I went to IIT. Let me tell you why it's not great - Daily O

I went to IIT. Let me tell you why it's not great

We really need to build world-class liberal arts colleges in India so that bright minds interested in history do not end up studying mechanical engineering.

Variety

 |  5-minute read |   21-07-2017

ARGHYA BANERJEE

@arghyaban

In case you are looking at the headline and thinking it to be a case of sour grapes - let me put your mind to rest at the outset.

I did study in an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) myself. I studied electrical engineering at IIT Kharagpur and then got an MBA degree from IIM Ahmedabad. After a stint in the corporate world (I was co-head of Irevna, an S&P company), I now run a school which has been celebrated for its innovative methods of teaching.

Now that my bio-data is out of the way, let’s think about this contradiction: our IITs select less than 1 per cent of the students who apply. But their own ranking in world university rankings is nowhere in the top 100. In the latest QS World University rankings, IIT Delhi ranked at 172, IIT Madras at 264 and IIT Kharagpur at 308.

Before we trash the ranking in the spirit of patriotism, let’s examine the scientific contribution of IITs vis-à-vis the western universities that rank at the top of the list. 

Very recently, Narayana Murthy, in his convocation address at Indian Institute of Science, mentioned how MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ranked number 1 in the QS list) helped transform the world because of some of the biggest inventions of the last 50 years - the global positioning system, bionic prostheses and microchip all emerged from there.

In the same speech, he also mentioned that almost all modern inventions such as computers, internet, wifi, MRI, laser, robots and many other gadgets and technology came about thanks to research by western universities.

Compared to the Western universities, he goes on to add, there has not been a single invention from India in the last 60 years that has become a household name globally, nor any idea that led to any "earth-shaking" invention to "delight global citizens".

But you may say, hold on, our IITs may not have created great products, but at least they created great people – the IITians who went on to become very successful in many fields, ranging from politics to academia to the corporate world. But that argument is clearly flawed.

If you are taking in the top one per cent of the population, of course, there will be quite a few among them who will be exceptionally successful. The great success of IITians just proves that the input was great. It proves nothing about the value-addition done to the input. IITians who have achieved spectacular success in life did so in spite of the mediocre education at the IITs, not because of it.

What exactly is wrong with the education offered at the IITs?

Firstly, most students are not interested in the discipline that they choose. They aren’t really interested in even being engineers – they are just there because their parents, peers and society told them to take a shot at IIT, because if you are good at academics, then how is that you haven’t proven it by taking the IIT-JEE exam?

Top ranking MIT has helped transform the world because of some of the biggest inventions of the last 50 years. Photo: Reuters

As a result, we begin our scientific education by the most unthinking, unscientific approach towards choosing careers. The brightest minds who are supposed to think independently make a beginning by following the herd.

Secondly, the curriculum is overloaded with obscure theory. Too many courses are crammed within a semester. Other than choosing the stream, students do not have much freedom in choosing the subjects.

The IITs are supposed to train students for a professional career, yet other than a perfunctory psychology or an economics course, there is hardly any well-thought out curriculum to develop the soft-skills of students.

At the point of entry, IITs are burdened with the weight of Kota-trained students with low social-skills and zero social awareness who study physics, chemistry and maths from 6th standard, at the exclusion of every other skill – and the four-year stint at IIT does not really improve that.

After IIT, most people choose one of the three paths – an MS abroad, a stint as a software engineer, or an MBA degree in India. Most of those paths do not require any knowledge of electrical engineering or metallurgical engineering or whatever else they specialised in.

They do require reading skills and thinking skills (GRE, CAT and software company aptitude tests), and people skills (interviews and getting letters of recommendations) – so the IITians now start frenziedly learning the skills that they hitherto neglected. But that learning does not happen inside the classrooms, and IITs themselves can claim little credit for it. However, being talented individuals, most students do master those skills too, over time.

I can go on. The conditions of the hostels do not behove a world class institute. The projects that the students do are hardly original. Classes are mostly uninspiring and do not break any new ground in pedagogy. The tradition of ragging – well, it is sad to see people at the premier scientific institutions believing in tradition, that too something as silly as that.

Why is there still such a craze for IITs? Why do we see full-page advertisements in newspapers by IITJEE coaching centres? To answer that, we need to look at the ranking of our liberal arts universities.

Calcutta University and University of Mumbai rank below 750. Compared to them, the IITs seem to be doing well. We really need to build world-class liberal arts colleges in India so that bright minds interested in history do not end up studying mechanical engineering.

Another reason behind the craze for IITs is that our minds are rooted in the past. There was a time when engineering and medicine were the only sure shot routes to a job after graduation. But thanks to liberalisation and the subsequent economic boom, after the 1990s, one does not need to be an engineer or doctor to get a job after graduation. But the minds of most middle-class parents are still stuck in the 1970s-80s, when engineering was one of the very few options guaranteeing a job.

We need to open these minds. We need to open the minds of parents and children to the unlimited career options that are there in today’s world. We need our best minds to study whatever they are passionate about. But before that, we need to stop believing in the myth of IITs being the best. We need to start building institutions which are really world-class.

Also read: Why IITs can't stand up to competition

Six reasons why we must get rid of IIT-JEE - Daily O

Six reasons why we must get rid of IIT-JEE

The entrance process is such that IITs produce unidimensional graduates who may not even be interested in the subjects they gave many years of their life to.

