Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb today said he did not agree with boys and girls sitting together in college classrooms in the state.
He was reacting to a controversy over the expulsion of a male student from the Farook College in Kozhikode for sitting together with girls on a bench.
”Personally and also as a minister, I don’t feel good about boys and girls sitting close in class rooms,” he said.
”If it is separate chairs for boys and girls, that is okey. But I don’t think there is any college in Kerala where boys and girls are allowed to sit together in a bench. I have also not received complaints on Farook college issue,” he said.
The Minister’s remark sparks a controversy with pro-Congress and pro-Marxist students unions coming out strongly against such gender-based segregation in classroom.
The controversial remarks came a few days after Kerala High Court stayed the order of Farook College that expelled BA student Dinu K for sitting with girls, webindia123.
However, students unions associated with the Muslim Student Movement and Students Islamic Organisation supported the argument of the college authorities that boys and girls sitting together on a bench doesnt suit the culture of the 67-year-old institution