SATURDAY, 12 JANUARY 2013 17:24 DEEPAK KUMAR JHA | NEW DELHI
The IITs have woken up to the frequent cases of suicides within their campuses. Taking the lead in initiating innovative steps to check suicides, IIT-Gandhinagar has introduced an innovative initiative called Masti Ki Pathshala. New entrants to the institute will not have to attend classes for the first five weeks and during this period the students will get time to play games, indulge in sporting activities, cinemas, outings and several other extracurricular activities where they will get an opportunity to interact with each other, seniors and institute staff.
According to IIT-Gandhinagar Director, Prof Sudhir K Jain, “Initial bonding is more important than beginning studies during the first few weeks for new candidates. Social orientation of the students and acquainting them to the ground realities of society is important.”
“Our B-Tech students will go through a five-week Foundation Programme to enable them to cope better with the challenges that lie ahead in their years at IIT-Gandhinagar and in their professional life beyond this institute.
“They will enjoy themselves and at the same time the students, staff and faculty will bond together as one big family,” Jain said about his new initiative to arrest cases of suicide.
Other IIT’s too have expressed their interest in this initiative and may implement the Masti Ka Pathshala from the forthcoming academic session. However, the IITs are still grappling with the harsh reality that students have access to drugs and liquor in the campuses. This is one of the major cause for suicides in IITs and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutes (CFTI).
Prof Sanjay Dhande, Director, IIT-Kanpur, described suicides as a “social scourge”.
In a presentation of a report on Prevention of Suicide and Promotion of Wellness in the CFTIs by the MHRD-constituted task force comprising all IIT Directors, it said that every institution should have a dedicated system to cater to the mental health and counseling needs of the students.
Astonishingly while the Centre has announced a major hike in the fee structure of IITs, the panel suggested that there should be mechanism of reducing the financial burden of students. It suggested that adequate financial support is made available according to the budgetary provisions of the institution and the Government.
The Directors discussed at length about the ‘intrusion’ of drugs and alcohol within the campus and into the hostel room. “The issue is as how these intoxicating agents reach the hostel rooms. Once these items are in the hands of the students’ then there are many associated problems. We need to think and ponder over how we check this (drugs and alcohol) menace within the campus,” said the presentation made before the HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju during the Council of IIT Meeting early this week.
The panel formed to look into reasons behind the spate of suicides had attributed drug addiction, failed love also as also the reason for growing number of suicides within various IIT campuses. The report also talks about the technology like mobile phones and internets which too have become a menace.
The logic given by the panel was constant internet use left students too tired to concentrate on lessons. A case which came to point of discussion was that about a student who committed suicide at an IIT when one of his female classmate deleted the boy’s name from a social website.