Voices

 |  8-minute read |   28-10-2018

ARGHYA BANERJEE

@arghyaban

We should get rid of the IIT-JEE. Given the iconic status of the IITs and the resulting craze for its famed entrance exam in India, this statement may come across almost as blasphemy.

But IITs are scientific institutions, and the tradition of science is to hold nothing sacred and examine everything through the less of evidence.

Radical as it may sound, this sentiment has been gaining ground of late. The HRD ministry mooted a proposal to radically reform the IIT-JEE by even dismantling the JEE-Advanced, the flagship exam for the IITs. That proposal, however, was shot down by the IIT council a couple of months back. This rigidity to re-examine, introspect and improve oneself is alarming, and that is indeed the root cause of many of the flaws of this celebrated exam.

The test has been gamed by coaching centers

When a high-stakes exam, watched closely by millions of people, is not redesigned for years, the stakeholders manage to decipher it completely.

Coaching centers have figured out the typical problems given in the exam, built a library of similar problems, and approaches to solving them. (Photo: YouTube/screengrab)

Lakhs of students take the IIT-JEE every year. It is the gateway to the dream destination for those students, the source of the ultimate bragging right for millions of their parents, and the fountain of unlimited riches for the coaching centres. With so much at stake, it’s no wonder that the exam is watched closely and patterns of its questions analysed in great detail.

On top of that, the exam has not seen any radical redesign. Originally a single-phase exam, it was split between JEE-Mains and JEE-Advanced some years ago, but the main focus of the exam — testing high-level problem-solving abilities based on quantitative sums drawn from Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics — has remained the same over the past 30 years or so.

With so many interested parties avidly scrutinising the broadly unchanged exam for the past few decades, is it really a surprise that the exam no longer remains a test for raw brainpower?

The coaching centers have already figured out the typical problems given in the exam, built a huge library of similar problems, and approaches to solving them. They start drilling those problems and solutions in the students’ head from early years, often from as early as Class 8.

So what was once a test of intelligence (of the quantitative kind, admittedly) has become more of a test of how much money you can spend to access the best coaching centers, and how early you start your single-minded pursuit of this dream (or nightmare?).

The test has become so difficult so as to render it meaningless

If too many students compete for an exam and start preparing from an early age, it breeds an arms race. The same level of questions that separated students of different abilities ten years ago will cease to do so now — because everyone is simply more prepared to handle those questions. The questions need to become increasingly difficult to differentiate between students.

This is compounded by the fact that IIT-JEE tests skills in a narrow area — quantitative problem solving in Physics, Chemistry, and Math. It is possible for a student to attain a high level of mastery in a narrow area. With so many students attaining near-perfect competence in one narrow domain, the test must, over the years, become much, much more difficult to retain its ability to select — which is exactly what happened over the years.

If too many students compete for an exam and start preparing from an early age, it breeds an arms race. (Photo: PTI/file)

Instead, if the test evaluated wider (and possibly unrelated) skill sets — for example, quantitative skills, reading skills and social skills — it would have been difficult for students to master all of those to a certain level of perfection; and differentiation would have been possible through even a moderately challenging test.

It breeds unidimensional professionals

As a result of focusing so narrowly during the formative years of learning, millions of students are ignoring important skills needed for success at the workplace and in life.

In IIT-factories of Kota, and in similar cram-schools all over India, students are learning Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at the exclusion of all other skills necessary for success.

In future, they are often handicapped by an inability to read, write or speak at a level needed for professional success. They often lack nuanced social and historical awareness needed to become vibrant members of the society. Working solo with their textbooks for many years, they often underappreciate the value of teamwork and collaboration.

The comeuppance sometimes comes mid-career, when these unidimensional professionals cannot progress to managerial levels.

Sometimes, the day of reckoning comes sooner, as they get rejected in numerous interviews right at the beginning of their career due to the lack of ability to express themselves.

Sure, one can argue that many IITians become successful corporate leaders and entrepreneurs. However, that’s a tiny fraction of the graduates IITs churn out — most remain anonymous cubicle-dwellers in mid-level positions.

Students training for just one exam from early in life lack social and historical awareness needed to become vibrant members of the society. (Photo: PTI/file)

Given that the IITs pretty much get to choose the best from lakhs of school-leaving students, should we, as a nation, be happy with only a few success stories? Shouldn’t such ‘chosen elites’ have left a much stronger imprint, both in scientific domain and elsewhere?

The difficulty level of IIT-JEE makes studying in IIT redundant

To stay ahead of the coaching centers and to be able to differentiate between intensely prepared students, IIT-JEE now has to necessarily pose notoriously difficult sums to the aspirants. This simply meant that the level of sums posed have become more advanced, rather more inventive or creative.

While the exam theoretically stays within the prescribed syllabus, most of the problems posed in IIT-JEE are practically college-level sums. Even when I studied for IIT-JEE around 25 years back, the recommended Physics books for preparation were Fundamentals of Physics by Resnick and Halliday, and Problems in General Physics by I E Irodov: both college-level calculus-based physics books. I presume things have gotten only more difficult since then.

Now the question is: what is the value of a college education if you are expected to study a lot of college level stuff just to get there?

A college entrance exam should test interest

IIT-JEE fails miserably here. College admission processes in most advanced countries, notably in the US, check for the aspirant’s demonstrated interest in the college as well as the intended major. IIT-JEE, however, does nothing of that sort.

