KOCHI: Admission to two regional centres of Kalady Sreesankaracharya Sanskrit University will be suspended this year. The syndicate also decided to drop out several courses in four centres. Thus within two years, two centres and 23 departments in seven regional centres will be shut down.

Ettumanoor and Thuravoor centers are being abandoned. Courses will be suspended at Thiruvananthapuram, Payyanur, Koyilandy and Thiruvananthapuram centers. Only Sanskrit literature will be available at the Thiruvananthapuram center. About 100 teachers will lose their jobs. Most of these are Sanskrit teachers and guest lecturers.

The decision was taken at a syndicate meeting chaired by temporary VC and Calicut university VC Dr M K Jayarajan. There are indications that the problem is the shortage of children, teachers' salaries and the rent of the centers. The University has 126 permanent faculty members and 236 guest faculty members.

Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit was started in 1993. Kalady is its headquarters and has 9 regional centers. The Palakkad center was closed earlier. The Thrissur center was also closed down two years ago. Two or three out of the remaining seven students will be eliminated by the time they complete their studies.

Sub-centers: Thiruvananthapuram, Ettumanoor, Panmana, Thuravoor, Thiruvananthapuram, Koyilandy, Payyanur.