PUNE: The students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) have complained that the administration, in an attempt to suppress student voices, has begun forming WhatsApp groups of parents to inform them of the activities that the students are doing on the campus.

“The WhatsApp group is a recent practice that the administration has started with the recent 2019 batch. This is a new way of inculcating fear amongst the parents of the newly joining students. The image that the administration is trying to create is that the students here are always only protesting on the campus,” FTII Student Association (FTIISA) President Aadhit V Sathvin said.

Speaking about the same, FTIISA General Secretary Rajarshi Mujumdar said that the FTII Director is acquiring the personal data of the students illegally. “The Director has made the group to threaten the parents, and stop any kind of resistance in FTII against his wrongdoings,” Mujumdar alleged.

Calling the creation of these groups ‘laughable’, the students have also stated that the details of parents have been obtained from the admission forms of the students, without consulting any of the parents or students.

Sathvin added, “The administration is trying to make it look like the protests on campus are compulsory for all the students. At no point was our protest forceful. Everybody participated on their own will. But the administration is trying to show the parents otherwise.” 

The students also complained that the administration is using coercive methods to prevent students from raising their voice against ‘excesses’ of the administration. They alleged that the Proctor’s Office sends disciplinary notices to students for no reason and use these to then deny them scholarships, foreign exchange programmes as well as bonafide certificates.

Reacting to this, FTII Director Bhupendra Kainthola said, “The WhatsApp group was set in in August 2019 when the new academic year started. Parents who are members have voluntarily joined the group.”
Meanwhile, four students who began their hunger strike in the institute against the fee hike and the exorbitant entrance examination fees charged by FTII on Monday are still continuing at the end of Day 2.