TISS Students’ Union Continues Protest Demanding Fee Waiver
- TISS Students’ Union called for a strike from February 21, 2018, against administration’s policy of demanding fees from scholarship students.
- The strike has been initiated after recent talks with the administration failed.
The Students’ Union of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has officially called for a strike across all the TISS campus in the country. Starting from February 21, 2018, students of TISS will boycott all the classes, filed works and submissions until the administration solve the demands of students.
Students alleged that the administration demanded tuition fees, hostel fee and dining hall fee from the students who are pursuing education with the help of scholarships. Students under scholarship scheme are exempted from paying such fees, and it is non-judicial for the administration to demand fees from the students.
The TISS Students’ Union was in talks with the administration over the few months regarding this issue. However, the talks have been failed constantly, and students have no other option except to go on strike.
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TISS Students’ Union President, Archana Soreng, revealed that the issue related to Centre’s Post-Metric Scholarship is still unresolved. Earlier, TISS issued an official notice stating that the institute is withdrawing all forms financial support to students. Due to the non-judicial policy of the administration, students of the current batch, as well as, newcomers will have to pay full fees even before the disbursal of their state scholarship amounts, she added.
TISS Students’ Union also demanded the administration to notify its ways in which financial aid for the Post-Metric Scholarship beneficiaries of the upcoming batch of 2018-20 will be provided. The institute had not mentioned anything in the admission prospectus regarding the financial aid. Therefore, it is unfair to demand fees from the students enrolled for the academic session 2016-18 and 2017-19.
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The authorities of TISS claimed that students of the 2017-19 batch are aware of self-financial aid, as the admission notification was issued in advanced. On the other hand, students claim that the notification was issued after the beginning of admission process in May 2017.
On February 28, 2018, TISS issued an official statement stating that students eligible for the post-matric scholarship can attend the classes and use the hostel and dining facilities despite their dues on account of these charges to TISS. The institute indicated that students could pay the fees after receiving then scholarship amount from the respective governments. However, students are not satisfied with the latest decision of the institute. Students continued their protest demanding the complete waiver of hostel and dining fees.