After much deliberations, the Student Action Committee released the Demand Charter on 13th December 2018. Read the entire Demand Charter below:
Charter of Demands
Concern I: Revert the decision of revoking the ‘residential campus’ status of TISS, Hyderabad
1.1. As per the TISS admission notification for the academic year 2019-20, TISS Hyderabad off-campus was declared a non-residential campus. It is demanded that the administration repeals the non-residential tag, and takes full responsibility of providing residential facilities. The full responsibility includes security of the students, in addition to the provision of dining hall and the hostels. It is demanded that with regards to all the affairs pertaining to the students residing in the hostels, the accountability be taken by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad.
1.2. It is demanded that Dining Hall and Hostel charges payment process is transparent and receipts are provided to the students only under the name of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad.
1.3. The institute should continue to provide residential facilities to the students at affordable rates (the bracket of affordable prices to be decided with inclusion of students from SC, ST and EOC in the decision – making process), through a transparent tender process headed by the Hostel Management Committee.
1.4. There is no clarity regarding the residential facilities for the students availing the GOI -PM Scholarship. Making the campus non – residential would imply failure in abiding by the Concern I and VII in ‘A response to the TISS Hyderabad students’ charter of demands by Acting Director – Prof. Shalini Bharat’ dated 27th February, 2018. The dining and hostel fees waiver were granted to the BA- MA integrated batches (2017 – 22 and 2016 – 21). It is demanded that non – residential status be revoked and hostel and dining hall facilities be provided to the BA – MA integrated batches (2017 – 22 and 2016 21).
1.5. The provision of dining hall and hostel facilities only for GOI – PM Scholarship will lead to segregation in the place of residence for students of different communities. Therefore, it is demanded that TISS, Hyderabad provides the residential facilities open to all students.
1.6 Educational loans, which many current students avail and future students will want to avail, will not include the living expenditure of students, unless they live in accommodations provided by the institution. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the institution takes up the responsibility of providing accommodations and hostel facilities for all students. It should be also guaranteed that complete administrative assistance is provided for making the semester payments and documentations easier for the individuals who have taken a loan.
Concern II: Regarding Deferment of Courses
2.1 Deferment of B.A. in Social Sciences: The three year BA Programme in Social Sciences course offered by TISS is one of the most intellectually enterprising courses in India. TISS, Hyderabad offers 60 seats while TISS, Tuljapur offers only 30 seats for the same. Deferring the BASS course in TISS, Hyderabad would hence mean that large numbers of students from South India, where medicine and engineering still remain the predominant choices for higher studies, are deprived of the opportunity to study in a one-of-a-kind course that inculcates critical thinking and social consciousness amongst young, impressionable minds, straight out of school. With only two batches remaining, it creates a vacuum of faculty as professors teaching only BA batches would have limited incentive to stay in the campus. Furthermore, this deferment does not bode well in the larger scheme of events, given the current academic climate of the country where privatisation of education especially that of the social sciences discipline is an ongoing process. Courses that encourage students to question dominant narratives are being scraped off systematically and ruthlessly. Hence, it is of immense importance that the institute reinstates the BASS course in Hyderabad off-campus from the next academic year onwards with the necessary infrastructure.
It is demanded that the three year BA Programme in Social Sciences be reinstated.
2.2 Deferment of M.Phil in Women’s Studies
The decision to defer the M.Phil course in Women’s Studies was only very recently made known to the student body. Such arbitrary decisions put in jeopardy the academic prospects of not just the probable external applicants but also of the current final year Women’s Studies batches of the institute, for many of whom this might have been the preferred avenue for further academic engagement. After the discontinuation of the integrated M.Phil-PhD course in Women’s Studies in the previous academic year, the present decision puts into question the future of the research-oriented courses offered by the institute, endangering the very existence of courses which challenge the dominant patterns of epistemological discourse. The administration must urgently look into the matter and by all means, work towards the immediate reinstatement of the M.Phil in Women’s Studies.
