Satyajit Ray film institute sees protest over fee hike

Kolkata: Students of Kolkata- based Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) went on an indefinite hunger strike to protest against steep annual fee hikes and allegedly prohibitive cost of the entrance exam.

"While four students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune have

been on indefinite hunger strike since Monday, six SRFTI students went on indefinite hunger strike a little after

noon on Tuesday," said student body of SRFTI in a media statement.

The students claimed that there has been an exorbitant rise in the JET (Joint Entrance Test for both FTII and SRFTI) application fee. From Rs 1500 in 2015, the entrance exam fee has shot up to a maximum of Rs 10,000 for JET 2020.

"For years now, students have tried to bring up these points of fee hike/ entrance fee to the notice of the administration through protest/

suggestions but have always met with disappointment," pointed out the student body of SRFTI. While students pointed out that there has been a 10 per cent hike in academic fees year on year since the batch of 2013, the annual fee of Rs 55,380 from the 2013 batch the fees for the upcoming 2020 batch had shot up to Rs 1,18,323.

"We have appealed to the institute authorities to reconvene the JET board stop the application process until the fees are revised," said Shweta Uday Kamat, an alumni of SRFTI.

While the JET to the FTII and the SRFTI is conducted by the two institutes to shortlist candidates for admission, the governing council meeting of FTII in connection with the fee hike will be held on December 27.