Port Blair, Jan 25: The National Students Union of India (NSUI) State President Mr. M.A Sajidon Wednesday wrote a letter to the Lt. Governor, A&N Islands forpressing his demand of establishing a Central University in Andaman andNicobar Islands and opposing the setting up of Deemed University which wasannounced by the Prime Minister during his visit in December 2018.
In the letter, Mr. Sajid said “there are seven-degree colleges functioningin Andaman & Nicobar region which are currently affiliated to thePondicherry Central University. There is no logic in the move of A&NAdministration to set up Deemed University when the existing colleges inIslands have power to offer more valuable degrees through CentralUniversity in a low fee structure.
“If a Deemed University is established in the Islands, the collegesfunctioning in A&N Islands affiliated to Pondicherry Central Universitywill be forced to take affiliation with the said Deemed University whichwill devalue the existing education system in the Islands”, he said.
He warned that “a Deemed University will make higher education costly asmanagements will have unregulated powers to hike fees and fix salaries ofemployees. Moreover, higher education would turn inaccessible for studentsfrom economically-backward communities due to unregulated fee hikes”.
Further, he suggested that “instead of a Deemed University, theAdministration should establish a new Central University for Andaman &Nicobar Islands to ensure increase in accessibility and quality of highereducation, and to facilitate and promote avenues of higher education forthe people of the Union territory”.
“Setting up of Central University is expected to reduce the imbalance inthe region on the education sector and students of Andaman & NicobarIslands will get quality higher education opportunities. It will alsocreate tremendous potential for employment generation, industry-academiainterface and advanced research in the region”, he said.
He also requested that if establishing a Central University is not possiblefor now, the colleges in A&N Islands may be left to function withaffiliation of Pondicherry Central University as the students of A&NIslands never demanded for a Deemed University nor they are willing todowngrade their degrees.
Hence, he requested the Lt. Governor to personally intervene inthis matter and take necessary action to set up a Central Universityinstead of the proposed Deemed University.