For the 13 days in a row, the protest at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) continued and the students from the other city colleges also joined in supporting the protest.
A section of students called for 'TISS chalo' march, which was joined by many students from other colleges.
Akshay Gujar, a post-graduate student at the University of Mumbai, said, “Basic rights are being denied by the university. The administration is cutting funds for SC/ST and OBC students. The government is privatizing the institutions. They don't want to provide funds for students under the reserved category. We fear that they might cut all funds for the reserved category in the future, and we are protesting against that.”
Students also carried various placards some of which said, “Education is a right”, “Stop withdrawal of aid” and “Chalo TISS”. Other cards were highlighting the issue of fee hike.
A student from IIT-Bombay said, “Last year, students faced a massive fee hike at our institute. We had a massive movement in the IIT campus similar to this one. We are here to express our solidarity in support of the protest.”
The strike was launched by the students on February 20 in the wake of the institute's decision to withdraw the aid for the students (SC/ST category) eligible for the Government of India's Post-Matric Scholarship (GOI-PMS) scheme.