Existing unaided courses in aided colleges not to be affected

Minister says govt. only stated its policy before Supreme Court

The Higher Education Department has clarified that its position before the Supreme Court on not sanctioning self-financing courses in aided colleges will not affect the continuation of the existing unaided programmes in such institutions. In its response to a petition by the Kerala Arts and Science Unaided College Managements Association, the government informed the Supreme Court that its policy was not to sanction new self-financing courses in aided colleges. The counsel for the government had stated that Bachelor of Vocational Courses have been sanctioned in aided colleges as per the University Grants Commission guidelines, but the government policy was that no self-financing courses would be sanctioned in aided colleges. On whether the government’s stance would affect the existing self-financing programmes in aided colleges, Minister for Higher Education R. Bindu told The Hindu that the government had only stated its policy on not sanctioning new self-financing courses in aided colleges before the apex court. “We have not said that the existing self-financing programmes should be discontinued,” she said.