In a memorandum to the governor of Kerala, the Kerala government pharmacy college teachers association in the state (KGPCTA) has wanted the chancellor of the state-run universities to control the representation and dominance of faculties of private institutions in the UG and PG Board of Studies and in the Faculty Board of the Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS).
The pharmacy teachers of the government colleges intimated this to the governor after taking up with him a complaint raised by the M Pharm Students Forum alleging anomalies and malpractices in the conduct of P G examinations by the Kerala University of Health Sciences.
Inviting urgent attention of the university chancellor to the allegations and also seeking remedial measures, KGPCTA has said that since the inception of the Kerala Health University, a principal of a private pharmacy college in Thrissur district is continuing as the chairman of the M Pharm Part I and Part II examinations (thesis evaluation). This chairman is authorized to appoint external examiners for M. Pharm Part I and Part II examinations in all the specializations conducted in all the pharmacy colleges in Kerala.
According to the teachers, the M Pharm students in their complaint allege that since the year 2011 the students of St. James College of Pharmacy at Thrissur, where the chairman of the M Pharm examinations (Part I & II) happens to be the principal, achieve the highest ranks in the PG examinations. For the last six years the PG students of this college win the top ranks in all papers giving suspicion for the way the examination is conducted.
“The marks awarded to the students of St. James College of Pharmacy are found to be unreasonably high and it seems that the examiners award high marks with an evil intention to acquire top positions in the results of the M Pharm examinations. Further, it is suspected that posting of suitable external examiners to deliberately award high marks is the reason behind the whopping results of PG students of this college”, said in the complaint quoted by the teachers.
In the memorandum to the governor the pharmacy teachers association said, generally appointment for the post of Dean in all the state-run universities is made after selecting suitable faculty member from a government institution. On the contrary, the dean of faculty of pharmacy at KUHS has been posted after selecting a faculty member from a private institution. The dean is bestowed with the power to appoint chairman for the conduct of UG and PG examinations, engage faculties for conducting inspections at colleges for granting affiliation/ continuation of affiliation of the university, selecting members for the scrutiny board for granting affiliation, and above all he is a decision making authoring in the faculty of pharmacy.
KGPCTA wants for drastic changes in the way the UG and PG Board of Studies and the Faculty Board are constituted. It is alleged that representation of government teachers in these panels is very less compared to those from private colleges. According to them, there should be ample representations from government institutions into the decision making bodies of the university in order to prevent bias and to uphold the credibility of the examinations and results.