising the quality of education
in terms of both of the two aspects of quality spelt out earlier a) effective endowment of
9
knowledge and skill to gain access to employment or to higher studies and b) effective
learning and practice of citizenship. Though excessive managements are more likely
than not to prohibit politics, not all colleges that prohibit politics resort to excessive
management. Catholic colleges with very good reputations for academic competence are
among those that have prohibited politics and therefore they do not present opportunities
for quality education in the second sense. However, the absence of prohibition alone
does not enable political space and thereby training in citizenship. Indifferent
managements (including government) present the ideal circumstances for the capture of
politics. With indifferent management, even colleges that sustain multi party politics (or
prohibition) are likely to witness disorder, coercion and violence.

In this context, it is the measured managements that present the most conducive
circumstances for the provision of quality education. It is important for this reason even
in the more accommodative circumstances generated by measured managements,
political space could be limited by the subordination of the interests of student
organizations to that of political parties. Here there is a constant risk of student
organizations courting violence. The problem here is not the broad ideological alignment
of student organizations with political parties but that they are used by the latter in ways
that compromise heavily on higher education in terms of both aspects of quality. Thus
besides the managements, administrations, teachers, students and student organizations
and governments, the political parties have bought into the stakes of colleges in ways that
are far from productive.

6.2 What ails colleges?
We analyzed the quality of education offered by the undergraduate arts and science
colleges with respect to three fundamental aspects of the higher education process
availability of teachers, access of students to basic and student support facilities and the
influence of politics on college environment.

Scarcity of teachers
10
Chapter 3 serves to emphasize the serious concern over the heavy reliance on guest
teachers. Even though the ban on appointment of teachers in aided colleges imposed by
the current government was lifted in mid 2008, before we started this study, a section of
colleges suffer for a high level of deficit of regular teachers. More importantly, we found
that facilitating recruitments alone is unlikely to address the problems faced in this
respect by the more remotely located college. Among Government colleges that are
remotely located, with a concentration in the far north and the north east, this problem is
acute as the teachers appointed to it seek transfers at the earliest occasion. Here the
problem is the inability of the colleges to retain teachers who are appointed to it, forcing
a student of College G3 to comment that, lecturers [that] turn up only on special
occasions (andinum sankaranthikum). These need to be set right and staff from nearby
need to be appointed. In private aided colleges the problem is to do less with their
inability to retain appointed teachers than to be able to recruit at all to vacant posts. The
tactics used by the government to prevent recruitment indicate interference with due
processes of education. While the more powerful aided colleges have confronted this by
going to court, the less powerful and remote colleges continue to suffer on account of
this.

However, recruitment of teachers in aided colleges is marred by the acceptance of
donations from teachers who are appointed. Though not all colleges adopt this practice
very many are known to do so. Given the illegal character of the practice, it is difficult to
say which ones do though we made an effort by asking the students their impression.
This practice not only vitiates the process of recruitment but also makes a mockery of it
in cases where the appointment is assured and donation paid even before the interview.
Further, donations are clearly not the answer to the scarcity of funds for development
work in colleges. We have already pointed out that there should be firm regulation to
prevent practices such as donation for recruitment and admission of students. However
the state should also ensure that colleges in both sectors do not suffer for funds for
development and for expansion of facilities. Further, regulation rather than stifling
measures should be used to ensure that facilities, acquired through public funds, are not
used for profiteering and further to ensure a transition of the aided colleges from a
11
framework of patronage dispensation, in which practices such as donations are
embedded, to professionalism. This is important because some of the most reputed
colleges in the state, with a long history of imparting quality education, are in the aided
segment and they contribute in valuable ways to setting and maintaining standards. We
need more innovative solutions that would take into account the problems encountered by
both sectors. Indeed, if it is only reasonable that there be centralized procedures for
recruitment there should also be rules that ensure that remotely located colleges are not
starved of teachers. We could think here of allotting a teachers to regional services
(comprising a number of districts) upon appointment, where choice of district would be
prioritized by their merit in the selection.

