Maharashtra company will take care of mark and certificate; Kerala University not ready to hand over data

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Universities are objecting to handing over the processes from student admission to issuing certificates to a company in Maharashtra. The University of Kerala has informed the government that it will not be able to transfer data including the Aadhaar information of one and a quarter lakh students without ensuring data security.

The company's software is used to record the marks, create the marklist and create the degree certificate. The universities will only be responsible for conducting the examination and evaluation.

The Higher Education Council of Kerala has entrusted this task to the MKCL company of Maharashtra, which was blacklisted by ten universities in the country due to irregularities in handling academic data.

The Council of Higher Education says that the Kerala Resource for Education, Administration and Planning (K-REAP) project brings together the services and activities of universities and colleges under one roof. The Council repeatedly requested the University of Kerala to provide data to the company's software for this project. The university replied that it cannot do so without ensuring security and announcing an education policy.

Calicut University has also not provided details of nearly two lakh students. MG University has also not volunteered. Kannur University has started providing data ignoring all this. Even the OTP comes from the company.

No irregularities in the current software

Kerala University has been using software developed by ITI (Indian Telephone Industries), Palakkad since 2018. Teachers can upload and rearrange marks from evaluation Camps. After the marks are accepted by the examination boards, the result will be published on the portal itself. Marklist and Provisional Certificate will be made available through the software. No irregularities have been detected so far.

Contract without tender

• The contract was awarded to the Maharashtra company without a tender. IIT Madras and Tata Consultancy which provides passport services, were excluded
• The government's ASAP company participated in the tender. The contract was obtained under its guise. Despite an advance and first instalment, the contract amount has not been disclosed.

60:40 distribution

It is known that the agreement is to charge Rs 150 from each student and share 60% with the company and 40% with ASAP. Data of 10 lakh students is being transferred.

"There is potential for abuse. Data can be transferred only after data security is ensured.

- Dr. Mohanan Kunnummal, Vice Chancellor

University of Kerala