2.3 Since such decisions regarding entire courses affect not just students but also several faculty members at large, any future decisions determining major changes in how a course would exist and/or be offered must be intimated to the concerned student body as well as the faculty well in advance during the initial stages of decision making. The student body is the primary stakeholder in such cases, and therefore, it is really important and just for their opinions to be taken into consideration during the process of decision making.
Concern III: Decentralization of power for off – campuses
3.1 Decentralization of the financial powers:
It was mentioned in ‘A response to the TISS Hyderabad students’ charter of demands
by Acting Director – Prof. Shalini Bharat’ dated 27th February, 2018 underneath
‘Concern XII: Autonomous Functioning of TISS Hyderabad campus’ that the Deputy
Director and some Faculty members will together determine areas where decisions
can be taken at the TISS, Hyderabad level in order to expedite processes; and, that the process to address the devolution of financial powers had begun and would be
pursued further.
It is demanded:
● To reveal the developments with regards to the above response.
● That Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad be authorized to take
academic and administrative decisions for itself.
● That financial powers be devolved.
● That an accountable authority, responsible for all concerns regarding Off- campuses that is available, answerable and accessible, be put in place.
Concern IV: Concerns related to committees/ Students’ Council.
4.1 Career Guidance and Placement Cell in TISS, Hyderabad is a student run body, which
finances the placement processes through the amount collected from the students who sit for the placements. The amount collected in this manner is inadequate. It is demanded that a fixed fund be allocated to the CGPC.
4.2 Financial autonomy for the council – It is demanded that the Students’ Council must be given the autonomy to decide upon matters of collective importance for which the student funds can be utilised, and in which capacity can this utilisation be made. Moreover, complete clarity has to be provided regarding the leftover council funds and manners in which they can be utilised for the common betterment of the entire student body.
4.3 It is mentioned in ‘A response to the TISS Hyderabad students’ charter of demands by Acting Director – Prof. Shalini Bharat’ dated 27th February, 2018 underneath ‘Concern XII:
Student Union’ that the existing Student Union model will be reviewed in the next Steering Committee meeting; and, that the existing Students’ Council and the Office of Students’ Affairs will make suggestions for such a review.
It is demanded:
● That the tentative date of the Steering Committee meeting be shared;
● That mode of elections in off – campuses be direct elections.
Concern V: Expansion of the staff size (teaching as well as non – teaching):
5.1 Inadequate number of teaching staff limits the processes of the institute. Administration has to ensure that there is a regular availability of proper faculty for all the courses according to the academic schedule of the semester. They must also look into the timely execution of such courses so that the sessions are evenly spread across the semester and are not hurriedly finished within smaller time spans through workshops. 5.2 It is demanded that the staff size (teaching as well as non – teaching) is expanded, and individual staff doesn’t get burdened with multiple roles to cater to.
Deferment of courses like MPhil in Women’s studies points to the limitations that TISS,
Hyderabad as an institute faces because of inadequate number of faculty with respect to the needs of the courses. The need for expansion of staff size cannot be emphasized enough.
Concern VI: Developments with regards to ‘A response to the TISS Hyderabad students’ charter of demands by (then) Acting Director – Prof. Shalini Bharat’ dated 27th February, 2018
Concern VII: Issue of Registration on State Government Scholarship Portals
7.1 It was mentioned in ‘A response to the TISS Hyderabad students’ charter of demands by Acting Director – Prof. Shalini Bharat’ dated 27th February, 2018 underneath ‘Concern III: Issue of registration on State Government Scholarship Portals’ that immediate steps will be initiated to register on the state government scholarship portals for programmes at TISS, Hyderabad; and, that a position of Programme Officer dedicated to pursue the mandate of getting all TISS programmes registered with all State Portals be created.
It is demanded:
● That the developments with regards to the ‘immediate steps to register on the State
Government Scholarship Portals for programmes at TISS, Hyderabad’ be shared.
● That the developments with regards to creation of the position of Programme Officer be
shared.
● If the Programme Officer is in place, the details regarding the registration of TISS
programmes with the State Portals done by the Officer be shared.
● If the Programme Officer is not in place, (it would be a violation of Concern III in the
response), the position be immediately created.