Agitation over autonomy issue of Maharaja's college ends

Kochi: The 53-day long agitation in front of the government Maharaja's College here over its autonomy issue ended today with the state government agreeing to some of the key demands made by the representatives of students and teachers.

Classes will be resumed in the college from tomorrow, nearly two months after the continuous agitation, which paralysed the functioning of the college.

According to an agreement reached between senior officials in the state Higher Secondary Department and representatives of agitating teachers and students, there would be no fee hike for degree and post graduate courses and no self-financing courses would be allowed in the college under the autonomy set up.

Agitators said the government has assured them that two existing self financing courses in the college would be taken over by the government.

The agitators- the Association of Kerala Government College Teachers and Students Federation of India- had also demanded that no other eligible government colleges in the state be brought under the ambit of autonomy.

The concerns raised by the teachers and students over autonomy are learnt to have been resolved within the ambit of the rules and regulations related to autonomy.

The academic and student community had expressed anguish over the autnomous status of the college. They feared that the autonomy will result in proliferation of self-financing courses and put a question mark over the question of transparency in conducting examinations.