New Delhi: First year students of the Delhi’s National School of Drama (NSD), touted to be India’s premier cradle for theater training, are struggling to study. There is no set syllabus six months after the commencement of the year and of the 17 permanent faculty positions, 11 are still lying vacant.
Third-year students, whose graduation is several months overdue, still have courses which haven’t been taught to them and there are no teachers to teach them either.
Students’ problems with the management and the lack of regularity in classes has become a bone of contention between the two parties, which has brought education to a halt in the institute.
NSD students, who have been protesting since 3 October — with eight among them on a hunger strike — say they have stopped attending classes to mark their dissatisfaction with the way the institute is functioning.
Prof Ramesh Chandra Gaur, Director of NSD, who took over the position in May this year, is on a temporary deputation. He is also a professor at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). Actor Paresh Rawal is the current chairperson of the institute.
After the end of the then Director Waman Kendre’s term in September 2018, the institute was led by Suresh Sharma as Director-in-Charge.
The student union of the institute, which is leading the protest, issued a statement Thursday that they will continue to remain on strike “until the Chairperson and Society members meet with the students on an urgent basis and take immediate actions on the pressing issues we are facing.”
However, Gaur has denied several claims made by the students and stated that a meeting of the governing body cannot be held at such a short notice until it is a matter of urgency.
He further added that Chairperson Rawal will be visiting the institute on 11 October in a bid to conduct interviews for the position of a director. “He has promised to speak with the students and the same has been communicated to them as well,” Director Gaur added.
Apart from their demand for a permanent director, the students, in a statement released by the students’ union Sunday, demanded the removal of the registrar of the institute.
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‘We deserve a permanent director’
Tamilasara, a third-year student and spokesperson of NSD’s students’ union told ThePrint, “Our academics are suffering and the quality of learning has dropped severely. Our production budgets have been cut by over 50 per cent and we are time and again told that theatre is a ‘poor man’s medium’. How will we learn if this keeps happening?”
Another first-year student, who wished to not be named, told ThePrint, “If our classes are scheduled to start on 1 October, the institute sends the syllabus on 29 September. Sometimes they don’t have guest faculty come in time.”
Students have been informed that the current syllabus is under review and a new syllabus will only be implemented by the next session.
Students also allege that not only are guest faculty not treated well by the institute, their education suffers greatly as the institute does not pay them on time.
Demanding a permanent director, the student union in a statement Thursday had said, “The functioning of the institute like this has a sub-optimal effect on its reputation as experienced by the student body and observed by theatre practitioners across the country. As an autonomous body, the institution truly deserves a leader with a keen interest in theatre and a vision for theatre pedagogy of the country. We deserve a permanent director who is a theatre practitioner, theatre academician, and a person with a vision for theater and its future.”
Institute denies claims
The institute has denied the claims made by students regarding their budget cuts.
Director Gaur said, “I have made sure that the students receive the best of everything. This year instead one, two productions were held. I have even had international faculty come into the campus. Things like these have not happened in the past three years.”
Another official at the institute went on to say that the institute had no reason to cut students’ budget since it is not facing budget restraints either. “We had an excess of Rs 12 crore last month. The ministry has been very helpful to us,” said the official.
NSD is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Culture and, according to Gaur, a selection committee has been appointed by the ministry in order to select the new director and fill up the vacancy positions.
Denying the claims made by the students regarding the syllabus, Gaur told ThePrint, “On 3 October the syllabus till December was shared with first-year students. We also asked for their inputs.”
The Registrar of the school Jwala Prasad, who was appointed in 2021, speaking to ThePrint said, “Since this is an academic matter, I do not have a say in it. However, we are trying our best to help the students.”
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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Source: The Print