Lakhs of students, through unthinking herd mindset, pursue a dream that’s not really theirs. Many, after reaching their dream place, become disenchanted and end up switching careers to pursue MBA. For some, the frustration leads to drug-abuse. Some end up committing suicide. Even students who plod on and finish their degrees do not end up doing anything remotely related what they studied in IIT.

Such mismatches happen because unlike most other college admission processes, IIT-JEE restricts itself to a written exam, without any test of interest. Everyone knows that people are most productive when they work on areas that they are interested in. By not checking for this obvious area, IIT-JEE indirectly helps breed a discontent workforce.

For IITs, IIT-JEE is the hammer, and everything looks like a nail

I was delighted when a few IITs decided to offer a BS in Economics a few years back. Our society’s economic understanding is quite limited, which pulls us down. People from all strata of society fall for Ponzi schemes, unable to understand the relationship between risk and return. Most people do not appreciate the importance of copyrights and patents, hindering innovation and progress. In addition, common masses have a fetish for free goods that the government doles out, not knowing that there is no free lunch.

I thought an economics course at the IITs could go a long way to make our society more economically literate. However, that hope was soon belied, because I saw the selection process for this course is the same old IIT-JEE.

Yes — you heard it right, one has to master quantitative Physics, Chemistry and Math to be eligible to study economics, a discipline requiring vastly different skill sets.

Shouldn’t such ‘ elites’ have left a much stronger imprint, both in the scientific domain and elsewhere? (Photo: IIT Delhi's website)

Not only that, those Economics graduates need to study all the common first year engineering courses, including electrical circuits and mechanics of deformable bodies! Nothing can be more ill-conceived than that.

Solution: A standardised test

So, if IIT-JEE has outlived its utility, what could be the way forward? A clear solution is a standardised, skill-oriented exam like SAT or ACT. Almost all US universities accept SAT or ACT scores as one of their key admission criteria. Such a system will obviate the need for multiple selection processes and entrance examinations in India, reducing student burden significantly.

As such exams test a wide range of skills (reading, critical thinking, analysis of science and social sciences, problem solving, writing), it will also make our learning more skill-oriented.

We may argue that the cost of SAT is prohibitive for most Indians. If that is so, we can develop our own home-grown version. Sceptics may also reason that a standardised test like that does not test aptitude in subjects like Physics or Chemistry, so how will an elite engineering institute like IIT select students through such an exam?

Well, top-ranked scientific institutions of the world, including MIT and Caltech, use precisely this test to admit their students.

A person who is widely read, can communicate well through writing and can critically evaluate issues can become more successful as an engineer or scientist as opposed to one who has only a narrow mastery over a small range of subjects.

We Indians take our exams very seriously. The only way to get the nation to focus on skill building is to incorporate it into the exam system.

If we are really serious about addressing our skill-shortage, if we want our future generations to cope with the rapidly changing world, we must reform our exam system.

Radically, and urgently.

Also read: I went to IIT. Let me tell you why it's not great

The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Shashi Tharoor on PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi and liberal politics

Body Of 18-Year-Old IIT Aspirant Found Floating In Canal In Rajasthan - NDTV

Body Of 18-Year-Old IIT Aspirant Found Floating In Canal In Rajasthan

Sidharth Pal, a class 11 student, had gone missing from his hostel on Saturday, following which the hostel caretaker had lodged a "missing person" report, the police said.

Cities | Press Trust of India | Updated: October 17, 2018 22:37 IST

Sidharth Pal had spoken to his father last on Saturday evening, police said (Representational)

KOTA: The body of an 18-year-old IIT aspirant, missing from his coaching centre's hostel for the last four days, was found floating in a canal at Degod town, the police said on Wednesday.

The body of Sidharth Pal, hailing from Dhanbad district in Jharkhand, was found floating in the canal on Tuesday, said Degod police station in-charge Narayan Singh Hada.

Son of Pawan Chand Pal, a resident of Aamtal police station area in Dhanbad district, Pal had been preparing for the IIT entrance test, said Mr Hada.

He had been taking coaching at an institute in Kota since April this year and stayed at a private hostel in Vigyan Nagar, he said.

Vigyan Nagar police station SHO Neeraj Gupta said Sidharth Pal, a class 11 student, had gone missing from his hostel on Saturday, following which the hostel caretaker had lodged a "missing person" report.

The police had tried to trace his whereabouts, but in vain, Mr Gupta said, adding  Sidharth Pal was said to be "not regular" in attending classes and was "not performing well in tests" either.

Sidharth Pal had spoken to his father last on Saturday evening after which his mobile had gone off, the SHO said, adding the youth's father told him on phone that his son seemed depressed when he spoke to him.

The study stress and peers' pressure appear to have driven the youth to take the extreme step, Mr Gupta said, adding, no suicide note of the deceased was recovered.

COMMENT

He said the youth's body has been placed in the MBS Hospital mortuary for post-mortem, which would be carried out after the arrival of his family members from Jharkhand.

Body of Missing 18-Year-Old IIT Aspirant Found Floating In Canal In Rajasthan

Body of Missing 18-Year-Old IIT Aspirant Found Floating In Canal In Rajasthan

Sidharth Pal, from Dhanbad district in Jharkhand, had been undergoing coaching at an institute in Kota since April this year and stayed at a private hostel.

