Kochi : Former students, teachers, including former principals, and public representatives staged a protest on Tuesday against the alleged disruption of the annual convocation ceremony attended by higher education minister Roji M John at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam on Oct 30 by a group of students.
Abdul Rahman, popularly known as Shenai, an alumnus who completed his MA from the college in 1979, said the convocation was one of the most important events in a college’s academic calendar.
Disrupting the peaceful atmosphere on campus for political gains went against the institution’s traditions, he said. Former teacher and principal-in-charge Elsamma Joseph Arakkal said the college was no longer giving adequate importance to academic excellence. The protest march, which began at the college gate at 5pm, culminated near the Gandhi statue at Rajendra Maidan. Participants expressed concern over the disruption of the peaceful atmosphere on campus and the institution’s perceived deviation from its legacy of providing quality education. The protest was held under the banner ‘Save Maharaja’s College Movement’; the protesters alleged that the institution was deviating from its founding ideals of providing quality education to all. “The college should showcase its academic achievements, but its walls are covered with political slogans and images of martyrs. Should the campus function to produce more martyrs?” she asked. The protesters pledged to initiate collective interventions involving public representatives and other stakeholders to protect the peaceful atmosphere of the college.