Madurai Kamaraj University was not offering important postgraduate courses such as Tamil, Social Work and Gandhian Thought and Religion in its distance education programme any more, alleged Save MKU movement .
R. Murali of the forum said the Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) of the university received approval for 22 courses from Distance Education Bureau (DEB) of the University Grants Commission. However, some important courses have not made it to the list. Many people would be interested in taking up courses such as M.A. in Tamil, and Philosophy. The Gandhian Thought course was so popular that many distance education students from nearby districts would attend the seminars.
Another educationalist, Vijayalakshmi Stephen, said that the distance education programmes were popular among homemakers and young women who were unable to attend regular classes. “They were the means to development and empowerment for such women. Dropping courses would deprive women of opportunities to become self-reliant. These courses were traditionally offered by the university and should not have been withdrawn all of a sudden,” she said.
Vice-Chancellor M. Krishnan said M.A. Tamil would be reintroduced in about two or three weeks. “The UGC’s DEB said we would need three permanent staff to continue offering Tamil courses. We had only two at the time of application. We have hired a new staff member and have reapplied,” he said. He added that the other courses did not have many takers.
Ms. Stephen said the university should market its courses well instead of shutting down departments citing lack of students as these courses taught values. Mr. Murali said, “If the National Education Policy draft comes through, private institutions will offer distance education courses and try to capitalise on the vacuum left by the university,” Mr. Murali said.
A university official said more staff must be appointed and an enthusiasm towards the courses must be kindled among people. “If we can prove that infrastructure and human resources were available, DEB can be approached again to reintroduce the courses,” he said.
Published - August 19, 2019 10:22 pm IST