PTIUpdated:October 17, 2018, 11:37 PM IST

Kota: The body of an 18-year-old IIT aspirant, missing from his coaching centre's hostel for the last four days, was found floating in a canal at Degod town on Tuesday, said Degod police station in-charge Narayan Singh Hada.

Sidharth Pal, from Dhanbad district in Jharkhand, had been undergoing coaching at an institute in Kota since April this year and stayed at a private hostel in Vigyan Nagar. 

Son of Pawan Chand Pal, a resident of Aamtal police station area in Dhanbad district, Pal had been preparing for the IIT entrance test, said Hada.

Vigyan Nagar police station SHO Neeraj Gupta said Pal, a class 11 student, had gone missing from his hostel on Saturday, following which the hostel caretaker had lodged a "missing person" report. The police had tried to trace his whereabouts, but in vain, Gupta said, adding Pal was said to be "not regular" in attending classes and was "not performing well in tests" either.

Pal had spoken to his father last on Saturday evening after which his mobile had gone off, the SHO said, adding the youth's father told him on phone that his son seemed depressed when he spoke to him. 

The study stress and peers' pressure appears to have driven the youth to take the extreme step, Gupta said, adding, no suicide note has been recovered.

He said the youth's body has been placed in the MBS Hospital mortuary for post mortem, which would be carried out after the arrival of his family members from Jharkhand. 

RIP Shankar: Students, colleagues remember IAS academy founder- News Minute

RIP Shankar: Students, colleagues remember IAS academy founder

"If I had succeeded, only I would have become an IAS officer. It is because I failed that I am able to create so many IAS and IPS officers," Shankar had famously said eight years ago.

• Priyanka Thirumurthy
  Follow @priyankathiru
  
  Friday, October 12, 2018 - 19:11 

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A humble man in a white kurta paired with a ready smile, laidback attitude and unlimited knowledge. That is how students remember Shankar Devarajan, founder and CEO of Shankar IAS Academy, a popular civil services coaching institute in Tamil Nadu.

"He would always walk into class 15 minutes late with a loud 'Friendsss...' everyday! He would then wrap up the session early and tell us to discuss amongst ourselves. But we just wouldn't want him to stop teaching," says 28-year-old Soodhan Kannan, a student from the 2016 batch who is now working in the postal department. "Shankar sir taught us geography and once he starts teaching, you were just completely mesmerised," he adds.  

Thousands of grieving students like Soodhan had gathered outside the Academy's first ever centre in Anna Nagar on Friday, and the crowds were only growing as the shocking news of 45-year-old Shankar’s suicide spread through messages, emails and through social media.

The story of Shankar IAS Academy

Until Thursday, Shankar was training close to 300 students a year to pursue civil services. His academy, according to former IAS and IPS officers, was one of the finest institutions in south India. He began with a small group of 35 students in 2004 in Anna Nagar and in the 14 years that followed, he had expanded to Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Salem and Madurai. People all over India aspiring to become Indian Administrative Services, Indian Police Services and other elite bureaucratic service officers, were making a beeline to his academy for coaching.

But Shankar himself never cracked the IAS examinations. In fact he exhausted all his attempts.

In a column he wrote for Vikatan eight years ago, Shankar explains that he came from an impoverished home in Krishnagiri district. His father worked in a wine shop and while he managed to finish his masters, pressure to earn for the family grew as he attempted the civil services examination. He wrote the exam four times – in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

"I failed every time. And when the situation came to take a job, I decide I will use the experience I got from these failures to teach aspiring students. That is how it began," he wrote.

As the academy grew, word of its students’ success stories were everywhere and he brought in some of the best staff and guest lecturers to teach and motivate aspirants.

"He was more than a teacher to those students. He was a guide whom they could freely approach and talk to," says MLA Natraj, former IPS officer and DGP of prisons. "I used to address students there and have interacted with Shankar. He was a soft spoken and knowledgeable man," he said.

According to Balaji Manohar, Assistant commissioner in the GST department and a former student of the academy, the entire country waited for Shankar to release his answer key after the IAS prelims every year.

"All aspirants will check it to see how much they are likely to score. He would even predict the cut off," says the officer, who says he owes his entire success to Shankar.

Balaji was already 31, when he left America to settle back in India. He went to Shankar in 2012 and requested to be coached by him.

"Perhaps he saw himself in me. I had very few chances left but he always gave me hope. During the prelims, he told me to study the basics and be strong with that and told me to leave the current affairs part for the mains. He was absolutely spot on. The pattern of both papers was just as he predicted," says Balaji.

Former diplomat TP Sreenivasan who took classes at the academy tells TNM, "I have known him for over four years and he was so reserved. I used to teach international relations and I have seen him giving personal attention to every student there. His strength was that he did a lot of research. We used to use his notes to teach students.”

And despite all the work he put in, students say that he never forced them to study all the time.

"In fact, he would tell us that we should have a passion too, one that we follow outside of the IAS preparation," he explains.

And what was Shankar's passion? Cinema. A path he could never follow.

Love for acting

27-year-old Preethi Yogasundaram, an IT employee who is preparing for the civil service examinations, says that Shankar could mimic actors well.

"It was the last day of class for the 2015 batch and sir wanted to keep it light. He began to mimic actors," she recalls with delight. "This quiet man suddenly became so different. He acted out Sivaji Ganesan and other actors. But what I remember the most is his Jim Carrey impression. He acted like him from The Mask. The way he contorted his face, his walk and how he spoke. It was all perfect. I think he really wanted to be an actor," she says.

