Ahmedabad NID’s new director in Gujarat issues fresh reshuffle order amid objections by students, staff
ven as he issued a new order, faculty members said that it was largely similar to the previous one except a slight increase in the female representation.
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Ashok Mondal seen addressing students on NID campus. (Express)Amid objections raised by faculty and students over the decisions taken since he assumed charge as the Director of the National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad campus, Ashok Mondal on Monday withdrew his order on a reshuffle related to academic and administrative responsibilities. Even as he issued a new order, faculty members said that it was largely similar to the previous one except a slight increase in the female representation.
Also, now, there are separate heads of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, which were earlier leads and co-leads of disciplines, said a source.
Some faculty members claimed Mondal did not seek suggestions even before issuing the second order. “There is still ambiguity as the order issued on Monday evening stated that it is effective from Monday itself but there is no mention if the previous order stands cancelled or not,” said another faculty member.
The Director could not be reached despite several attempts. Ever since Mondal joined NID as Director on October 11, an official holiday at NID, the students and faculty members have been raising their voice against his decisions.
Citing lack of “transparency and accountability” for the sake of student academics, the Student Activity Committee (SAC) of NID had written to Mondal on the turn of events barely in the first three days of his joining.
On October 13, the NID administration issued an email citing new responsibilities and a major shuffle within the institute.
Students strongly objected to the replacement of female heads with male heads and stated that “women who are no longer in power and because of that we feel we don’t have enough representation in the institute” in their mail to the Director demanding withdrawal of the office order.
As the protests and standoff continued between students and the Director, faculty members also got involved. Several senior faculty members from different disciplines wrote to the Director expressing their resentment towards major changes in their roles without any consultation.
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