Basic facilities
With respect to basic facilities too, though it is the remotely located colleges that are most
deprived of things like physical infrastructure, student assessment of facilities varied
according to their access to them, which could be denied by the college despite having
facilities. Thus, a relatively high proportion of students in the rural colleges rated well
the library and IT facilities, even if these facilities may be somewhat better in the urban
or city based colleges. Overall, we found that the remote Government colleges are well
stocked with IT facilities. While the problem in these colleges relates more to
availability of teachers to supervise students and provisions for learning how to use these
facilities, barriers to access in the city based Government college arose largely on account
of poor governance. The tutorials seem to work better in the remotely located
Government colleges because the students need for them brought pressure on the
teachers than in the college in the city. More generally, tutorials depended on the
personal interest and skills of the teachers who were allotted responsibility as tutors. We
also found that excessive management or vigilance rendered facilities virtually
inaccessible to students, whereas indifferent management strained access. We found that
excessive vigilance creates barriers to student access to facilities by rendering them
unavailable or fosters suspicion among students about the intentions of the administration
and thereby raises barriers to use as in the case of psychological counseling, which in one
case students felt was used to intrude into their privacy.
12

The facilities in a college varied also according to the willingness and ability to mobilize
funds and the moderately managed colleges were most proactive in mopping up funds
from diverse sources public funds, private trusts and individual contributions. They
also made an effort to garner the maximum of public funds available as research grants.
Of importance they had put in place a system that ensured that proposals were ready and
submitted on time through proper coordination between administration and teaching
faculty. Research funds supplemented the library and IT resources. In government
colleges it is left to interested individuals to prepare proposals and ensure that they were
processed on time.

Politics
Perhaps the single factor that could ruin the reputation of a college and hold to ransom
the process of education within it is the nature of politics. With respect to politics we
could categorize the scenarios in the arts and science colleges into three: denial of politics
through prohibition, capture of politics by a student organization and multi-party
competitive politics. In response to an open question in the survey questionnaire,
students emphasized the need for politics but also to have it regulated by the college and
not controlled by forces outside it. Only in the womens college was there considerable
opinion against politics on campuses. We argued that the first two scenarios are equally
harmful as they eliminate political space and thereby deny the rights of students to
engage meaningfully in the process of building citizenship through education and
participation. The third scenario accommodates political mobilization on campuses and
elections to the students council in the basis of student organizations. However it is
limited because the nature of the ties that the student organizations have with political
parties restricts the independence of the student organizations and forces them to act on
the vested interests of the political parties. Thus, there is little space for open discussion
or debate on government policy as positions are pre determined along the side of the
political party. Students organizations rarely have the freedom to negotiate the interests
of students, of higher education and of the college because of the stranglehold of political
parties. Yet, the third scenario suggests greater potential for the mobilization of students
13
around an alternative politics as for instance on the basis of caste or gender, but we did
not see this kind of mobilization on campuses in Kerala.

The denial of political space through either scenario could have deleterious implications
for everyday life on campuses, bringing it to a standstill and leading a heavy loss of
working days. It could also breed indifference to college based academic learning among
students and encourage irresponsibility among teachers who are prone to it. Students and
teachers told us that teachers sometimes instigated student to go on strike and otherwise
covertly supported violence on campuses. In extreme circumstances, it leads to
organized conduct of illegal activities ranging from cheating in the examinations to
extortion of students and brutal violence against perceived opponents. Notably, the
denial of political space is elaborated through the mobilization of gender towards
enforcing conservative gender norms, which subjects women to enforced protection by
a patriarchal students organization or a patriarchal college management. In the case of
caste, the denial of politics facilitates a discourse of denial and makes it all the more
difficult to generate discussion around discrimination.

Failure of the system
Notably, among those who argue that it is the system that ails the arts and science
education in Kerala is K.N. Panikkar the Chairperson of the Kerala State Higher
Educational Council, which is spearheading the current reforms. There is of course no
denying the problems presented by the system and all colleges irrespective of sector,
management or nature of politics are affected by it. Failure of the system is experienced
in delays at virtually all the crucial nodes in the process of higher education. The
admissions schedule is invariably prolonged by about two months affecting classes
because some of the teachers are held up. Some of the urban colleges are used as general
purpose examination centres by the university and have to cancel class, the university
also uses the teachers of the colleges for evaluation and other responsibilities depriving
them of time for their teaching and other responsibilities in the college. Delays in
conducting examinations mean that students have to do the previous years exams when
the current years classes are going on distracting them from classes. Delay in the
14
announcement of results is a huge inconvenience to students who may end up wasting
time.

