DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 22 (MExN): The students across the four campuses of Tata Institute of Social Sciences: Mumbai, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Tuljapur have been protesting since February 20 against Privatisation of Higher education. There has been a series of demands that the student body has put up since the last 8 months. However, in the absence of acknowledgement of the demands from the side of TISS administration, the students boycotted the classes since February 21. TISS Guwahati students also joined the protest. On February 22, protesting students closed down the institution to draw attention to their plight, informed a press note from the Student Council 2017-18, TISS, Guwahati Campus. The statement informed that the students took this step in the light of the fact that the administration did not even come out to meet and dialogue with the students. The students demand that the notification for present GOI-PMS students (disadvantaged students availing post-matric scholarships from their respective state governments, 2016-18 and 2017-19 batches) to pay for fees: tuition, DH (Dining Hall) and Hostel to be retracted with immediate effect. They also ask immediate notification on TISS website to provide a clear laid out path on financial assistance mechanism for the GOI PMS Students of the upcoming batch of 2018-2020. In addition, the student councils demand symbolic representation of the office of Dean SPO from SC ST OBC Category Other demands include documented facts on quantum of loss incurred by TISS due to the non-pay back of Scholarship money to TISS by GOI-PMS students since the introduction of DBT; disclosure of year wise details of funding from UGC, both non-plan grant and fixed maintenance grant, from the year 2011-2017; disclosure of the details of income and expenditure accounts of the Hostels and Dining Hall of the year 2016-2018 and 2017-2019; and clarity on the Institute Status of being an Professional university and whether it is a fully funded or centrally funded University. The statement lamented that the University which claims to be inclusive and puts ‘Social Justice’ as one of its vision “has clearly back tracked on its own Vision Statement.” “They have unilaterally stated that social justice in the context of education of students belonging to any of the ‘social category’ is the job of the government and not the institute. Thus the only way social category is catered to other than the state government scholarship is through the student aid, which is few and far between,” it added. The students’ council pointed out the irony that “students from disadvantaged background have to compete and demonstrate their disadvantaged situation to get access to student aid which is also dwindling.” “On the one hand with the hike in the fees, many students are compelled to leave the course midway. On the other, many students from various TISS campuses who gets through other campuses are not even able to consider higher education within TISS itself due to financial constrains,” it added. The council stated that this as an issue that will affect all students regardless of specific batches or social category; however adding that it is the marginalized students who will be more adversely affected by this move which renders education inaccessible to all. It further claimed that this is part of the “larger move on the part of the state to destroy higher education in the country.” The council termed it appalling that universities are toeing the line of the state and working with the state rather than providing a space of resistance. Alleging that there is financial mismanagement within the institute, the council termed it appalling that students availing GOI scholarships become easy scapegoats for the entire institute across campuses. It meanwhile asked students across the colleges and universities in the country to “join our struggle against privatization.” It urged students across educational institutions to mobilize efforts towards lending voice within their own institutes as well as join them and form a larger solidarity for a large scale protest. “By ruining public universities and giving way to private universities, education will be a distant dream for many,” the council cautioned.
