GUWAHATI: Students under the GoI-PMS (Government of India-Post Matric Scholarship) scheme of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) here have resolved to intensify their agitation, a week after their pleas for continuation of benefits under the scheme did not yield “favourable outcome”.
Members of the GoI-PMS Students’ Association on Wednesday blocked the entrance of the TISS Guwahati campus as part of the ongoing agitation before a round of discussion with the institute’s administration.
The association is demanding complete fee waiver for SC, ST and OBC (GoI-PMS) students under the scheme besides implementation of National Commission for Schedule Tribe recommendations and a mechanism for affordable education.
“We blocked the entrance for some time today before sitting with the institute representatives, including the deputy registrar who came from TISS Mumbai. However, nothing favorable emerged at the end of the meeting with the administration sticking to its stand and asking us to instead apply for benefits under the student aid fellowship for non ST/SC students,” Tikendra Rai Chelak, president of the GoI-PMS Students’ Association, told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
The institute administration had informed this correspondent that steps have been initiated to enhance the student aid fellowship for non ST/SC students by about 70 per cent to extend the benefits to GoI-PMS students.
“However, such benefits will not cover the entire fee and what we want is complete waiver as the families of the students under this association cannot afford the annual fee (Rs 70,000). There is no mechanism either to ensure that our fee would be waived in the wake of discontinuation of the government scheme,” Rai Chelak said.
As many as 62 students under the association, belonging to underprivileged families (including ST/SC/OBC) with an annual income less than Rs 2lakh, are enrolled in the 2018-19 academic session.
The association had recently written a letter to the North East Students Organisation (NESO), seeking support towards the ongoing agitation.
There are 262 students enrolled across various streams in the current session at TISS Guwahati, which has a mandate of 66 per cent seat reservation for students of the eight North Eastern states.
