THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A section of students of the KR Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts has written an open letter to the institute's chairman and noted filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan terming as 'baseless' and 'condemnable' his allegations against faculty member MG Jyothish.
Adoor had made critical remarks against the faculty member of the Acting department while speaking to TNIE. Strongly refuting Adoor's charge that Jyothish is a slacker, students of the current batch of the Acting department said Jyothish has trained many of the best actors in Malayalam cinema and that the students of the department also achieved excellent standards under his guidance.
The students said anyone who listens to Adoor's words can understand the "sentiment" behind his criticism of Jyothish.
"Thank you very much for making the public understand how caste works in your mind and within the institute by branding such a teacher as a slacker. No matter how good the teacher may be, if he belongs to a backward community, he is cast as unfit and as a bad person, it is the arrogance of the caste tail that
has been cut off from your name," the students said in the open letter.
The students alleged that Adoor was aware that there are teachers who are not as good as Jyothish and have no teaching experience in many departments of the institute. The students said they had complained about the teachers with inadequate experience several times and had boycotted the classes of such teachers as a mark of protest.
"Yet, you have not asked the students about it or taken any action against such teachers. Jyotish sir has been a teacher in the institute for the past eight years and no complaint has been raised against his teaching during this period," the students said in the letter.
The students said online practical classes were cancelled during the pandemic period on the basis of a request of the 2019 batch. The matter was informed in writing to the Director of the Institute. "It is a pity that you (Adoor) can't understand the limitations of studying acting online, as you have studied in one of the best institutes in the country," the students said in the letter.
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