Mumbai: TISS withdraws dismissal of over 100 staff members

Two days after announcing the dismissal of 55 faculty members and 60 nonteaching staff due to a lack of funds from the Tata Education Trust TET the Tata Institute of Social Sciences TISS administration has reversed its decision Following assurances from TET to release the necessary funds for salaries the institute has revoked the terminationsThe dismissed staff some with over a decade of service were contractual employees The initial reason for their dismissal was the nonreceipt of grants from TET which funded their salaries Among the teaching staff 20 were from the Mumbai campus 15 from Hyderabad 14 from Guwahati and six from Tuljapur The permanent faculty members are on the University Grants Commission UGC payrollAn email from the office of the officiating registrar Anil Sutar stated that the institute had made several attempts to secure the grant from TET In the absence of an extension services were set to end on June 30 This decision drew widespread criticism The Progressive Studentsrsquo Forum PSF a student collective issued a statement condemning the mass termination and demanding its immediate revocation They argued that the termination risked the livelihoods of employees and threatened the future of students and the quality of educationCollectiversquos condemnationThe studentsrsquo body stated ldquoAs students we express our concern about this decision The previous yearsrsquo NIRF National Institutional Ranking Framework data shows that the studentfaculty ratio is being impacted negatively The result has been that students are facing delays in receiving student aid and are being threatened in the name of fee payment While becoming a public institute should have relieved the pressure from students coming from economically and socially marginalised backgrounds the Central government takeover has resulted in added monetary pressuresThe latest move of robbing a hundred teaching and nonteaching staff at the institute of their jobs highlights the BJP governments antieducation and antiTISS stance The BJPled Central government and the current TISS administration are directly responsible for taking away the livelihoods of nearly a hundred employees and putting the future of its students also at risk The recent blunders made by the Ministry of Education in conducting nationwide entrance examinations only add to the incompetence of the central governmentrdquoInstitutersquos statementMeanwhile in a uturn on Sunday TISS issued a statement reversing their decision which read ldquoTISS established in 1936 as a deemed university and fully funded by the University Grants Commission UGC of the Government of India is currently governed by the TISS Society in accordance with mandates from the University Grants Commission Recently a controversy has arisen in the media regarding the temporary discontinuation of services for 55 faculty members and 60 nonteaching staff across four campuses ItrdquoAccording to the statement all 55 faculty and 60 nonteaching staff were appointed under programmes funded by the TET and were on a contractual basis with an exact programme period ldquoOngoing discussions with the TET have provided assurance that resources will be made available to TISS to resolve this issue TET has committed to releasing funds for the salaries of TET projectprogramme faculty and nonteaching staff The letter numbered Admn51 TETFaculty amp Staff2024 dated June 28 2024 addressed to all concerned TET Programme faculty and nonteaching staff is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect They are requested to continue their work and salaries will be released as soon as the TET support grant is received by the instituterdquo