TISS to commence new academic year in virtual mode from July 27

To ensure that students do not lose out on study time in the new academic year, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has decided to start regular classes

To ensure that students do not lose out on study time in the new academic year, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has decided to start regular classes in virtual mode from July 27.

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However, a group of students from the Mumbai campus has questioned the management’s decision, and highlighted the problems of internet accessibility faced by them at their homes. TISS students, who hail from different parts of the state, went back to their homes after the lockdown was imposed.

A spokesperson for the management said that the institute has constituted a committee, and is in the process of conducting a survey to find out issues pertaining to internet accessibility for students.

“Not more than one-third of the lectures will be live sessions. We are exploring the possibility of recorded sessions that can be downloaded by students at any time. Texts of the sessions will also be made available to students on email and WhatsApp,” said PK Shajahan, Dean (academics), TISS, Mumbai.

While the admission process for new batches is currently underway, the present batch of students have been informed about the start of the academic year. An official statement with details of this process is yet to be released by the institute, said students.

“We are not opposing the decision to start virtual classes. But we need clarity on certain loopholes that the institute needs to address. What about students without appropriate infrastructure for live online lectures? The institute also needs to clarify evaluation methodology in advance to prepare students,” said a spokesperson for the Progressive Students’ Forum, a student body at TISS Mumbai.

In several posts on social media, students have demanded that the institute also share the results of their student survey and reveal how many students have dependable access to internet in order to make virtual classes viable, said students.

While details of the survey are still ‘n progress’, the institute said lectures for the present batches will commence on July 27 and for new batches from August 10 .

“We are still conducting online interviews for admissions to new batches across all four campuses, and these new batches will join only August onwards,” added Shajahan.

TISS has already completed over 4,000 online interviews for 1,457 masters course seats across the Hyderabad, Tuljapur and Guwahati campuses. For the Mumbai campus, online admission interviews will be conducted in mid-July, said Shajahan.