Student Protest at SRFTI Continues for 10th Day, No End of Impasse in sight

Kolkata: It has been almost 10 days since students at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute here have been on strike, and the situation is showing no signing of easing.

The students have been protesting against the management’s decision to segregate hostels for boys and girls after the new building was set up.

They have put forward several demands to the management including revoking of expulsion of the 14 girls who were expelled on October 14 after they refused to move out of their hostel which had been converted into a boy’s hostel. The protesting students have been camping on mattresses next to the Institute's main gate.

The protestors maintain that they have seven other demands apart from the hostel and expulsion that the management needs to address, some which have been long standing issues related to academic courses, infrastructure, and faculty review system.

SFRTI management says they have not been allowed to enter the premises of the Institute preventing them from carrying out official paperwork and working on the student’s demand. For the past few days, the management is holding meetings at the director’s residence. They have been communicating with the striking students via emails, trying to find a solution to the impasse.

However, the students say told CNN-News18 that the management was never barred from walking into the administrative block and that it is not a herculean task to get the expulsion order revoked officially.

Akshay Gouri, President of the SRFTI student’s association, said, “It doesn’t take much to revoke the expulsion order on paper. Only then will the female students move to the new hostel. We were hoping for some communication from the management, but there has been none.”

The management said that they were waiting for the 14 girl students to shift to the new hostel by 4pm on Wednesday which has not happened. A spokesperson for the management, Debamitra Mitra, told CNN-News 18, “The students have not understood our email communication. We will consider their demands after they allow us to enter the administrative building as all staff will be required to discuss and implement the demands of the students.”

The students say they are keen to get back to classes but the ball was in the SRFTI management’s court. The management, on the other hand, maintains that the impasse was a result of a communication gap and hoped the students will step back from their agitation to give them a chance to work out the modalities of their demands.