Despite the students knocking on every door, Kerala State Institute of Design (KSID), a unit of Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE), continues to reel under the lack of basic infrastructure and faculty shortage.
According to the students, the institute is plagued by a multitude of issues, starting with inadequate basic facilities. KSID currently offers B.Des programme along with post graduate diploma courses in IT Integrated Communication Design, Integrated Textile and Apparel Design and Integrated Lifestyle Product Design. While the semester fee is ₹75,000 for the four-year B.Des programme comprising eight semesters, students have to pay ₹45,000 for the PG diploma courses. “The campus doesn’t have basic amenities that include class rooms and proper staff strength. When the principal and KASE authorities opted to ignore our complaints, we approached Kerala Governor, Chief Minister and Kollam District Collector. At present we are waiting for their reply and if there is no action or assurance from their part, we will have to launch protests,” says a second-year B.Des student.
B.Des programme approved by Kerala Technical University was started in 2020 with 30 seats and at present the institute has around 90 students attending various courses. “We don’t have class rooms and the lectures are held at a hall separated by screens. They had started the construction of the academic block three years back. When we joined in 2021 we were told that the block will be completed in two months. KSID also has no software needed for our course or even wi-fi to access the internet,” says a PG student. They also allege that there are no faculty members to monitor or guide the students who are doing internship. “As per guidelines, B.Des alone should have six faculty, but at present we have only one. Nearly all guest faculty lack required experience or industry exposure and we are not satisfied with the quality of teaching. Despite repeated requests, no steps were taken,” they say.
According to officials, only qualified and experienced faculty members were recruited at the institute and the vacant posts will be filled very soon. “The Managing Director of KTIL and Muziris heritage project Manoj Kumar Kini is currently holding the additional charge of the KSID principal. We have expedited the recruitment process and appointments will be made shortly,” he said.