Preethi's guess is not far off. After completing his masters in Agriculture, Shankar came to Chennai to enter the cinema field. He spent a year and a half attempting to follow his passion but a chance in movies never came.

But Shankar doesn't mention any regrets about his decision in his column in Vikatan. In fact, he talks about his wife (girlfriend then), Vaishnavi, who supported him financially through his struggle.

"At home, the poverty was crushing. My family said, 'At least join a job where you get Rs 1000.' On the other side, Vaishnavi wanted to get married. I couldn't do both. Vaishnavi, who understood my problem, came to Delhi with me, took up a job and helped me study," he says in the column.

Later on, as Shankar's academy grew, it was his turn to support his wife as she pursued a PhD in IIT.

More than a teacher

Aspirants, alumni and officers who have emerged from Shankar's academy term his death a huge loss.

"His patience, how he treated all his students and readiness to clear doubts at any time. Nobody else can be that way,” Soodhan says.

MLA Natraj points out that every batch had a diverse bunch of students. "So many of them were from the backward communities and Shankar really helped them reach their potential," he recalls.

For Balaji, it was the way Shankar bounced out from failures that will remain inspiring.

"He turned his failures into a success story. He struggled a lot to get where he was and nothing could stop him. He never showed or told us about any problems. He was always smiling," he says.

Eight years ago, talking about his own failures, Shankar had said, "So many people who studied with me and studied under me, have become big officials now. When I see them, I feel pride and a tinge of jealousy. But if I had succeeded, I would have just become an IAS officer. It is because I failed that I am able to create so many IAS and IPS officers. It’s on the stairs of my failure, that so many climb to success."

Under Pressure Due to 'Low Attendance', IIT Madras Student Commits Suicide-News18

Under Pressure Due to 'Low Attendance', IIT Madras Student Commits Suicide

Shahul Kornath, from Malappuram in Kerala, was pursuing his B Tech-M Tech (dual degree) Naval architecture programme, police said.

PTIUpdated:September 22, 2018, 8:54 PM IST

Chennai: A final year student of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras allegedly committed suicide on Saturday by hanging from the ceiling of his room, police said.

Shahul Kornath (23), from Malappuram in Kerala, was pursuing his B Tech-M Tech (dual degree) Naval architecture programme, police and the institute administration said.

No suicide note was found from his room, police added.

However, they suspected that he could have been under "some kind of pressure due to low attendance", but added that a detailed probe was on.

Meanwhile, the institute mourned the student's death as an "irreparable loss".

"This is indeed an irreparable loss to not just the institute and the family, but society as a whole. May his soul rest in peace," it said in a statement, adding that it was cooperating with the authorities on the matter.

National Institute of Design finds a 'dost' for its students' mental, emotional well being - DNA

National Institute of Design finds a 'dost' for its students' mental, emotional well being


Depression Picture for representational purpose , Thinkstock

WRITTEN BY

Tanushree Bhatia Updated: Oct 11, 2018, 06:05 AM IST

After IIT-Madras, National Institute of Design, becomes the second educational institution to make provisions for its students to deal with stress and anxiety and open up to counsellors.

Four year old start up YourDost, is an emotional online platform that offers counselling services round the clock, while keeping their identity of the users anonymous.

The institute has bought the services of YourDost so that the students can avail it for free.

YourDost was founded by Richa Singh, a graduate of IIT-Guwahati, after one of her batch mates committed suicide due to academic pressure. She had realised then the need to have someone to speak to, which can even help save lives. The platform allows instant access to users to share their problems through an online interface. A team of over 75 experts cater to the needs of the users.

Pradyumna Vyas, Director, NID, said, "While in today's world, technology has made connections easier, loneliness on other hand has also increased. These days, students go through a lot of pressure, career issues, anxiety, burden of expectation, etc. The pressure eventually reaches a level where they need to share and open up, to feel light and be guided on the right track. Hence, we thought of tying up with a professional body to ensure their mental and emotional well being.

While we can appoint counsellors on campus, it becomes difficult to avail their services 24x7. That apart, anonymity helps, as we have seen several times that students are less enthusiastic about turning up in person." This platform will deal with both these issues.

"The facility can be availed by students, faculty and entire NID community across all campuses," added Vyas.

Commenting on the initiative, an ex-student of Strategic Media Design at NID, Gandhinagar, said, "The initiative will be beneficial to students who often grapple with academic pressure and financial troubles. However, I feel that sharing things with a counseller in person helps build trust and hence it becomes easier to pour ones heart out. So I am not very sure about how much a will be willing to student share on an online platform."

Where is the suicide prevention strategy? - Indian Express

Where is the suicide prevention strategy?


Death by suicide is a complex act driven by multiple factors.





Published: 01st October 2018 04:00 AM


Death by suicide is a complex act driven by multiple factors. Often, reporting on suicide tends to simplify these factors into one single event—exam failure, debt, job loss. Neither can such acts be looked at as purely a mental health issue. The reality is that a combination of issues, which may include mental illness, can trigger one towards the act. The response to this, therefore, must acknowledge complexities and look to prevent such deaths by adopting what experts have called a multi-sectoral approach.

