HYDERABAD: The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Hyderabad, Rajendernagar, has once again erupted in protest with the Student Council of the institute giving a call for a boycott of classes, against the management’s decision to roll back financial aid to SC, ST and OBC students.
In an act of solidarity, all campuses of TISS— Mumbai, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Tuljapur staged a protest, took out a rally, sloganeered and boycotted classes and stalled all academic-related works on Wednesday. Over 150 students participated in the protest. Discontinuation of the scholarships and asking students to pay upfront for the hostel and dining hall fee will result in the exclusion of the students, a majority of whom are from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
As per the notification released in May 2017, all students who have been enrolled since 2016 are required to cough up a sum of `50,000 per semester towards lodging and food. All forms of aids for all sections have been slashed by the University Grants Commission on grounds of funds crunch. Arjun Mukherjee, a student council member said that the whole issue of GOI-PMS(Govt of India Post Matric Scholarship) is that of miscommunication on part of the administration. “The 2016-18 batch was informed about the aid withdrawal only in 2017. Those from the 2017-19 batch were also not intimated prior to the admission. This shows that there is no liability for the repercussion on the marginalised students,” he said.
Detailing the hardships the students from such background face and that such ‘arbitrary” move will not allow marginalised students to survive in TISS. “With our family income barely touching a lakh, how can they expect us to pay `2 lakh for a two-year course?” said an OBC student. Students said that they took admission into TISS only because they were assured that they would not have to pay anything. “For first-year students, the worry is how they will pay and get through the course and for final years, in addition to the stress of project work, they fear being handed over empty envelopes during convocation,” Harender Singh,a student said.
The council, however, met the deputy director who assured that their demands would be placed before the higher ups. A representation has also been submitted. The administration has been given a week to accept their demands. Attempts to reach Deputy Director S Siva Raju turned futile.