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FTII hunger strike: Director calls for emergency session of governing council on Dec 27
Bhupendra Kainthola, director, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) said that an emergency session of the governing council of FTII has been scheduled on
Bhupendra Kainthola, director, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) said that an emergency session of the governing council of FTII has been scheduled on December 27, 10 days from now in response to the hunger strike undertaken by four students on the campus.
“I have requested the students to call off the strike,” said Kainthola.
Aadhith V Sathwin, president, FTII student association; Rajarshi Mujumdar, general secretary, FTII student association; PR Manikandan, cultural secretary, FTII student association and Vivek Allaka, a student, started the indefinite strike on December 16 to protest the 10 per cent yearly fee hike and exorbitant entrance exam fees.
The students stated that the hunger strike will continue the strike until their demands are met.
“There has been a 10% hike in academic fees year-on-year since the batch of 2013. From the annual fee of Rs 55,380 from the 2013 batch, the fees for the upcoming 2020 batch has reached to Rs 1,18,323. In addition, there has been an exorbitant rise in the JET (Joint Entrance Test for both FTII and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI)) application fee. From Rs 1,500 in 2015, the entrance exam fee has gone up to a maximum of Rs10,000 for JET 2020. As such the institute is making itself completely inaccessible to a large section of our population,” said a student who wished to remain anonymous.
A total of 100 students supported their student leader and stood with banners and held demonstrations as a protest against the continuous and drastic hike in the tuition fees and the unreasonable entrance exam fees.
“We feel the council should take into account the deteriorating health conditions of the four students while setting a date for the meeting. We hope the authorities re-schedule the meeting to an earlier date,” said Sathwin.
Dharam Gulati and Aruna Raje Patil, members of the FTII governing council, visited the protesting students and asked them to call off the hunger strike.
