Cooks bring Central University of Kerala to the boil

Kasargod’s Central University of Kerala, like many other universities, has become a boiling pot of protests – most recently over food, with students going on a hunger strike.

What cooked up a storm this time (the previous agitation was over hostels) was the administration’s sacking of 15 cooks (employed on contract) from three hostels, because of surplus staff. Not just that, the students were reportedly asked to foot the salary bill if the cooks were to be retained.

The students’ council, led by SFI-ASA, took up the issue for the first time at a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor, G Gopakumar, on January 12, 2018. A plea was also made to the registrar, who openly challenged the students to hold a protest and provide a list of five other universities where the cooks were being paid.

The matter was again discussed at the first hostel advisory committee meeting on March 20 but didn’t yield any fruitful outcome. The students’ council was thus forced to initiate a hunger strike the next day.

MP Karunakaran and CPI-(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan visited the agitating students in solidarity the same day and promised intervention. The next day, MLA Rajagopal from the nearby constituency of Trikaripur lent his support, while KPCC president MM Hassan also visited the students.

On March 22, the university put out a press release stating that the students’ demands weren’t logical or fair and that the university couldn’t accommodate them. The same evening, the students marched to the nearby town of Periye and held cultural events to collect money to send to the university, which always claimed to be short of funds.

The varsity administration, meanwhile, informally asked the wardens of women’s hostels to collect letters from students who returned late after participating in the protest.

A day later, one of the four students on a fast, Sonu S Pappachan, fell ill and the medical officer refused to give him primary aid saying it couldn’t be done without the registrar’s permission. The students then moved their protest to the V-C’s office, after which Gopakumar agreed to meet them – but it was in vain as only one of the demands was partially agreed to.

The V-C did admit that the main reason behind surplus outsourced staff was the irregularities in appointment of permanent staff by the administration. Of 195 out-sourced staffers, more than 70 were recruited as administrative employees and lab assistants. Permanent appointments for these posts – which were supposed to happen when the university commenced operations – have not yet been made. The UGC, meanwhile, issued directions to relieve the surplus outsourced staff, which explains the V-C’s insistence on discharging the cooks.

The agitation gathered steam last weekend as more than 40 students joined the hunger strike. Fasting students Archana, Akshara and Vijay were forcefully taken to the hospital by the police and were replaced by five other students, Anju, Dhanya, Emil, Jesil and Vyshakh.

The varsity finally gave in on March 27, seeing the students’ resolve, and agreed to a meeting in the presence of the District Collector and the DRO. It was thus decided that:

– The administration will deploy three cooks in each of the three hostels and will write to the UGC for sanction for more staff.

– A temporary reading room, dining and extra washrooms, as well as other basic facilities, will be provided in the coming academic year as early as possible. One of the hostels will be exempted from accommodating three inmates in a room, while the other two hostels will have three inmates per room once the amenities are ensured.

– As discussed in the prior meeting, PhD scholars won’t be asked to vacate the hostels on completion of their fourth year, until the matter is discussed in the next academic council. Also, food for the scholars during vacations will be taken care of.

– Two new hostels, one for men and one for women, will commence in two months.

Though all the demands raised weren’t met, the students proceeded with a unified stir till the exams came upon them. They may continue the agitation against the discrepancies post the semester examinations now.