IITs told to ensure zero discrimination on campus after spate of suicides by students

Amid a spate of student suicides at the country’s premier Indian Institutes of Technology, the IIT council led by the Union education minister on Tuesday directed that the institutes ensure “zero tolerance” for discrimination at their campuses and provide a robust support system.

The matter was discussed during the 55th meeting of the IIT council held in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. The education minister Dharmendra Pradhan-chaired council, which looks after administrative and other key affairs at the IITs, met after two years. It includes directors and chairpersons of all 23 IITs and members of Parliament.

During the meeting, Pradhan emphasised that IIT students should become the face of new India with “no discrimination”.

“IITs should provide all support systems for students and should have zero tolerance for all kinds of discrimination,” he said, while expressing concern over the recent cases of suicide.

Several incidents of death by suicide have been reported among students at IIT campuses over the last few months. The death of an 18-year-old Dalit student at IIT-Bombay in February sparked allegations of caste discrimination even as the institution denied it. Besides, two cases of death by suicide among students of IIT-Madras also created an uproar.

In March, the ministry informed Parliament that 33 students died by suicide at IITs since 2018, nearly half of them from marginalised communities.

During the meeting, the director of IIT-Gandhinagar, Rajat Moona, presented the possible underlying societal, psychological and other health issues behind depression among students.

“The council discussed several steps needed to ensure mental health and wellness of students at IITs. The council focussed on the need of a robust grievance redressal system, increasing psychological counselling services, reducing pressure and highlighting the importance of reducing fear of failure/rejection among students,” the ministry said in a statement.

According to council members, the minister questioned the institutions about the possible reasons behind the recent cases of suicide. “It has been discussed that the council will come up with some new guidelines for students’ well being. Although all IITs already have a support mechanism in place for students, it was discussed to ensure that each institute should have a students’ wellness center, and help of counsellors and faculty advisers may also be sought,” said a council member, requesting anonymity.

The council also discussed possible reasons behind students dropping out. Pradhan asked the IITs to provide multiple exit options to students as prescribed under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Earlier this month, the ministry informed Parliament that 2,544 students from the other backward classes (OBC) category, 1,362 from the scheduled caste (SC) and 538 from the scheduled tribe (ST) categories dropped out of IITs in the last five years.

“The council also agreed to enhance support to SC and ST students. It has also been resolved to enhance the tenure of support to female PhD students for one more additional year,” the ministry said.

The council also discussed measures to help students overcome the “language barrier”.

“The possibility of offering courses in regional languages was also discussed. The AICTE has already started technical courses in regional languages. However, IITs will have to deliberate further on making any such decision,” said another council member, requesting anonymity.

The premier engineering institutions have been asked to strictly implement reservation in faculty recruitment.

In 2020, the ministry asked IITs to extend reservation to senior positions, and the institute had also been prohibited from “de-reserving” the reserved post after a year. Prior to that, the IITs were only reserving posts while recruiting faculty at the entry level of assistant professors.

Officials said the IITs raised the “challenges” in filling reserved posts with the ministry. “However, the ministry has strictly asked them to find out ways to implement reservation,” said the second official quoted above.

Meanwhile, officials said the discussion regarding changes in fee structure was not taken up in the meeting although it was on the agenda. The fee structure of IITs was last revised in 2016.