Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan says Centre's move to replace UGC with HECI will restrict role of states in education sector

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday came out against the Centre's decision to replace the University Grants Commission with the Higher Education Commission of India by repealing the UGC Act, 1951. [caption id=“attachment_4267341” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. News18[/caption] With this move, the government’s aim is to restrict the role of the states in matters relating to the education sector, Vijayan said in a Facebook post. The Centre’s ‘unilateral’ decision to do away with the apex higher education regulator, University Grants Commission and replace it with the Higher Education Commission under the Human Resource Development Ministry, will lead to far-reaching repercussions in the field of higher education, he said. A similar move was made during the tenure of the first UPA government to constitute an educational commission to replace the UGC, with the aim of commercialisation of the educational sector. But due to the opposition from the Left parties, that was not implemented, the chief minister said. What the then UPA government could not implement, the BJP-led NDA government was trying to make a reality now, Vijayan said. “Besides commercialisation, the BJP had another aim to implement the decision — saffronisation of the educational sector,” he alleged. “Those who are against the BJP’s proposed move to do away with the UGC, need to raise their voice,” the chief minister said.