Allegations of ‘hacking’ put teaching groups on a collision course at Kerala’s MG University

File photo of MG University, Kottayam.

A battle over who controls the online system for uploading internal marks of undergraduates has opened a new front at Kottayam’s Mahatma Gandhi University, where rival teachers’ organizations traded allegations of manipulation and attempts to disrupt the examination process.

Just two months after the pro-United Democratic Front (UDF) Syndicate took over the leadership, the Congress-backed Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (KPCTA) alleged that the university’s portal for uploading internal marks had been hacked. The association accused the left-wing All Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association (AKPCTA) of wrongfully taking control of the system.

AKPCTA dismissed the allegations saying that the university portal was functioning normally and questioned the very basis of the hacking allegations.

Web application

The controversy centers on MGU-FYUGP, the university’s four-year undergraduate degree program. Under the system, students’ Continuous Comprehensive Assessment (CCA) grades are uploaded each semester through a web application called the MGU-CCA Generator.

The application was created on 14 October 2024 and its link was officially circulated by the nodal officer of the university’s Centralized Admission Portal to the FYUGP coordinators in all 280 affiliated colleges through their official communication groups.

KPCTA says the system was used to record the internal grades for the first four semesters of students admitted in 2024 who are now in their third year, in addition to the first two semesters of second year students.

Charge

The trouble, according to the association, started late last month when teachers tried to upload their fifth semester grades. The portal became non-functional, only for members of the AKPCTA, subsequently they spread links to the same form through their own communication groups.

“Only the user ID and password have been changed. The user ID has been changed to ‘AKPCTA’ and the password has been changed to ‘MGU@2026’. Thus, the portal that was originally created and officially disseminated by the university has been converted into an organization-driven tool,” said Ronny George, zone president of KPCTA.

KPCTA described the alleged changes as unauthorized access to an official university system and said they amounted to cybercrime. The association also expressed concern that any disruption to the system could affect the exam schedule.

Answer by AKPCTA

Meanwhile, the AKPCTA offered a different account. Its Regional Committee of Mahatma Gandhi University, he said, developed and distributed a “Teacher’s Aid” application to help teachers maintain CCA records at the college level. The application, which the organization managed, was an independent tool and had no connection to the official university grading system.

The explanation did not satisfy the KPCTA, which questioned why a link created for the association’s own use was circulated among colleges for recording internal marks. He also drew attention to the possibility of students’ academic data being compromised and examination-related confidentiality standards being violated.

The KPCTA filed complaints with the Chancellor, the Chief Minister and the Minister of Higher Education. It also warned of criminal proceedings against AKPCTA office bearers.

Published – 8 Oct 2026 20:43 IST