At a time when the shortage of Plus One seats in the Malabar region is being widely discussed, recommendations of an expert committee that studied the regional imbalances in higher secondary education in Kerala are yet to be made public.
Though the committee led by academic V. Karthikeyan Nair had submitted its proposals last year, the State government is learnt to be sitting over them. According to sources, one of its major recommendations was to fix the maximum number of students in a class at 50. It had reportedly concluded that higher secondary batches were not allotted in Malappuram district in accordance with the number of students who clear SSLC exams every year. This led to 60 or above students getting admitted to each class, often affecting the academic quality.
At least around 200 new batches should be allotted afresh to solve the shortage in the Malabar region comprising of districts such as Malappuram, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad and Kasaragod. There had been problems in the creation of posts of permanent teachers as well in some of these districts.
The panel also found that in districts such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kottyam, Pathanamthitta, and Alappuzha, there were around 50 to 60 batches in higher secondary schools with just 20-25 students each. Shifting these batches to districts such as Malappuram was suggested. It also proposed to convert some high schools in Malappuram as higher secondary schools.
The government, however, recently decided to go for a marginal increase by 30% in government schools and 20% of increase in aided schools in Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad, and Kasaragod.
The Cabinet also gave a go-ahead to retain the temporary batches sanctioned in the previous two academic years. Academics and education activists from Malabar, meanwhile, are pointing out that marginal increase and temporary batches would not solve the problem.
