Suicide spree: IIT-Kharagpur to get professional counsellors - Indian Express

Suicide spree: IIT-Kharagpur to get professional counsellors

The recent spate of suicide incidents taking place inside the campus of IIT- Kharagpur has forced the authorities to involve professional counsellors to help students cope up with stress.

Written by Shiv Sahay Singh | Kolkata | Published on:July 17, 2009 3:58 am

The recent spate of suicide incidents taking place inside the campus of IIT- Kharagpur has forced the authorities to involve professional counsellors to help students cope up with stress.

“The counselling centre has a broader objective. It will not only look after the academic side but will see whether the students are suffering from any personal stress,” said D Gunasekaran, Registrar IIT-Kharagpur.

Gunasekaran said that apart from the faculty members who will counsel the students,professional counsellors would be hired to help the students de-stress. The institute has already placed an advertisement for hiring professional counselors but before it finalises on it,the faculty members will serve as counsellors.

Institute officials say all the suicide incidents are not related to academic stress as there are a number of cases where the students took the extreme step because of personal problems.

According to faculty members,students join the institute at a very young age — 18 and 19 years old — and thus they suffer from home sickness. “So it is necessary for the institute to ensure that students do not feel isolated,” they said.

They added that the previous concept of faculty members as counsellor has not worked and hence it was decided to hire a professional counsellor.

Experts say that those who join the IITs have to go through tough competition and are prone to depression and stress even if they face slight rejection or failure. “The students do not have an aptitude for a job but they are keen to get it only because of peer pressure. The students sometimes suffer from rejection factor when they fail to qualify the interview,” said Prof B K Mathur,a professor of physics and the placement head of the institute.

Mathur added the counsellors will also help the student choose the right kind of job.

“The counselling centre can help a student who has an inclination towards core sciences take a job in that discipline rather than going for software since his peers have done so,” said Mathur.

The institute houses around 8,000 students in its campus that is spread over 2,100 acres.

3 and counting… 

April 23: K Ramananda Rao a fourth-year chemical engineering student committed suicide. According to fellow students,he was not doing well in academics.

June 15: Manoj Kumar,a first-year student,committed suicide. The dead body was recovered a few days after he committed suicide as most of the students were away on vacation.

July 15: Yogendra Kumar Singh,a student who secured 400 rank in this years IIT entrance test,committed suicide. According to reports,he was keen on joining some other institute.

64 - 17th July 2009 - Suicide spree: IIT-Kharagpur to get professional counsellors - Indian Express

Shiv Sahay Singh
Tags : kolkata, IIT-K
Posted: Fri Jul 17 2009, 03:58 hr

The recent spate of suicide incidents taking place inside the campus of IIT- Kharagpur has forced the authorities to involve professional counsellors to help students cope up with stress.

“The counselling centre has a broader objective. It will not only look after the academic side but will see whether the students are suffering from any personal stress,” said D Gunasekaran, Registrar IIT-Kharagpur.

Gunasekaran said that apart from the faculty members who will counsel the students, professional counsellors would be hired to help the students de-stress. The institute has already placed an advertisement for hiring professional counselors but before it finalises on it, the faculty members will serve as counsellors.

Institute officials say all the suicide incidents are not related to academic stress as there are a number of cases where the students took the extreme step because of personal problems.

According to faculty members, students join the institute at a very young age — 18 and 19 years old — and thus they suffer from home sickness. “So it is necessary for the institute to ensure that students do not feel isolated,” they said.

They added that the previous concept of faculty members as counsellor has not worked and hence it was decided to hire a professional counsellor.

Experts say that those who join the IITs have to go through tough competition and are prone to depression and stress even if they face slight rejection or failure. “The students do not have an aptitude for a job but they are keen to get it only because of peer pressure. The students sometimes suffer from rejection factor when they fail to qualify the interview,” said Prof B K Mathur, a professor of physics and the placement head of the institute.

Mathur added the counsellors will also help the student choose the right kind of job.

“The counselling centre can help a student who has an inclination towards core sciences take a job in that discipline rather than going for software since his peers have done so,” said Mathur.

The institute houses around 8,000 students in its campus that is spread over 2,100 acres.

3 and counting...
April 23: K Ramananda Rao a fourth-year chemical engineering student committed suicide. According to fellow students, he was not doing well in academics.

June 15: Manoj Kumar, a first-year student, committed suicide. The dead body was recovered a few days after he committed suicide as most of the students were away on vacation.

July 15: Yogendra Kumar Singh, a student who secured 400 rank in this years IIT entrance test, committed suicide. According to reports, he was keen on joining some other institute.

62 - 16th July 2009 - IT fresher commits suicide - IIT FOUNDATION

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(From The Telegraph, July 16, 2009):-

IIT fresher commits suicide
OUR BUREAU
Kharagpur/Calcutta, July 15: A first-year student at IIT Kharagpur committed suicide this afternoon by hanging himself in his hostel room.

The body of Yogendra Kumar Singh, 18, a resident of Noida, was found in his newly allotted hostel room by his father around 3pm.

Yogendra, who secured an all-India rank of 400 in the IIT Joint Entrance Examination this year, had taken admission to study electrical engineering. He had come with his relatives for allotment of his room and the orientation that starts tomorrow.

IIT sources said Yogendra had moved into his room in the Madan Mohan Malavya Hall. “His uncle and father had gone to buy utensils and other things but Yogendra wanted to stay behind and freshen up,” said U.P. Singh, spokesperson and security chief at the IIT

“We have learnt from the father that he wanted to study in IIT Delhi but had not got admission there and was dejected about it.”

61 - 16th July 2009 - One more suicide inside IIT-Kharagpur - INDIAN EXPRESS

In yet another suicide case inside IIT campus, an 18-year-old student hanged himself on Wednesday afternoon in Kharagpur.

Yogendra Kumar Singh was at IIT-Kharagpur for registration in the undergraduate programme, which is scheduled for Thursday. He was staying at the Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of residence along with his father and uncle.

The institute sources said he had been offered electrical engineering based on his rank. Singh had ranked fairly high in the merit list of IIT-JEE examination this year.

“We have learnt that the boy was not happy to get admitted to IIT-Kharagpur and since he was from Noida, he wanted to join the nearest institute,” said UP Singh, the spokesperson and the security officer at the institute.

According to the authorities at the institute, the incident took place when Singh’s father and his uncle had gone for shopping. Singh hanged himself with a chain used to tie suitcase and other luggage. Over the last few months the institute has been rocked by a series of suicide cases. On June 15 Manoj Kumar, a first year student, committed suicide at Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall. On April 23 K Ramananda Rao, a 4th year chemical engineering student and a boarder at the Nehru Hall of Residence, had also taken his life inside the campus.

60 - 15th July 2009 - Youth commits suicide at IIT Kharagpur

A youth has allegedly committed suicide at a hostel in the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.

Informing this, IIT(Kharagpur) Chief Security Officer V P Singh said the deceased, identified as Jogendra Kumar Singh (19), was found hanging from the ceiling with a rope tied around his neck at Madan Malabia Hall this morning.

Mr Singh said the youth qualified himself for undergoing a course in electrical engineering at the institute, adding he was scheduled to take admission tomorrow.

''Jogendra's father Laxmi Singh, who accompanied his son, informed that his son was suffering from depression as he wanted to study at IIT (Delhi) but was forced to take admission at IIT (Kharagpur),'' he stated.

The body would be sent for post-mortem tomorrow, according to him.