OPEN FORUM REGARDING THE DPR

The open forum regarding the Detailed project report submitted by Hewitt Associates will be held on 28th of September at 7:00 p.m with few FTII alumni who are invited to participate in the workshop conducted by Hewitt on 29th and 30th of September. All students from all departments are requested to come and participate in the open forum and talk about the issue so that the student representatives and the senior
FTII-ans can arrive at a resolution to discuss on the days of the meeting.

Time     : 7: 00 p.m
Venue  : Outside Boys Mess

Do come without fail.

Some reactions and asides by Shama Zaidi

Some reactions and asides by Shama Zaidi made after reading the

Draft of the Detailed Project Report “Upgradation of FTII to International Standards”

By Hewitt Associates of Gurgaon, Haryana

Download link :

http://www.2shared.com/document/pjM0XMDS/alternative_space_for_ftii1.html

What does FTII mean to you?

Letter to The Joint Secretary (Films)

Letter drafted by the Students association

to The joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

Students’ Association

Film and Television Institute of India,

Law College Road,

Pune:411004

To                                                                                                        14^th September,2010

Mr. D.P Reddy

Joint Secretary (Films)

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

Government of India

Shastri Bhavan

New Delhi-110001

Respected Sir,

This is to thank you for providing us with your time for discussing our concerns and reservations regarding “ upgradation of FTII” and the DPR furbished by Hewitt Associates for this matter.

As per our meeting it was decided that a committee will be established which will include the likes of those who will be more qualified to comment and in deciding for FTII as an educational institute providing for film education in practice and not reducing it to a mere polytechnic or a mass communication institute, geared towards generating funds or to provide fodder and cheap labour for the Bombay industry.

This Committee would include educationists, academics, filmmakers who are also involved in film education, heads of art schools and institutes of repute etc. to upgrade the Institute in a true sense keeping in mind the kind of service it has provided, it’s cultural fabric and the quality education that it has always stood for. This committee would also have representation of  “stakeholders” mentioned in the report, namely students, ex-students, staff, administration, ministry, faculty (including external faculty who are directly involved in the kind of education that is imparted on campus).

The students’ body was asked to suggest names for this committee. We would like people who will dedicatedly work and contribute to be a part of this committee, unlike the panels of our Governing and Academic Council, who as we have witnessed in the past, barely even attend the meetings. We request you to give us a enough time to be able to discuss amongst the students, Faculty and others regarding the composition of this committee and henceforth present you with the names.

This committee is to sit down for, to use your word, “a workshop” over a period of some days to come up with a resolution regarding the workings and the direction that the Institute should take in it’s 50^th year and the upgradation required for its smooth functioning without any qualitative loss in the kind of education and service that FTII has provided for the past 50 years.

Though you mentioned that Hewitt Associates shall be overlooking this “workshop,” we have great reservations regarding them being qualified enough to be a part of this process. As far as we see this, their involvement would only amount to wastage of precious public money at this stage.

Also, we are hopeful that no hasty decisions will be taken regarding this matter and the committee would be allowed to fulfill its role wholistically and be a part of the entire process of “upgradation” till the end, and not be interrupted in the middle of its work by the administration to simply finish the task; as has been done in the case of the syllabus review - where the syllabus review committee and all the efforts put in by its individual members were suspended mid way resulting in the members of the committee not being involved in furbishing a final syllabus, leaving us with the document the administration now conveniently calls the “New Syllabus.”

We look forward to more interactions and discussions with the view of taking healthy and constructive efforts to upgrade FTII, with the best interests of the Institute in mind.

Thanking You

Yours sincerely,

Samarth Dixit                                                                                                    Naveen Padnamabha

President                                                                                                          General Secratary

Students' Association                                                                                        Students' Association

CC:  Secretary (Films)

         The Chairman, FTII

         The Director, FTII

         The Registrar, FTII

         Members of Governing and Academic Council  

         President, Staff Association 

         President, Teachers’ Association    

  

Letter to The Registrar, FTII

Letter drafted by the Students association

to the Registrar, Film and Television Institute of India

Students’ Assosiation

Film and Television Institute of India,

Law College Road,

Pune:411004

To,                                                                                                                   21^st September, 2010

Mr. Prakash Magdum

Registrar

Film and Television Institute of India,

Law College Road,

Pune - 411004

Dear Sir,

This is with reference to the DPR that was submitted by Hewitt Associates regarding the “up gradation of FTII”.

As per our conversation with the Mr. Pankaj Rag, there is gross misrepresentation of the students’ view under  “points of discussion” as mentioned on page 23 of the above mentioned report, especially the matter of students asking for “launching [new] courses in new technologies” and the Institute to be “exempted from reservation”.

This was mentioned again in the “Minutes of Meeting”(page 82) as mentioned under 14.2 Annexure B are highly problematic and there is great deal of misinformation that the document states.

This was raised during the last Academic Council and the Governing Council meetings and was even told to the representatives of Hewitt Associates. It is unfortunate that the DPR has been put up on the FTII website and has also been sent to various individuals, who are expected to be a part of the committee (or workshop) regarding the matter of “upgrading FTII”, and still the corrections have not been made. It worries us that the document has become public and such misrepresentation would only hamper the interests of FTII, and carelessness of this sort on the part of Hewitt is simply unprofessional.

