Higher education institutions should be gender sensitive, said the suspended student.
By Sreejith Vallikunnu
Farook College, a prominent institute in Kerala under Calicut University, suspended one of its students from the college for speaking up against gender bias in the institute.
Dinu V, a first year graduate student, had spoken against the bias after a Malayalam professor had asked nine students – four girls and five boys – not to sit together in the classroom.
After the incident, which happened on October 20, these students were admonished and asked not to enter the campus until they brought their guardians.
Unlike other students who were apparently forced to write an apology letter, Dinu was not ready to give in, nor did he bring his parents to the campus.
On October 29, Dinu received a suspension order from the college management, which said that he misconstrued the words of the professor through visual media, causing undue damage to the prestige of the institution.
Dinu has been asked to stay away from the college premises till the investigation by the college authorities is over.
“I strongly feel that the higher education institutions in Kerala should be gender sensitive. They should uphold the fundamental rightsâ€, Dinu told The American Bazaar.
“There should be zero level tolerance in gender issues as per ‘Saaksham’ committee report of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in India. As a citizen of India, I value my fundamental rights and do believe that sexual segregation increases sexual abuses and violence against women.â€
“Equality and justice shouldn’t be just in text books but also be applicable to classroomsâ€, he added.
Dinu runs an organization of students and youth called ‘Dhisha’ for social activities and Idam is its gender wing.
The same college earlier attracted public attention when they established ‘boys only’ benches in the campus. College authorities had put up a board near the concrete benches in the campus saying that they were meant only for boys. Authorities were forced to remove the board after a few days.
A few students of the Farook College had come up with similar gender divisions in the college premises. An alumnus of the college wrote on his Facebook wall that the college canteen also had separate sections for boys and girls.
There were outrageous protests inside the campus both in support and against the management’s action. Muslim Student Federation (MSF), the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) and the Kerala Students Union (KSU) gathered a protest in support of the management and against the alleged media hypocrisy on the issue.
They argued that gender disparities can be seen in many campuses inside Kerala, and Farook College was frequently getting targeted because it was run by a Muslim management.
Meanwhile the Students Federation of India (SFI) held a protest march against the regressive rule set by the college management which ended in a clash between SFI activists and, MSF, KSU and SIO activists.  Kerala politicians such as Thomas Isaac, VT Balram also had criticized the management’s action.
1 Comment
Terrorists running schools in Kerala obviously kerala is going into the dark.ages