There is some good news for the 115 faculty members of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) who were working on contract, for their contracts have been renewed/extended till March of 2025. The renewed contracts have been handed over to the concerned faculty members, much to the relief of the teachers and the students.
These faculty members were appointed under projects funded by the Tata Education Trust (TET), and most were selected via a rigorous selection process and have either cleared NET or are PhD scholars.
Earlier this year, in June, about 55 faculty members and 60 non-teaching employees were dismissed without even a month’s notice, due to lack of funds from the Trust. The dismissal was a shocker for the faculty members who were reportedly occupied with admissions at the time and had also worked hard to give the syllabus a makeover in line with the New Education Policy.
However, the dismissal order was soon withdrawn and the impacted staff members were assured that the funding would be extended till the end of this year. A committee was also constituted, comprising senior faculty, to brainstorm and come up with ways to continue the projects in a sustainable way.
Now that the contracts have been renewed for the next three months, these faculty members can relax at least till March 2025. It is hoped that by then the sustainability committee will come up with a solution that will work in the long run and make the projects self-sustainable.
