E-Paper
FTII students demand suspension of admission process over irregularities
The controversy began with a complaint from a reserved category applicant over the merit list released on October 17
The Film and Television Institute of India Students’ Association (FTIISA) on Sunday demanded the suspension of the ongoing admission process of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) for the upcoming academic year, highlighting discrepancies in the recently released merit list.
The controversy began with a complaint from a reserved category applicant over the merit list released on October 17. Following this, the institute issued a revised list on October 24, citing ‘calculation-related discrepancies’ in the earlier list. In its notice, the institute said a review had revealed certain errors in the earlier merit list and after verification, a corrected list was issued. While retaining the names of previously selected candidates, the revised merit list had seven names added to it as a ‘one-time measure.’ The revised merit list also included the marks of all selected candidates.
Subsequently, FTIISA raised issues with the release of the revised merit list, accusing the FTII administration of lapses in evaluation, seat allocation, and implementation of the reservation policy.
The association questioned the sudden increase in seats in the MFA (Screen Acting) course, from 16 to 23, allegedly due to a ‘clerical error.’ The revised merit list altered the reservation ratio to: OBC-NCL 30%, EWS 17.39%, SC 8.7%, ST 4.35%, and General 39.17%, whereas the Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling regarding educational institutions’ reservation in Maharashtra capped reservations at 50%.
A senior FTII official, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted to errors in the evaluation process. “Some marks were missing in the acting section, and five additional candidates were later found eligible. The Governing Council advised us to resolve the issue with minimum disruption. Therefore, we retained the earlier selections and added the missed eligible candidates,” the official said.
The FTIISA demanded that the institute halt the ongoing admission process, publish stage-wise marks and review reservation rules. The association also demanded that the institute include the student and SC/ST cell representatives in the external reform committee and the FTII Executive Council to ensure transparency in the process.
The students’ association also said the entrance exam suffers from lack of consistency and transparency. “There is no fixed schedule or format, and new rules are introduced every year without notice,” the association said. This year’s two-stage process — comprising objective and descriptive papers in Stage 1, and a mixed-format Stage 2 with 70% weightage — was conducted offline for the first time since 2019.
The association will be meeting the director of FTII on Monday to share their complaints about the admission process.
