Protest over reshuffle of department heads at NID Ahmedabad continues

Ahmedabad: The standoff between students and the newly appointed director of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, continued on Thursday with students firm on their demand of revoking the sudden reshuffling of department heads weeks before the end of the current semester.

The students are agitating over how the reshuffling has been carried out. They allege that changes 'lack transparency' and are without any technical alignment, experience and expertise. The faculties have been transferred to areas where they lack expertise as well as experience.

"The reshuffling of department heads has been carried out without looking at their expertise and in a generalised manner. For example, a head of furniture design has been shifted to exhibition design and vice-versa. It sends the wrong message to current students who almost finished half of their academic year. The institute should also consider that the market is becoming specialised," an NID insider said.

The students are also against the decision of the new director Ashok Mondal over the removal of six women faculties from their current positions. The protest erupted on Monday, a day after Mondal passed the order. Mondal joined as director only on Friday after the five-year stint of Praveen Nahar ended.

In an email to the Student Activity Council, Mondal wrote, "It is also necessary to respect the diversity of faculty talent, giving opportunities for younger faculty to grow and contribute to institutional development. While this is normally done during academic breaks, the present rotation of responsibilities was long overdue due to the interim arrangement during the transition period."

On the question of the removal of six women faculties as chairpersons, Mondal said in the email that "more than 33% of administrative roles have been assigned to female faculty colleagues on a rotation basis."