Appointed to upgrade courses, P K Nair panel busy addressing old problems of accommodation, faculty members

Backlog of issues holds up FTII committee work

Appointed to upgrade courses, P K Nair panel busy addressing old problems of accommodation, faculty members

The PK Nair committee appointed to work on new ideas and upgradation of courses at FTII is busy looking into pending issues such as lack of adequate hostel accommodation, classroom and studio space and qualified faculty members.

The committee was appointed by the FTII authorities, members of governing council, and the Information and Broadcasting Ministryu00a0 to submit a fresh report on upgradation of courses.

The committee has been working for the last two days, and will submit the first draft of the report in the first week of January and the final report in last week of February.u00a0

"The institute has provided an office on the premises," said first year student Manoj Kumar, who has been an active part of the committee. "Certain courses like animation and designing have started without proper infrastructure and faculty members."

Founder-Director of NFAI (National Film Archives of India) P K Nair said the committee report would take time.
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"The backlog issues are taking most of our time. They were being ignored by the authorities for the past 10 years and now it has become enormous. Only after we finish looking at the pending issues will we start working on new ideas and upgradation," he said.

There is no space in the hostel for the new batch of students and the institute has already started admission procedures for 2011. "New students mean further crunch of accommodation space, classroom and studio facilities and overburdening the faculty. We are also looking at the courses which been started without proper research. The self-financing courses are added burden on the institute."

The committee has asked faculty members and students to come forward and give their suggestions. Some of them have met the members yesterday to discuss their ideas.u00a0

Besides P K Nair, the committee members are Kundan Shah, Chandita Mukherjee, Nachiket Patwardhan and Samarth Dixit.u00a0