West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee said elections to students unions will now follow the so called St. Xavier’s model, which derives its name from the practice followed at Kolkata’s eponymous autonomous university. File photo: Mint
Kolkata: West Bengal is set to implement changes in election of student representatives in colleges and universities, education minister Partha Chatterjee said on Tuesday.
A member of the faculty council will be given the responsibility of managing the funds of a student union, Chatterjee said, adding that the state will ban elections to class representatives. An executive order to implement the changes will be issued soon, the minister said.
Under the new format, only students with 60% attendance will be allowed to contest elections for posts such as general secretary and assistant general secretary. Elections to these posts will be held directly, and the practice of electing class representatives will be abolished.
Chatterjee said elections to students unions will now follow the so called St. Xavier’s model, which derives its name from the practice followed at Kolkata’s eponymous autonomous university. Students unions in the state’s colleges and universities are to be called students councils.
Jaya Dutta, president of the student wing of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), welcomed the move, saying that it will free up resources for her outfit to work outside of the confines of colleges and universities.
Madhuja Sen Roy, president of the Students’ Federation of India, said the move is aimed at ending the bickering within Trinamool Congress-controlled students’ unions over admissions. Trinamool Congress-run unions extort subscription from applicants, hence the decision to appoint a professor to manage finances of students’ unions, according to Sen Roy.
[“Source-ndtv”]
