Sports Council adopts cost-cutting steps, trims hostel seats

Malappuram: The cash-strapped Kerala State Sports Council (KSSC) has embarked on a massive cost-cutting exercise by reducing the number of seats at sports hostels and expelling existing students en masse.

From the coming academic year, the number of school, Plus One and college students admitted to sports hostels run by the KSSC will be cut down to 227, which is a reduction by 707 students from last year’s 934.

Moreover, a proposal has been made to expel as many as 231 existing students on the grounds of poor performance.  

According to officials, the state government decision to effect a drastic cut in its annual plan fund allocation to the KSSC has forced the body to adopt cost reduction measures aimed at regulating expenditures.

As per the recently released rank list for admission to various sports hostels under the KSCC, only 82 students at the college level and 36 at the primary level will be accommodated. The number of eligible Plus One students has also been brought down to 109. Since all these students will be admitted to the 53 centralised sports hostels located in different parts of the state, the 121 sports hostels functioning in various colleges and schools will have no inmates in the next academic year.

Though students had been forced out of sports hostels on account of poor performance in the past, this is the first time such an en masse expulsion has taken place. Notably, the decision to expel under-performing students was taken after two months into the new academic year.