FTII students continue hunger strike against fee hike

Pune: The indefinite hunger strike launched by a group of students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) here against the fee hike entered the third day on Wednesday even as the administration appealed to them to call off the agitation and attend classes.

Four FTII student leaders - Aadhith V Sathwin, Vivek Allaka, Rajarshi Mujumdar and P R Manikandan - are on a hunger strike since Monday to protest the 10 per cent yearly fee hike and also the "exorbitant" entrance exam charge.

"There has been a 10 per cent hike in academic fees year-on-year since the batch of 2013. From the annual fee of Rs 55,380 for the 2013 batch, the fee for the upcoming 2020 batch has reached Rs 1,18,323," said one of the students sitting on the hunger strike.

He said in addition to this, there has been an "exorbitant" rise in the JET (Joint Entrance Test for both FTII and Kolkata-based Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute or SRFTI) application fee.

"From Rs 1,500 in 2015, the entrance exam fee has gone up to a maximum of Rs 10,000 for JET 2020. The exorbitant hike in the entrance fee shows that the institute is making itself inaccessible to a large section of aspirants," stated the students in a release.

"We have been making continuous correspondence with the FTII administration as well as the I&B ministry about the fee hike. But after using all means, we were left with only one option - that is hunger strike," said Sathwin, who is also president of the FTII Students Association (FSA).

FTII director Bhupendra Kainthola has informed students that the institute's Governing Council is meeting on December 27 to discuss the issue and asked them to end the fast, he said.

"However, the fast will continue till the FTII administration rolls back the fee hikes," Sathwin said.

He said their main demands include revoking the 10 per cent hike in overall fee every academic year and reducing it.

They also want suspension of the JET 2020 till the entrance exam fee is reduced, Sathwin said.

One of the students claimed the FTII director has created a WhatsApp group of parents of 2019 batch students.

"First up all, such groups should not be created without taking the permission from students or their parents," he said.

Meanwhile, the FTII administration has said the decision to increase fees by 1 per cent per annum was taken by the Governing Council in 2008 and has been in force since then.

It said any decision to review the fees or its rollback can, therefore, be taken only by the Governing Council, the top decision-making body of the institute, which comes under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Kainthola appealed to the students to call off their protest and resume studies.

Asked about the WhatsApp group, he said it was not a recent creation.

"During my first meeting with the parents, we discussed a lot of things and it was decided to form that group for better communication," Kainthola said.