Progressive Students Forum | 1 July 2024

In a press statement released by the TISS administration dated 30 June 2024, it was announced that the termination of 55 teachers and 60 non-teaching staff has been withdrawn. This decision came in response to a huge public outrage against the current TISS administration under the BJP-led union government’s decision to terminate employees whose salaries were paid from by Tata Education Trust (TET). Even teachers in the Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies (ACWS), whose salaries were paid from the plan grants of the UGC, were terminated. While we, as students, are happy that the talks between the TET and the TISS administration have resumed, as demanded in the PSF statement dated 29 June 2024, we believe that these termination and retention episodes were avoidable. At the same time, though the 11th-hour decision to retain faculty and staff is welcome, the press release from the TISS administration raises new questions and concerns.

1. No Clarity on the Period of Extension
The press release mentions that the TET has agreed to continue funding for the 115 positions and that teachers and staff can continue working at the institute. Unfortunately, the release does not specify the period for which the TET has extended funding. This has led to severe uncertainty and anxiety among teachers, staff, and students. Reports indicate that a total of INR 4.79 crores is the only commitment from the TET, which was an amount pending from their end. If this is true, the mass termination and chaos at TISS are not resolved but merely postponed, and we may face the same situation in six months when INR 4.79 crores is exhausted. This unfortunate situation could demotivate employees and may force many to leave the institute. We demand that the current TISS administration provides clarity on the matter and communicates the exact number of months for which the jobs would be extended.

2. Silence on the Termination of UGC Positions in Women's Studies

The press release only addresses the 115 TET-funded positions but fails to mention the separate termination of three teachers and one administrative staff from the ACWS at TISS Mumbai, whose salaries were funded by UGC. According to our understanding, these teachers and staff have not received their salary for almost four months now. Consequent to the interventions by the Indian Association of Women's Studies (IAWS), the UGC has agreed to continue funding the ACWS. Yet, its teachers and administrative staff are being asked to leave, citing a lack of funds from the UGC. If the UGC is ready to fund further, the TISS administration has no justification for terminating these persons. Such an action is suspicious, shameful, and highly condemnable. We demand the immediate repeal of this regressive step and the reinstatement of all four of them, with their salaries paid on time.

3. Degree Programmes Are Not Projects, and Teachers Are Not Project Staff

The press release unfortunately refers to the terminated teachers and staff as “project/programme faculty and non-teaching staff”. The current leadership of the TISS administration must better understand the value of the degree programmes (including Bachelors, Masters, and PhD) offered by TISS. These programmes are not projects that can start and stop abruptly based on the whims and fancies of a private funder. Education is a social good and must not be compromised like this. Calling faculty members as project staff is humiliating to these esteemed scholars; they are also major stakeholders in designing and building TISS. According to our understanding, these “project/programme faculty” were reported as regular teachers when TISS applied for NAAC and NIRF rankings. If they were mere project workers, why did the TISS administration report them as regular faculty members?

4. What Should the Non-Teaching Staff Do?

The existence of sufficient and competent administrative staff is critical to the functioning of an educational institute as large as TISS. Terminating many non-teaching staff,the backbone of TISS, would lead to chaos and delays in executing essential tasks like admissions, examinations, evaluations, and other student matters. Considering the non-teaching staff as an easy target is unfortunate and uncalled for.

Who Failed TISS Now?
The mass termination of 119 (115+4) teachers and staff from TISS with just two days of notice exposes the failure and incompetence of the current leadership of the TISS administration. After their notorious attack on students and curbing campus democracy, the leadership has now failed to secure the jobs of their faculty/staff colleagues. The TISS administration leadership was also unable to convince the TET to continue funding, leading to this mass termination. All indications are that it was the TET that reached out to the TISS administration to temporarily resolve the matter, and not the TISS administration that reached out to the TET. If funding was the only issue, the leadership neither made a genuine effort to find alternative solutions nor did it convince the union government to regularise these positions. This failure, along with the apathy of the BJP-led union government, is allowing a prestigious university to decline in stature and quality. The NIRF rankings, published by the Ministry of Education headed by the Chairman of the TISS Society, already shows a negative impact on the student-teacher ratio at TISS in the previous years. A mass termination now, or in the next six months, will lead to a disastrous scarcity of faculty that will make an already bad situation worse. This will ultimately affect the quality of education and students' futures as well.

We are at a juncture where TISS is under attack from the above and below. As students, we have raised concerns about the attack on quality education at TISS. But we were unfairly and unjustly targeted and victimised by the current leadership of the TISS administration under the BJP-led union government. Now, the survival of faculty and non-teaching staff is also under a grave threat. We, the Progressive Students' Forum (PSF), stand in solidarity with our faculty and staff in these hard times. We are worried about the future of our prestigious institute and hope that the teachers' movement will support students' causes as well. There must be united struggles of teachers, staff, and students to protect the interests of the institute. The PSF calls upon all student organisations, the TISS Teacher’s Association (TISSTA), and organisations of the staff members to jointly build a united front of resistance in the campus. We reiterate our conviction that there is no shortcut to resisting the present onslaught and the gradual destruction of our university. Only an organised and united resistance can succeed.
The people united shall always be victorious.

Click here to read the statement on Instagram