The students of Providence Women’s College located in Kerala’s Kozhikode district were in for a surprise when they became aware of the presence of a male student in their campus. This is the first time since the inception of the College in 1952 that a male student has joined the institution.

The name of the student is Sreekuttan S. and he joined the English Department of this college which is located in Malaparamba and founded by Sisters of Apostolic Carmel, as a research scholar under the guidance of Dr Shanti Vijayan.

He is the research scholar in the first batch of the college’s Ph.D programme.

Talking to the media, Sreekuttan, who joined the college three months back, said: “A total of five students joined the English department as research scholars and I am the only male among them. Initially, I could feel the embarrassment among the students on seeing the only male student on the campus sharing the library, classroom and other facilities of the college, but gradually all students have come to terms with the college’s new admission norms which welcome male students.”

Hailing from Kollam, Sreekuttan before joining the college had been working as a teacher at the Sree Sankaracharya University’s Kollam campus. He has chosen Tamil Cinemas as the topic of his research. “I will be here on the campus for the next four or five years till I wind up my research,” he said.

The college is allowed to admit one male student in each department as per the provision. This year only Sreekuttan joined.