Kill bill or private universities will wreck social justice, warns CPI

CHENNAI: CPI state secretary M Veerapandian on Thursday opposed the amendments passed by the Assembly that reduce the minimum land and endowment requirements for establishing private universities, calling them an attempt to privatise higher education.

The Left leader warned that the changes would open the floodgates to the privatisation of higher education, ultimately making education harder to access and compromising state-sponsored higher education.

Under the amendment, the requirement of 100 acres of contiguous land for establishing a private university has been reduced to 12 acres in the Chennai metropolitan area, 18 acres in other corporations and municipalities, and 25 acres in other areas.

The requirement for a permanent endowment fund for establishing private universities has also been reduced, he said.

Instead of attracting foreign direct investment into higher education, the government should establish adequate higher education institutions, colleges and universities based on the number of eligible students, employment opportunities, scientific and technological requirements, economic growth and the need for a multidisciplinary workforce, the Left leader said.

Increasing the number of private and foreign universities would lead to the privatisation, commercialisation and corporatisation of education, he warned. He also alleged that under the BJP-led Union government, such a trend could lead to the "saffronisation" of education.

Such a policy would be against the interests of students from disadvantaged sections, Veerapandian said. He urged the state government to withdraw the legislation immediately, describing it as anti-student.

He pointed out that the TVK government had already granted permission for the University of Western Australia (UWA) to establish a new international branch campus in Chennai.

He said reservations were not implemented in private universities and warned that the move would therefore affect social justice and students from disadvantaged sections.