Kerala yet to enforce system to monitor self-financing colleges

The suspected suicide of Nithin Raj, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, at Kannur Dental College has brought to the focus the lack of a monitoring system in Kerala’s State-run universities to check the functioning of self-financing colleges.

According to functionaries of the Self-Financing College Teachers’ and Staff Association (SFCSTA) affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, most of the self-financing institutions in the State don’t have functional anti-ragging cells, SC/ST Cells, and teacher-student grievance cells, which are mandatory as per the guidelines of the University Grants Commission and the All-India Council for Technical Education.

K.P. Abdul Azeez, State joint secretary, SFCTSA, alleged on Wednesday (April 15, 2026) that the officials in universities are also not trying to check if these cells are functional. Even if some colleges have these cells, they toe the line of the college managements, Mr. Azeez claimed.