Hence, we would request you to make these necessary corrections and send out a disclaimer regarding the same to everyone involved with immediate effect

Thanking you.

Yours Sincerely,

Samarth Dixit

President

Students’ Association

Cc: The Director FTII

Letter to The Hon.Minister of Information and Broadcasting

Letter Drafted by the Students association

 to The Hon.Minister of Information and Broadcasting

Students’ Association

Film and Television Institute of India,

Law College Road,

Pune:411004

To,                                                                                                                 9^th September, 2010

Ambika Soni ji

The Honorable Minister

Information and Broadcasting

Government of India

Shastri Bhavan

New Delhi-110001

Dear Madam,

We have already sent joint representation from the staff, faculty and students regarding the report prepared by Hewitt Associates and the re-designing of the syllabus for the diploma courses, but have not received any reply. The students of FTII have no option now but to request your immediate intervention in the developments taking place in the institute.

A few days before, a press report in the TOI mentioned the re-modeling of the institute as a PPP. The report has caused much anxiety and confusion among the students, teachers and staff on the campus, as none of the respective associations were taken into confidence. On being questioned, both Hewitt Associates and the Institute Administration denied the report. However, both refrained from a press release regarding the same. That the report was from a PTI source heightens our concern.

Even after repeated appeals and requests, all we have received from Hewitt Associates is a truncated Project Report. The sad inconsistency is that while this same report mentions “students” as stakeholders, in actuality these very “stakeholders” are being denied access to the full report.

What is bothering all present on campus is the secretive nature of the entire process – where a private company has been hired to make a report on the institute, even draft a vision statement for a national institute like FTII – a task for which existing constitutional bodies such as the AC and GC are more qualified and equipped in any case. Moreover, the intention here seems to be geared towards disinvesting in an institution formed under the Neheruvian idea of nation building. This ironically coincides with the celebrations of fifty years of FTII’s glorious existence.

The second fundamental issue is regarding the formation of a revised syllabus – an agenda of utmost importance, which, as you are aware, has been dragging for more than two years now. Over time a number of persons ranging from academicians, filmmakers, ex-students and students have maintained that any review of the syllabus should be a constructive and holistic process. Also, keeping in view of the Reservation Act, 2006, every institution should ensure that there is no qualitative depletion in the academics. Sadly, even after so many months of deliberation, the entire process is still being subverted at the institute level. Lack of transparency and continuum between various meetings has resulted in a stalemate. Now the institute authorities are trying to bulldoze with a truncated syllabus instead of improving the available infrastructure – a demand that is being appropriated in the garb of the report prepared by Hewitt Associates.

The so called “reconstruction” of FTII, done on the principles of a private company accompanied by a stripped down syllabus, will fundamentally alter the fabric of the institute and the plural cinema that FTII has encouraged and stood by over the years. Given the present situation, FTII is in danger of becoming a back office for churning out blue collar technicians for an industry which the Khosla Committee has commented, is “… a wild and fiercely competitive jungle, infested with peddlers of cheap and vulgar entertainment, money grabbing producers, greedy distributors and unscrupulous exhibitors who keep the medium in a vicious stranglehold…” (Khosla committee report, 1972)

Instead, as the Khosla Committee had agreed, the objectives of the Institute should be “… to impart training in that raising the standards of films to make them aesthetically and artistically more satisfying and realistically more acceptable and convincing. There should be a constant endeavor to raise the taste of the cinema going public by promoting the making of films which passes technical and artistic excellence… to give a complete academic, aesthetic and practical training in filmmaking so that the diploma holders can find ready entrance into the world of filmmaking.”

You have been advocating tribal representation in the institute for years now. We fail to understand how, if we go ahead with the ongoing developments, are we to expect the Institute to have a pan-India fabric?

Over the years the same demands have been made. Somehow they are lost every time in the bureaucratic jargon which threatens to stifle the very consciousness on which institutions like FTII have been set up.

We request your immediate intervention in the developments to restore the faith of students on campus. The situation on the institute will continue to remain volatile until this lack of transparency is removed and a healthy dialogue is sincerely undertaken to avert the crisis.  We look forward to your support in dealing with a system which assumes all power without any corresponding responsibility.

Thanking you

Yours Sincerely,

Samarth Dixit

President

Students Association

CC:

The Chairman (Governing Council)

Secretary Films (Ministry of I&B)

Joint Secretary Films (Ministry I&B)

Members of the Governing Council

Members of the Academic Council

Director (FTII)

Dean (Films)

Dean (Television)

President (GRAFTII)

Official Blog of the Students' Body, FTII

Many of us are aware that FTII is all set to be turned into a “global film school” with the government planning to upgrade it at a premium cost. The proposed roadmap will bring in new short-term courses with a view to make the Institute into a self-sustaining body. For this purpose, the administration contracted Hewitt Associates, a US-based consultancy firm, to prepare a detailed proposal report, which has caused much anxiety and confusion among the students, teachers and staff on the campus, as none of the respective associations were taken into confidence during the preparation of the report. 

We have already written to the Honorable Minister, Information and Broadcasting, Ms.Ambika Soni, and to the Joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Mr. D. P. Reddy, voicing our concerns and reservations regarding “upgradation of FTII” and the detailed project report furbished by Hewitt Associates for this matter.  A copy of the report can be downloaded here.