From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The students’ body of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati campus has decided to stall its boycott of the admission interviews in the wake of an assurance by the deputy director to address issues concerning contracts of faculty members, at its governing board meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday.
As many as 14 faculty members had decided to go on mass leave during the four-day admission process which started on Monday, demanding extension of their contracts beyond one year.
A member of the students’ body however said that the contractual teachers did take part in the admission process later on Monday following assurance from the deputy director.
“After an appeal from incoming students and their parents who have travelled from far off places, along with the deputy director’s assurance that she would get the demands approved at the governing board meeting on April 2, we have decided to wait for the outcome of that meeting. It has been agreed by the faculty members, deans, deputy director and students, that in case of failure to fulfill the demands by April 2, the Guwahati campus as a collective will not go ahead with the remaining days of pre-interview tests and interviews,” a statement by the students body said on Monday.
Till then, the institute has called in faculty from other campuses to conduct course-specific interviews, it added.
The statement said that the chairs, deans, and the deputy director felt that planning for the future of the campus cannot go ahead without addressing these issues.
A letter was sent to the director in the first week of February requesting a minimum of three years contract period; pay scale salary for those on consolidated salary besides payment of the increments due to the contract faculty members.
The statement further said that the faculty members were hired and kept on “whimsical” contracts continually fixed by the institute’s administration for the past six years. Besides, among the non-teaching staff as well, there is not a single permanent employee at the institute here.
“Faculty members have over the past one year been approaching the Mumbai administration, which holds central power, but there has never been any adequate response to address the matter,” it added.
Among these 14 faculty members are department chairpersons and centre heads, conveners of various committees and wardens of hostels.