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Kerala minister backs gender segregation in classrooms

The minister' statement is bound to fuel protests as more and more colleges have started imposing the restriction.

Trivandrum: Kerala Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb on Tuesday courted trouble by supporting the restriction being imposed by certain educational institutions in the state on boys and girls sitting together in classrooms.
The minister has made his stand clear while reacting to the suspension of a student of Farooq College at Calicut for questioning the norm. He said that he was against students sharing seats both personally and in his capacity as the minister.
Nine students, including girls, who defied the Farooq college authorities' diktat in this regard, were ousted from the class last month. While eight students were let into the class after tendering a written apology Dinu K, a first year degree student, was suspended for not complying with the direction. The high court later stayed the suspension.
The minister' statement is bound to fuel protests as more and more colleges have started imposing the restriction. On Tuesday, Maharajas College at Ernakulam joined the Farooq College in imposing the restriction. This sparked instant protests from students belonging to various students unions.
Students unions affiliated to Left parties took out marches inside the Maharajas College campus demanding revocation of the order issue by the college principal. Kerala Students Union, affiliated to the Congress party, and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad have also opposed the order.
Leaders of various students unions termed the restriction as gender discrimination and said they will not allow it in college campuses in the state. Civil society activists have also condemned the practice.
K M Sheeba, a member of the Committee on Gender Justice said that the colleges were adopting gender segregation under the guise of providing more security to women following the New Delhi gang rape incident. She said this would prevent possibilities for healthy interactions and mutual respect between the sexes.
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