ITANAGAR, 8 Dec: Students of screen acting and documentary cinema at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) here have refused to begin their second semester, citing lack of basic academic facilities in the institute.
They are demanding that the authority either provide all minimum academic facilities or relocate them to a functional campus immediately. The protesting students said that they have already lost a full academic semester in a “collapsed” academic environment and an unfinished campus.
They stated that the institute, which was promised to be a state-of-the-art national institute, is still under construction with inadequate facilities, including no functional studios, faulty classrooms, limited cameras, no sound studio, inefficient medical support, and no access to basic human needs.
They said that a number of letters were submitted to Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata, and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting since December 2024, highlighting the issues, but to no avail.
“They had undertaken two academic halts in March and May 2025 due to these same unresolved issues. In fact, after classes resumed in August, all infrastructural work stopped completely with the ministry failing to intervene,” the students said in a release.
They further stated that “recent RTI documents and official communication between SRFTI and the ministry revealed that the campus is still not complete and cannot admit new students in 2025.” Consequently, admissions have been paused due to lack of infrastructure, they said.
“If the institute is officially unfit for future students today, why were we admitted last year, when the situation was worse?” the students questioned, and accused the ministry of using them as “experimental subjects in a prematurely launched institution.”
Screen acting students stated that they can no longer accept academic instruction in the current setup, as core camera-acting pedagogy and proper acting spaces are still unavailable.
“We have already lost one semester of specialised training. We will not allow the remaining three to be ruined,” they stated.
Documentary cinema students pointed out that documentary filmmaking cannot be taught without a sound studio, studio floor, or continuous access to fieldwork resources.
“Our diploma (films) will fail global technical standards if this continues,” they stated.
They further stated that they had attempted to meet the information and broadcasting secretary during the IFFI in Goa, but their request was ignored.
The aggrieved students appealed to the ministry and SRFTI to respond in writing with acknowledgment of all concerns; prepare a time-bound action plan; hold proper meeting with student representatives; and provide real infrastructure, “not makeshift excuses.”
