120 self-financing engineering colleges in Kerala on strike today

Thiruvananthapuram: All the 120 self-financing engineering colleges under the Kerala Self Financing Engineering College Management Association (KSFEMA) will remain closed on Thursday in protest against Wednesday’s attack on the office of the association in Kochi following the suicide of Jishnu Pranoy, a student of Nehru College of Engineering and research centre at Pampady in Thrissur last Friday.

KSFEA president Jordy Mathai said after a meeting of the office-bearers of the association that Colleges have witnessed violence of enormous scale during the last couple of days. “Colleges cannot function in such a violent atmosphere,” Mr Mathai said. “This cannot be tolerated.” The colleges will close down indefinitely if the violence against the colleges continued, he said.

Mr Mathai said the association was not going for a strike now as there was an examination on Friday and the following days. Colleges conducting MBA and MCA programmes will also take part in the strike.

Association leaders claimed that its ethics committee would conduct an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the suicide of the first year B. Tech student. The association can take a stand on the issue only after the report of the ethics committee came, they said.

Education minister C Raveendranath asked to the Association to call off the strike. The association welcomed the government’s decision to appoint an ombudsman for self-financing engineering colleges, Mr Mathai said.