New Delhi: Ministry of Education has asked the IITs to ensure multiple entry-exit options for the students. Directing a further detailed report, union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan raised his concern on the matter of student dropouts in the premier technical institutions during the 55th IIT-Council meeting in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. The discussions also focussed on mental health issues in campus as well as on filling up the vacancies in the IITs at the earliest.
This is the first physical meeting of the Council since the outbreak of Covid, post the virtual meeting convened in 2021. The meeting was chaired by Pradhan and attended by the directors of 23 IITs and senior ministry officials and M Jagadesh Kumar, chairperson of UGC.
While the agenda item in the fees was not taken up for discussion, the council discussed the ways that vacancies are filled at the earliest and the extension of the PM Research Fellowship programme in view of its positive impact.
Amid recent incidents of death by suicide in the technical institutions and subsequent student protests, the Council discussed at length the mental health and alleged discrimination issues on the campuses. Rajat Moona, director of IIT-Gandhinagar, presented the possible underlying societal, psychological, and other health issues behind depression among students as the Council discussed several steps needed to ensure the mental health and wellness of students at IITs and the need of robust grievance redressal system, increasing psychological counselling services, reducing pressure, and highlighting the importance of reducing fear of failure/rejection among students.
Student drop-out was another concern raised in the meeting. Pradhan asked for ensuring that the students should be allowed multiple options as per NEP2020 as he directed scheduling discussion on the matter.
Expressing his concern regarding recent cases of suicides and called the directors to be proactive in providing all kind of support to students including zero tolerance for discrimination, Pradhan said: “The council deliberated on societal issues and discrimination and the challenges being faced. We are concerned. No discrimination, not just in IITs, but in all educational institutions, should take place. It’s a social challenge and this has been discussed today. I would humbly say that it’s the responsibility of the faculty, deans and directors to address these challenges.”
The Council decided to enhance support to SC/ ST students and also resolved to enhance the tenure of support to female PhD students for one more additional year. It also discussed the proposals to introduce a four-year BEd (ITEP) programme in IITs.
In the context of the changing global scenario, the council discussed the need for the development of the next 25 year vision for the IITs. After the meeting, Pradhan said: “IIT ecosystem is the backbone for not just our country, but for the world. Be it world governance, economy and global management, there is a huge contribution from people with an IIT background. There are no such global corporations where IITians have not played leadership roles. We deliberated on innovation and research requirements of the 21st century. IIT are in the news for their placements. In the coming days IITs should be in news for generating job creators and how many jobs are being created and how much have they contributed to the economy.”
This is the first physical meeting of the Council since the outbreak of Covid, post the virtual meeting convened in 2021. The meeting was chaired by Pradhan and attended by the directors of 23 IITs and senior ministry officials and M Jagadesh Kumar, chairperson of UGC.
While the agenda item in the fees was not taken up for discussion, the council discussed the ways that vacancies are filled at the earliest and the extension of the PM Research Fellowship programme in view of its positive impact.
Amid recent incidents of death by suicide in the technical institutions and subsequent student protests, the Council discussed at length the mental health and alleged discrimination issues on the campuses. Rajat Moona, director of IIT-Gandhinagar, presented the possible underlying societal, psychological, and other health issues behind depression among students as the Council discussed several steps needed to ensure the mental health and wellness of students at IITs and the need of robust grievance redressal system, increasing psychological counselling services, reducing pressure, and highlighting the importance of reducing fear of failure/rejection among students.
Student drop-out was another concern raised in the meeting. Pradhan asked for ensuring that the students should be allowed multiple options as per NEP2020 as he directed scheduling discussion on the matter.
Expressing his concern regarding recent cases of suicides and called the directors to be proactive in providing all kind of support to students including zero tolerance for discrimination, Pradhan said: “The council deliberated on societal issues and discrimination and the challenges being faced. We are concerned. No discrimination, not just in IITs, but in all educational institutions, should take place. It’s a social challenge and this has been discussed today. I would humbly say that it’s the responsibility of the faculty, deans and directors to address these challenges.”
The Council decided to enhance support to SC/ ST students and also resolved to enhance the tenure of support to female PhD students for one more additional year. It also discussed the proposals to introduce a four-year BEd (ITEP) programme in IITs.
In the context of the changing global scenario, the council discussed the need for the development of the next 25 year vision for the IITs. After the meeting, Pradhan said: “IIT ecosystem is the backbone for not just our country, but for the world. Be it world governance, economy and global management, there is a huge contribution from people with an IIT background. There are no such global corporations where IITians have not played leadership roles. We deliberated on innovation and research requirements of the 21st century. IIT are in the news for their placements. In the coming days IITs should be in news for generating job creators and how many jobs are being created and how much have they contributed to the economy.”
