The recent decision of the TISS adminstration to close down the campus"sine-die" after a week long peaceful protest by the students was blatant attempt to subdue the dissenting voices that wished to ensure that education could be accessed by all. The administration has arbitrarily decided that students should pay Rs. 54,650 / - upfront for tuition fee and hostel, without which they will not be allowed access to hostel accommodation. This is clearly an exclusionary step whereby most students belonging to socio-economically marginalized communities will not be able to continue education and in an indirect way reinforces rigid caste structures whereby students only from certain social locations can access quality education. Such a huge monetary expectation runs contrary to the spirit and purpose of an exemplary institution like TISS as well as the previous guidelines which stipulated payment of Rs. 15,000/- as accommodation charges over three instalments.

In addition to the demand of reinstating the earlier fee structure, the TISS Hyderabad Student Action Committee (SAC) also raised in its Charter of Demands the need to enable those students unable to immediately pay the dining hall fee with the option of paying their dues once their student aid and scholarship amounts are disbursed. The fulfilment of this demand requires that the institute provide an assurance to the service provider (the private party running hostel on TISS campus) to this effect, which the administration is reportedly unwilling to do. It is also quite disconcerting that the TISS management seems unwilling to uphold principles of transparency and display its tender documents and contract with the private party Mr. CN Reddy, despite repeated demands from students. This is even more worrying since the private party is charging the students hostel fee for 6 months at an exorbitant rate of Rs. 8,600/- per month, while the semester itself is only for a period of four months ! (while reportedly the same service provider chares Rs. 4,500 outside)

Students have also been complaining that the location of the girls’ hostel is unsafe, with many women facing street sexual harassment near the hostel. However, we are informed that the administration has denied responsibility for their living conditions, stating that the campus is ‘non-residential’ from the current academic year.

In order to bring this issue to light for the general public and mainstream media, we would be grateful if Lamakaan would allow us to conduct a discussion about our present situation and link it with the larger socio-political and economical scenario of our country