Now, a task force to prevent suicides in IITs

COIMBATORE: Alarmed by increasing suicides by students of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the IIT Council has decided to constitute a Task Force to study the issue and recommend appropriate measures to prevent such cases.The IIT Council, the supreme governing body for the premier technological institutions, which met in New Delhi last week, felt that the issue of student suicides needs to be studied in all its dimensions. “The Council decided to constitute a Task Force to suggest remedial measures after studying the causes of such occurrences. The Task Force shall be headed by an eminent person and include representatives of parents, teachers, alumni, professional counsellors and submit its report in four months,” a HRD Ministry official said.Sources said the panel may be headed by the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Science (NIMHANS), Bangalore, and comprise five or six mental health experts.Academicians said every year at least half a dozen students in the IITs ended their lives. Most of these suicides happened inside the hostel rooms and the victims were predominantly PG students. At the IIT Madras, so far this year, two students have committed suicide.Faculty members at the IIT Madras pointed out that although individually each of the IITs have counsellors, student-mentors and hostel committees, these mechanisms become active only when a depressed student approaches the counsellors or mentors.However, IIT Madras Director (in-Charge) V Idichandy felt that student suicides at the IITs were not so alarming as to necessitate the setting up of a Task Force. IIT Kanpur and Rajasthan Chairman M Anandakrishnan argued that while students in schools, colleges and universities were committing suicides, when an IITian ended his/her life it hits the headlines.“IIT students are valuable assets to the nation. Only the cream of the society joins the IITs and they have a very good opportunity of becoming leaders in the society. While IITs have counselling centres, the problems of the students could have arisen much before they entered the institution. Personal problems too could drive them to take the extreme step,” he reasoned.