With Tulu organisations urging the State government to declare Tulu as the second official language at the Cabinet meeting scheduled in Mangaluru on Friday, the Alumni Association of Tulu Postgraduates of the erstwhile University Evening College has objected to Mangalore University winding up the two-year postgraduate programme from the academic year 2024-25.

It has urged the university to reintroduce the programme at University College, as the University Evening College, where it was launched in 2018-19, has since been closed down.

Reeling under a financial crisis and citing a lack of students in double digits to run a postgraduate programme, the university suspended the Tulu programme at the evening college two years ago. It was later shut down as, according to the university, the college lacked government recognition.

Subhaschandra Kanvathirtha, president of the association, said in a statement that the Tulu programme suffered due to the university’s decision to shift it from the evening college to the Mangalagangotri campus, about 20 km from the city, as no student joined the programme there in 2024-25. Instead of shifting it to Mangalagangotri, the programme could have been reintroduced at University College, he said.

Mr. Kanvathirtha said 15 students had initially applied to join the Tulu programme in 2024-25, meeting the university’s double-digit requirement. However, the university steeply increased the annual tuition fee from about ₹11,000 to ₹23,000. Subsequently, four students backed out.

About four years ago, he said, the university had increased the tuition fee for all postgraduate programmes from ₹11,000 to ₹14,000. Following protests by students, the university syndicate agreed to withdraw the hike for the Tulu programme and reverted to the earlier fee, considering Tulu a special case as it is the common language of the people of Dakshina Kannada. However, the fee was increased again in 2024-25.

“If Mangalore University did not uphold Tulu in academics, who else will?” he asked.