Tata Institute suspends academic activities after protest

Hyderabad: The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad campus, has suspended academic activities till further orders following protest by students over issues relating to scholarship and hostel tariff. A notice by the acting Registrar, posted on the institutes' website, asked all the students to vacate the campus.

According to TISS, the protesting students have continued with their blockade (of faculty and others) in spite of repeated appeals and efforts to negotiate, thereby completely paralysing the functioning of the campus for the past five days. The campus faculty led by the acting deputy director have continuously made efforts to engage with the protesting students and the students eligible for the government of India post-matric scholarship (GoI PMS), the notice said.

The students have demanded that the institute bridge the gap between the scholarship amount provided by the GoI PMS and the actual living expenses of the students, and also to mediate between them and the private service provider to ensure lowering of the hostel tariffs for all the students, according to TISS. The acting deputy director and the faculty explained the measures put in place to address their issues. The fact that the Hyderabad off-campus has relied on private service providers for hostels from 2013 was explained to the students, it said.

Moreover, the admission notification for students explicitly mentioned that the Hyderabad off-campus was non-residential from the 2019 academic year, the notice said. The faculty appealed to the students to call off the strike, it said. In spite of the various efforts made by the Institute, the students continued their illegal, unlawful, unjustified activities and disturbances in spite of the repeated appeals of the Institute since July 8, 2019, TISS said. The institute apprehends that the situation may deteriorate further and there are all possibilities of disturbances within the campus, it said. In view of the allegedly continued illegal activities, the institute has come to the conclusion that it is not safe, practicable and not in the interest of all students, teaching and non-teaching staff to continue its normal academic activities within the campus, the notice said.

Meanwhile, Karishma, one of the protesting students, said they have three demands - restoring the instalment system of paying fees (for the benefit of Adivasi and Dalit students) for accommodation, reducing the fees for hostel and showing the details of tenders (with private service provider) on provision of accommodation service to the students.

She alleged there was no transparency vis--vis the tenders. There has not been a satisfactory response from the institute administration with regard to hostel issue, Karishma alleged, adding, the protesting students planned to consult lawyers for legal action, she said. About 100 of the total 500 students are sitting on protest, she said. She claimed that 13 students have been on hunger strike for the last five days.