In a development that came 12 days after its student leaders went on an indefinite agitation, the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) on Friday decided "in principle" to reduce the Joint Entrance Test (JET) fee for 2020.
At the special meeting of its Governing Council, the FTII decided to finalise the quantum of reduction in JET fees by January 6, 2020.
The FTII's Governing Council also decided to review the tuition fee for 2020 for its regular courses by March 6, 2020.
The FTII's Governing Council set up a 5-member Committee headed by its Chairman BP Singh to discuss both the issues and arrive at a decision.
FTII Students Association President Aadhith V Sathwin and Gen Secretary Rajarshi Mujumdar represented the students at the meeting held in Delhi.
Meanwhile, Students have thanked BP Singh, FTII's chairman, FTII and the I&B Ministry Officials - Mr Parmar (Joint Sec, Films) and Mr Rizvi (Additional Sec and Financial Advisor) - for standing with the students and fighting for an affordable education for all at the country's premier film school. It may be recalled that four student leaders from the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India Students’ Association (FTIISA) had gone on an indefinite fast on December 16, in protest against the 10 per cent yearly fee hike and the "exorbitant" JETa application fees.
The FTII student leaders Aadhith V Sathwin (President, FTIISA), Rajarshi Mujumdar (Gen Secretary), PR Manikandan (Cultural Secretary) and Vivek Allaka had resorted to the hunger strike. They broke their fast five days later. However, their agitation was continuing since then.
The FTIISA's two demands were: revocation of the continuous 10 per cent hike in overall fee every academic year and reduce it and deferment of JET 2020 until there is reduction in the entrance exam fees.
"There has been a 10% hike in academic fees year on year since the batch of 2013. From the annual fee of Rs 55,380 from the 2013 batch the fees for the upcoming 2020 batch has reached to Rs 1,18,323,” Sathwin had said.
"In addition, there has been an exorbitant rise in the JET (Joint Entrance Test for both FTII and SRFTI) application fee. From Rs 1,500 in 2015, the entrance exam fee has gone up to a maximum of Rs 10,000 for JET 2020. As such the institute is making itself completely inaccessible to a large section of our population,” fasting FTIISA president had said.