Recently a youth in IIT-Madras allegedly died by suicide. The response from the institution highlighted the gaps in care in what is acknowledged to be a stressful environment. ‘Help is available, but he didn’t seek it,’ was pointed out. 

Also recently, an actress who attempted suicide was booked under Section 309 of the IPC, despite it having been virtually decriminalised by the new Mental Health Act which came into force in July.

This is evidence of the lack of understanding about mental health, distress and suicide. This also shows that merely passing a progressive law does not by itself ensure that society and its institutions fall in line overnight. The new law mandates that the country must frame a suicide prevention strategy. This strategy must tackle the issue from all angles—finding ways to ensure help reaches those who are not in a position to reach it, policy interventions, limiting access to pesticides, creating and supporting national helpline services, producing more professional counsellors and training peer counsellors.

Without these, more youngsters, entering a world fraught with stress, competitiveness and multiple inequalities, are at risk. Suicide is globally seen as a public health issue and deaths by suicide are preventable. Research has shown that even the smallest of changes has saved lives. It is essential that India takes this seriously and approaches the issue with a nuanced understanding, sensitivity and foresight. The first step, of course, would be to bring the suicide prevention strategy to life.

Promoting mental health in colleges - The Hindu

Promoting mental health in colleges

Janane Venkatraman

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 15:18 IST

UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 15:18 IST

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The Hindu Weekend

Millennials love hanging out on the Internet, which is where this non-profit aims to start a conversation about mental health on college campuses. But the plan is also to take things offline

No parent sends a child to school or university expecting it to be the last time they see him or her. Yet, the Lok Sabha estimates that in 2016 alone, 9,474 students (a number which many believe is grossly underestimated) died in India due to ‘accidental deaths and suicides’, many of them triggered by poor performance in examinations.

This is not a problem exclusive to India. College campuses and other educational institutions across the world have invited criticism for not doing enough to address the mental health conditions that led to these suicides. Earlier this year in the US, a group of students filed a class action lawsuit against Stanford University for allegedly pressuring them to take a leave of absence when they reported suicidal feelings. The statistics are, however, even more alarming in India, where a 2010 study stated that suicide is the leading cause of death among 15-to-26 year-olds, particularly women.

Exams, peer pressure, the stress of landing a career, and even the pressure to get married: it is no surprise that young adults are one of the most vulnerable age groups when it comes to mental illness. “Symptoms for a majority of mental health issues crop up in early childhood,” shares Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, founder of SNEHA and co-author of a recently-published Lancet Report on suicide. “But since this age group is otherwise physically healthy, they don’t usually access health services.”

Some educators are beginning to address the urgency of the issue, recognising the importance of early action. USA’s National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) states that 50% of individuals afflicted by a mental health issue experience onset by age 14. Just this July, New York became the first American state to make mental health education in its schools mandatory.

Virtual solace

It is this vulnerability that led Bhairavi Prakash, an organisational psychologist and mental health advocate, to begin her passion project that addresses the mental well-being of young adults, specifically college students. The Mithra Trust, her initiative which combines online activism with community engagement, will launch on World Mental Health day on October 10.

The website, Prakash says, will consist of “information that you can engage with” — articles, illustrations and videos targeted at three categories of individuals: those seeking help, those looking to help someone else, and those who are interested in spreading awareness about mental health issues. The organisation will also provide subsidised online counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) by trained professionals exclusively for college students. Mithra seeks to bring community engagement and dialogue to the fold of mental health, using a platform that millenials live on: the Internet.

The long-term vision of the non-profit is to ignite a democratic, grassroots conversation about mental health on college campuses. This is the reason why Mithra is building an army of ‘digital ambassadors’ or representatives from Indian universities who will be provided with regular online training on peer counselling and awareness building. “We train them to interact with somebody who might need help,” she shares, adding that Mithra will also provide social media tools to help students build offline campus clubs, making it a first-of-its-kind in India, emulating peer-counselling models such as Jack.org (Canada) and Headspace Australia. “It is much easier to get the students talking first,” she says, explaining her decision to engage directly with the youth, and not university administrations. “Some universities don’t believe that this subset matters.”

Mithra will draw from Prakash’s experience working with educational institutions such as IIT-Madras to establish and improve campus counselling centres and student-run clubs that provide peer-to-peer counselling services.

Truth matters

In India, which faces an 87% shortage of mental health professionals, and where systemic shaming is heaped on those seeking psychiatric help, access to information is hard to come by. This includes information about the resources that are available, and Mithra’s web content will engage the services of psychologists, writers and designers to produce easily-digestible information on the topic of mental health. The non-profit currently has funding from two foundations. “Just to get the ball rolling, but that’s not enough,” says Prakash.

For more details, contact bhairavi@mithratrust.com

IIT student hangs self in hostel room in Chennai - News Today Net

IIT student hangs self in hostel room in Chennai

Posted on September 22, 2018 by NT Bureau

Chennai: A student of IIT-Madras ended his life in his hostel room last night.

According to the police, Shahid Gurmut (23), son of Shajahan Gurmut, took the extreme step by hanging self inside his room.

A final year dual degree student (five year course), he was pursuing Ocean Engineering and was an inmate of Jamuna Hostel in the sprawling campus of the IIT.

He was a native of Palakkad, Kerala. Preliminary investigations revealed that he ended his life due to a family dispute.

