Thiruvananthapuram, An protest march by SFI here on Thursday against the suspension of students at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in Kalady and the relaxation of norms for autonomous colleges turned violent, with demonstrators climbing onto a water cannon vehicle and putting up banners targeting Keralam Minister Roji M John, police said.
The protest was also against a recent Higher Education Department decision to do away with the requirement of prior government approval for autonomous colleges to introduce new self-financing courses and increase seats in existing programmes. The decision has drawn criticism from Left parties, which alleged that it would allow autonomous aided and self-financing colleges to increase student intake without prior government approval, leading to the commercialisation of education and favouring private college managements. As many as 16 SFI-affiliated students of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in Kalady were suspended in August this year following protests against the vice-chancellor and the syndicate.
