What if boys sit with girls in a classroom? It’s a strict no-no in Kerala!

All hell broke loose when some boys and girls were found sitting next to each other in the prestigious Farook college in Kerala. Without batting an eyelid, the college authorities expelled eight boys and girls from the classroom charging them with violating the college code of conduct.

While others in the group were reinstated after the authorities summoned their parents to the college and obtained an apology from the students, one student who refused to give a written apology was suspended for his defiance. He since moved the Kerala High Court which stayed his suspension for a month.

Classrooms at this autonomous college have separate rows and benches for boys and girls. Also separate spaces even in the canteen and on the campus. The college has also reportedly banned boys and girls participating together in dramas and group songs. Consequently, the students don’t participate in drama competitions in inter-college zonal arts festivals.

The academic community is now divided on the propriety of the college management’s action. While some justify it as an unbroken rule since the inception of the 67-year-old college, others find it oppressive and a case of gender discrimination. The rival groups of students supporting and opposing the management’s action came to blows on the college campus.

Some public personalities and political leaders like Dr Thomas Isaac of the CPM and V T Balram of the Congress Party too lambasted the action of the management through Facebook posts, holding that it’s an affront to a progressive society.

The controversy was fuelled by Kerala Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb who said: ” I am against girls and boys sitting next to each other. They can sit so using chairs. They can sit together in the same bench, if the institutions and students do not have any complaint.”

What happened in Farook College is not an isolated incident. A 15-member high-power committee appointed by the state Government to look into the hardships faced by girls on the campuses has in its report observed that similar instances of gender bias are prevalent in many other colleges in Kerala under conservative managements.

In some colleges, the committee found girls and boys in classrooms separated by a curtain and separate entry and exit for boys and girls. One college even stipulates that boys and girls should keep a minimum distance of one meter between them!

Will some writers and intellectuals return their awards protesting against such kind of cultural intolerance?

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