He often fought with his parents and brother over the phone, it is said. He was said to be upset last night as his phone calls to them were unanswered. He did not leave any suicide note behind.

The police are waiting for the family members to reach the city. His body was sent to Government Royapettah Hospital for post mortem. Kotturpuram police have registered a case.

How Are The Students In Delhi Trying To Prevent Suicides Among The Youth?

How Are The Students In Delhi Trying To Prevent Suicides Among The Youth? No, you're not alone. By Nivedyta Khanna - September 21, 2018

Suicides continue to be a major problem with teens. But several students in Delhi are trying to prevent suicides among the youth because this is a serious issue related to mental illness.

About 8,00,000 people commit suicide worldwide every year, with 1,35,000 (17%) of these being residents of India. In every 100 minutes, a life is taken by suicide.

In July 2018, a student of Bharati College in Janakpuri area allegedly committed suicide in the institute’s washroom. There was no suicide note found.

How people are trying to reduce the suicide rates?

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens. According to the CDC, it results in about 4400 deaths per year.

            Teen suicide linked to bad parent behaviour

Izhaar is a peer to peer mental health support group of Gargi College. It aims to create awareness among the students of Gargi College about suicides and mental health. Recently, the students dedicated 8th and 10th September for suicide prevention awareness within the college.

A seminar was also conducted on this theme to make people aware of the conditions. They also had events like slam poetry and poster making on the theme of mental health. Spoken word was one of the successful part as it brought people together, sharing their deepest and most personal thoughts.

This group is about creating a safe space for anyone and everyone who needs it.

There have been other colleges who have been trying to prevent the increased suicide rates.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi had decided to revamp its curriculum in such a way that helps the students tackle study pressure effectively and keep suicidal tendency low.

In 2017, Sumaitri, a crisis intervention center operated a suicide prevention helpline at Bhagwandas Lane in Delhi.

Also Read: The Pioneer Of IVF In India Who Was Rewarded With Suicide: Subhash Mukhopadhyay

IIT Kharagpur has come up with a simple solution to prevent student suicides by pulling them out of loneliness and depression. The hostel authorities simply switch off the power in the evenings. It is expected to create healthy social life on campus to potentially tackle depression.

The ‘Happiness Curriculum’ launched by the Delhi Government aims at increasing mental health awareness among school children. The classes have been started to reduce depression and other mental illnesses among children that are on the rise.

Apart from that, Roshni is a comprehensive resource for the prevention of suicides. They offer a hotline to help anyone who’s thinking of ending his or her life.

     Suicide is a growing public health concern among teens

Sneha Foundation India also offers unconditional emotional support to the depressed, desperate and suicidal. You can even write to them on their email.

Finally, Help Guide is a website that gives information on mental health issues, including suicides. The website has a list exposing common myths about suicide.

Why do people try to kill themselves?

Depression is one of the most common reasons for committing suicide, especially among teens. They might be doing poorly in school and staying on the social margins. Depression is frequently ignored or untreated.

There have been many cases of students committing suicides because of unhealthy competition, child abuse, peer pressure, romantic relationships, and poor time management

A suicidal person often feels like death is the only relief from their problems. However, unlike popular opinion, it is not something that people just do without any thought or taking their coward’s way out. Instead it comes with deep inner conflicts about taking one’s own life. Sadly, without a proper support system or help, they cannot see an alternative and commit suicide.

There are many other factors like social isolation, active alcohol abuse, mood disorder, and conflict over sexual identity.

I think if you are facing any trouble, you should talk about it. Talking about it might provide people with a great sense of relief.

Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: PSYCOM, KidsHealth, Wikipedia

IT-B’s Techfest aims to smash stigma around mental health - Mumbai Mirror

IT-B’s Techfest aims to smash stigma around mental health

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.

IIT Scholar Commits Suicide In Jharkhand - NDTV

IIT Scholar Commits Suicide In Jharkhand

Ranjan Rathi, a resident of Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, was pursuing his Ph.D from the mechanical engineering department.

All India | Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: September 21, 2018 16:06 IST

A probe to ascertain the motive behind the suicide is underway. 

RANCHI: An IIT-ISM research scholar committed suicide in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Friday, police said.

Ranjan Rathi, a resident of Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, was pursuing his Ph.D from the mechanical engineering department.

According to the police, Mr Rathi was alone in the hostel while his roommate was away.

When the victim did not return his roommate's calls, other colleagues were asked to contact him.

The door to Mr Rathi's room was opened early Friday morning and his body was found hanging from the ceiling fan, the police added.

COMMENT

A probe to ascertain the motive behind the suicide is underway.

Dear PM, Are Success and Intellect Confined within IIT and AIIMS Premises? - The Citizen

BHAVNA JHA | 20 SEPTEMBER, 2018

Dear PM, Are Success and Intellect Confined within IIT and AIIMS Premises?

We should try to enjoy learning without boundaries instead of making it a ‘status symbol’.

 It has been more than a month and still the words of the prime minister reverberate in my mind. On August 15 India’s 72nd Independence Day was celebrated with zeal and fervour. It is one of the most awaited days every year as it reminds Indian citizens of the dawn of a new beginning. It is a day which witnessed the handing over of the reins of control to the country’s leaders who struggled hard to attain this freedom.

