Mumbai Mirror | Updated: Sep 21, 2018, 03:00 IST
Actor Yami Gautam was the chief guest at the IIT-B Techfest
This year, the festival takes its theme, SPEAK: Stand to Express, to more than 50 colleges across India.
The annual science and technology festival of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) has a unique aim this year: to eradicate the stigma surrounding mental health disorders by initiating conversations among the youth.
In its 22nd year, Techfest is part of IIT-B’s diamond jubilee celebrations, and is taking its theme – SPEAK: Stand to Express — to more than 50 colleges across India. Workshops will be held in colleges in more than 18 cities, such as Delhi, Dehradun, Jaipur, Tumkur and Indore, reaching nearly 4,000 students.
The team has collaborated with organisations like Befrienders India, Suicide Prevention India Foundation and Khushi Life Learning to provide support and trained professionals to conduct these workshops. Workshops have already been conducted at 46 colleges across 16 cities in five states.
At the launch event on September 19 at IIT-B’s Powai campus, the organisers said the aim was to create awareness among students about mental health. “Mental wellness is a key factor in overall development,” said Soumyo Mukherji, dean of student affairs, IIT-B, at the event.
There was also a panel discussion with panelists like renowned music therapist Roshan Mansukhani and Nagesh Sood, India head, Befrienders India, which touched upon mental health.
“Mental wellness is a very sensitive issue and should be treated with care. A way to tackle it would be to change the perspective from which we look at the issue,” said chief guest, actor Yami Gautam.
Suseendran Baskaran, manager at Techfest, said suicides are on the rise among students. “The main reason for this is students do not open up to others about mental issues,” said Baskaran, a third-year student at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT-B.
Earlier this month, an MTech student at IIT-B committed suicide in a hotel by overdosing on anti-depressants. Police said he suffered from depression.