Responsiveness of colleges
The colleges in the private aided segment are generally more responsive to measures to
assess quality through standard indicators. The best among the private aided colleges are
highly competitive. They seek to foster motivation and gear up to the challenges of the
market, whether it is by initiating new courses, support programmes for weaker students,
providing a range of activities for students or ensuring discipline among teachers and
students. One of the charges leveled against them is that their profile of students is
relatively more affluent. But it may also be argued that they attract the middle class
because of the higher standards they maintain. However, these colleges not only take
pride in the achievements of their students but also back their efforts. In terms of
management they may have a measured management or one that falls somewhere
between it and an excessive management.

Competitiveness suffers in the Government colleges apparently because of the virtual
absence of a management. Even in the best of Government colleges, competitiveness is
limited by its very structure, where the management (the Government) evinces no direct
interests in its performance. There is a tendency for administrators and teachers taking
refuge in allegations against the arbiters of quality to explain away the poor performance
of their college. Teachers in some Government colleges believe that private college
teachers are more successful in receiving public funded research projects because the
colleges grease the palms of the concerned authorities. Without entering into the
validity of this allegation, it is more than apparent that there is little systematic
encouragement in the Government colleges to apply for these projects or appreciation of
those who are successful in receiving grants. This is in a dire contrast with the more
competitive of private aided colleges. Further, in some of the Government colleges the
academically-oriented teachers are at the forefront of research.

15
The Government colleges far removed from the nodal points of state power struggle
against the dearth of basic facilities teachers and physical infrastructure but also retain
greater levels of commitment among the administration and teachers. For instance,
teachers in these contexts point out the need for special effort to address the specific
character of the student body predominance of first generation college students and
with little access to educational resources outside the college or educational support from
families. There is little derision of students for their poor quality that is frequently
heard in the Government colleges in the cities and in the reputed private aided colleges.
There is greater optimism in these settings. For instance, when I asked a teacher at a
remotely located Government college whether students who already have teaching
diplomas and other job-oriented qualifications join the undergraduate course because they
are unable to get jobs, he seemed puzzled and said simply, why, they may be looking to
be better qualified. There is also less reference to shirking among teachers and loitering
among students than we hear in the urban centers and cities. Time and again I heard
teachers reach out to their experience in colleges in the north of the state for examples of
good practices. Government colleges in Palghat and Pattambi, for instances, have been
mentioned more than once for ambience that sustains open discussion, and criticism and
is conducive to a broader idea of learning.
1


6.3 Summing Up
Adequate facilities, availability of regular teachers and the quality of teaching are key
factors in the provision of quality higher education. However, the problems faced by
colleges are underpinned by the broader regulatory environment and by an unwieldy
system. The problems in the current regulatory environment are linked to the external
socio-economic and political factors, which shape the nature of the stakes that political
parties or religious or caste associations have in the management or functioning of higher
education. Thus, if the nature of politics on a campus is influenced by the stakes of
political parties, lower stakes provide greater opportunities for the administration to foster
an environment that is conductive to learning and to the production of knowledge. Thus,
though remotely located Government colleges suffer on account of poor basic facilities

1
For this impression of the Pattambi government college see also Joseph (2009).
16
and unavailability of teachers they are still able to maintain greater discipline within the
college and greater motivation among students and teachers. In the case of religious or
caste associations, then nature of the management differs according to the nature of the
stakes it has in higher education. Thus, caste associations tend to be disinterested in the
higher education process but are interested in the social and political clout it allows them
to wield. Further, the vested interests of the political parties render it difficult for
governments to shape and enforce regulation that would for instance make recruitment
and admission procedures transparent. Instead, rival political groups focus on problems
selectively in a way that is motivated to weaken one or other sector. The casualty in the
process is a policy environment that would provide incentives to deliver quality higher
education while also ensuring regulations that prevent profiteering or the use of education
to dispense patronage. In this context, the current reforms are marred by the suspicion it
has generated among the reputed private aided colleges that they are yet another effort to
enable political interference in their affairs.

















17
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