TISS withdraws mass termination notice to faculty, non-teaching staff
Mumbai: The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has withdrawn the non-renewal notices previously issued to 55 teaching and 60 non-teaching staff members, media reported, citing a circular released on Sunday.
These employees, who were hired on a contractual basis under programs funded by the Tata Education Trust (TET), have been directed to continue their work at TISS's campuses in Mumbai, Tuljapur, Hyderabad, and Guwahati, reported the Times of India.
The circular stated that ongoing discussions with TET have assured that resources will be provided to TISS to address the issue.
TET has pledged to release funds to cover the salaries of the affected teaching and non-teaching staff.
According to the TO report, the circular further mentioned, "The letter numbered Admn/5(1) TET-Faculty & Staff/2024, dated 28th June 2024, addressed to all concerned TET Programme faculty and non-teaching staff, is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect.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 institute."
The decision not to renew the contracts had faced criticism from both the student body and fellow faculty members.
A faculty member explained that these contracts were funded by grants from the Tata Trust over the past 10-15 years to employ additional faculty for various courses.
The faculty member accused the TISS administration of failing to anticipate the situation and secure a timely renewal of the grant.
Another faculty member noted that some affected teaching staff had even participated in the interview process for selecting candidates for various courses last month.
The administration had reassured them that there was no need to worry about funding, but then suddenly issued non-renewal notices due to a lack of funds, which the faculty member attributed to mismanagement.
The Progressive Students Forum criticized the TISS administration for its failure in managing the institute and the BJP-led Union government for its apathy, according to media reports.
The forum also pointed out recent errors made by the ministry of education in conducting nationwide entrance examinations, adding to the perception of the central government's incompetence.
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