FTII students unhappy with key academic changes

Pune, Jun 2: Students' association members of Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) today expressed displeasure over the newly constituted academic council here which passed key academic changes like choice-based credit system, electives, new syllabus and new vision statement.

Students' ire comes months after their long agitation against the appointment of television actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as institue's new chairman in June last year.

Students had boycotted classes for a long time and went on strike to oppose the appointment, demanding his ouster.

"We are not disagreeing with each and everything, but our primary concerns are against choice-based credit system and electives, which they are going to be implemented in the new syllabus," president of FTII students' association Nachimuthu Harishankar told reporters today.

He was one of the two students who had attended the academic council meeting held yesterday.

"We feel that the whole exercise of bringing these changes is to quantify the education system and it will turn students into more of competition rather than concentrating on holistic learning," told reporters here today.

He said new changes which academic council is trying to bring in are not in tandem with the culture and tradition of the institute as it will "destroy the creative atmosphere of the institute".

The council meeting was headed by its chairperson B P Singh and attended by members including former vice chancellor of Mumbai University Rajan Welukar, former director, IIM- Bangalore, Pankaj Chandra, actor Anand Mahendru, and FTII alumnus actor Satish Shah.

Nachimuthu said that a new vision document for FTII was proposed in which council members are planning to turn the institute in University of Film, Television and Allied Arts and through this new model. The institute is going to start small courses, which is an "attempt to corporatisation of education", he alleged.

He alleged that while drafting the new syllabus, the institute denied particpation of domain experts and students, who were part of syllabus review committee before last year's stir.

PTI