Students have now asked the institute to extend the deadline for fee payment, to continue financial aid to SC/ST/OBC students, and scrap the compulsory submission of Aadhar details for fellowships
Students at Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social sciences (TISS) have decided to boycott fees after their demands made to the institute’s administration did not yield any results. Students had raised concerns over a recent circular issued by the institute’s Registrar making it mandatory for students to submit their Aadhaar details and fingerprints for biometric attendance and fellowships.
The Registrar in a letter dated May 25 has asked all the students under its masters programmes to furnish these details after the semester begins in June. The institute had also expressed its inability to continue bearing the expenses of the students who fall in the creamy layer category within SC/ST and OBC categories. After getting resistance from students, the institute had uploaded a detailed clarification about its stand on its official website and had asked students who cannot pay the fees by June 8 to write to the administration before June 6.
In a recently addressed letter to the Registrar, students have stated that they would boycott these fees even post June 8, the deadline set by the institute citing several concerns. The clarification that was put up by the institute on May 30, 2017 has raised further concerns for students across campuses. “The method to apply for extension of fee payment requires the extension form to be submitted by June 6, which remains out of reach for a number of students, as many students will not be reaching the campus before the June 8 or later, as they had already booked their tickets beforehand...With multiple states yet to grant scholarship funds to students, and due to some states not recognising TISS as a deemed, centrally funded university, students have no means of availing scholarships provided by their states, thus making it extremely difficult for them to even pay a portion of the fee as instructed,” states the circular. “The student community feels that the issuing of the circular on May 26 was wrong on the part of the administration as this was during the vacation when students while the students were dispersed across the country and there was no student’s union to act as representatives,” it further reads.
Students have now asked the institute to extend the deadline for fee payment, to continue financial aid to SC/ST/OBC students, and scrap the compulsory submission of Aadhar details for fellowships.
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