NID’s new director faces objections from student body

On Sunday, the NID administration issued an email with new responsibilities, affecting a major shuffle within the institute. Students strongly objected to the replacement of five female heads with male heads and stated that “women are no longer in power and because of that, we feel we have not enough representation in the institute” in their mail to the director demanding withdrawal of the office order issued on Sunday to be effective from Monday itself.

“When students demanded an open dialogue on Monday they were completely ignored. The new director did not give us a proper hearing and left midway, citing that he has meetings to attend. But when…we kept waiting for hours, we were assured by the director through an email sent around 7.30 pm today that they will have an internal discussion and respond to our concerns by tomorrow (Tuesday) evening 5 pm,” one of the students told The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity.

The students have expressed deep concerns regarding the recent changes to faculty positions — the roles of discipline leads, co-leads, and mentors. “As you know, decisions of this nature have a profound impact on the academic environment and the future of the students at NID, so we would like to request clarification for these changes and for the opportunity for an open dialogue,” the SAC demanded in its email.
The Indian Express tried to reach out to Ashok Mondal on Friday and Monday but he did not respond to calls.

Also, there was no response to the mail sent by this paper on Friday to Joint Secretary, Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Sandhya Bhullar, who is the chairperson of NID Governing Council, on Mondal’s appointment.

The abrupt reassignment of faculty members without prior notice or consultation has left many students questioning the criteria and process behind these decisions, they further stated.

Further, raising questions on the urgency of such an order to be issued on a Sunday, they stated, “The announcement of these changes on a Sunday, with an expectation of immediate adaptation, has been challenging for the students to say the least. We would like to understand the pace and necessity behind implementing these decisions seemingly overnight. This sudden change has not only impacted our current academic progress, but due to the changes being implemented at the end of the current semester, it has brought about further inquiry into the abruptness of the decision. We would like to mention that the implications of the decision may drastically affect the quality of education and continuity of mentorship that students rely on.”

“We are not satisfied with current appointments, hence need a reshuffle, just not the justification,” the student council stated in its mail sent to the director on Monday, demanding withdrawal of the office order.

“If the people involved in drafting such a drastic order do not have a response to a question as basic as why it was done, it begs us to wonder if there was a process involved at all? If the decisions in their truest essence are taken for students, should the process not be inclusive if a body of 800 individuals are dissatisfied? If someone who has iterated that they have just assumed the role and needs time to understand how things work, should decisions like this also not have due diligence?,” the students complained, adding that there was no mention of consultative forums.

Sources revealed that former director Praveen Nahar has been transferred to the Bengaluru campus. Ashok Mondal quietly took over on a holiday while Nahar whose term was ending on October 16 was asked to leave “unceremoniously” and also vacated his office and accommodation, sources added.