Being a patriot at heart, I was excited this Independence Day, especially for the prime minister’s address to the nation, his last before the 2019 parliamentary elections. I was anxiously waiting to know whether this government, which came to power four years ago proclaiming ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, had been able to meet its targets and implement its larger than life schemes. As a newly turned adult, with lots of ambitions and aspirations, the major focus point for me in the entire address was to be the progress achieved in the field of education.

The prime minister began his speech soon after the hoisting of the flag, and gradually mentioned each of the government’s achievements in almost every sector, from technology to sanitation and hygiene. It was a long speech, but still I waited for my point of concern. The prime minister discussed the reforms made in Jammu and Kashmir, where he mentioned the ongoing construction of IITs and IIMs (not at all discussing any other college) as an instance of the ‘developments’ worth mentioning in the field of education.

The prime minister’s achievement once again shattered all my expectations, leaving me stunned and disappointed. As a student of the humanities I felt somewhat inferior after his address, as it introduced me to yet another ‘class differentiation’ which sets the hierarchy of courses and subjects, keeping the science and technology students at the top of the ladder, rather like the Brahmins who lead the hierarchical order of the caste system prevalent in India. It compelled me once again to accept the fact that educational institutions which produce scientists, engineers and managers are the epitome of excellence, hubs of intellect and synonyms of success, and therefore it is a sensible idea to ‘invest’ in them and increase their number, rather than wasting money on other useless institutions which will only engage students in courses that can never secure their ‘future’ and guarantee them the desired ‘success’.

Any student in India who hails from a middle class family must choose from a limited range of career options. They can be an engineer or a doctor. It doesn’t matter at all what they really want to do. Their liberty can extend up to choosing ‘commerce’ instead of ‘science’, but never dare to think of studying ‘social science’ as this is something only dumb people left with no other options do.

The private engineering and medical colleges in India charge a huge amount of fees which is not easy to afford, so it becomes really necessary to pass the entrance exams to gain entry into reputed institutions like the IITs, IIMs and AIIMs. Here begins the cutthroat competition for reaching the ‘success centre’. Every year, millions of students willingly or unwillingly involve themselves in this reckless preparation for ‘success’ and undergo a lot of anxiety, tension and pressure.

No barometer in the world could measure the amount of pressure any medical or engineering aspirant goes through. And, in this way ultimately the joy and curiosity of learning loses its essence. When after all this ‘racing’ the students finally make their way to their ‘dream place’, they are introduced to a much more cruel and selfish world. They encounter endless problems on a daily basis, which at times depress them, and they end up taking their lives. Across the country IITs have seen a rash of student suicides and depression turns out to be the major cause behind this. According to a National Crime Records Bureau report, in 2015 in India 8,934 students committed suicide – that’s 25 every day – and according to another report in 2012 the suicide rate in India was among the highest in the world. A large proportion of these suicides were in the age group 15-29.

But, even after so many unwanted consequences, why do people still desire to reach these institutions? If we analyse it carefully, three major reasons come to the picture. The first two are ‘career security’ and the ‘status and intelligence symbol’. According to thousands of families across India, the IITs, IIMs and AIIMs are the utmost parameters of success and only people with high levels of intellect can reach there.

The third and the most important reason is the ‘investment concept’.

Many people are heard making sexist remarks like, ‘Women are not very good at subjects like science and mathematics. They are not made for engineering.’ And the data boost their confidence to make more such comments. According to recent statistics only 6.7% girls passed the IIT advanced joint entrance exam in 2018 out of the 31,021 who appeared for it, which clearly means the rest of them were boys who will now get into IITs and become ‘successful’ professionals with a good pay package after completing their graduation.

There exists a deep rooted conservative, patriarchal mindset in Indian society that Science is for brilliant students, primarily boys. Avijit Pathak, who teaches sociology at JNU writes in his article ‘A Sick Society that Manufactures Failures: the True Face of Education in India’ that ‘Science/ commerce is seen to be superior, practical and lucrative, but a negative orientation is attached to arts/ humanities – these ‘soft’/ ’feminine’ disciplines, it is thought, have no ‘future’, and ‘intelligent’ students are not supposed to opt for these branches of knowledge.” He stresses the fact that the humanities are considered to be feminine in nature and is mostly not for males.

A desirable salary after graduation makes the males eligible enough to bring forth their bride with wealth, as there exists a completely different barter system in India in which one must give money as well as their most precious asset, and get nothing in return. In Indian society we have a defined ‘rate chart’ of boys at the time of marriage, and the guys from IITs, AIIMs and IIMs are at the topmost positions followed by others. Indian parents take a lot of trouble to teach their sons and wait for this day to compensate their expenses from the parents of the girl.

In this way, boys with engineering and medical degree are major investments for their parents. In a nation where the propitiousness of the star under which a girl is conceived still decides her conjugal prospects, this is not really astounding, but it is extremely shameful, and it is the need of the hour to abolish such malpractices and to have a much broader horizon of thought, one that doesn’t confine success within the premises of IITs.

These conditions demand our immediate attention and it is very necessary to take the action required to change them. We need more and more educational institutions like JNU, Jamia Milia Islamia, and the IIMCs, which apart from producing successful professionals keep the core of education intact. This core is none other than the ‘space of learning and exploring’, and for that, first of all, we need to eradicate all sorts of bias and prejudice that exist against the humanities and social sciences.

We should try to enjoy learning without boundaries instead of making it a burden or a ‘status symbol’.

(Bhavna Jha is a student based in Ranchi, Jharkhand)