Mental health of students in focus at IIT alumni conclave

Bengaluru: In a room full of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) directors, deans and alumni, the moot talking point on Friday was how the old grads could help the premier institutes. And, interestingly, mental health was one of the main concerns that was spotlighted.At a conference by PanIIT, an alumni association of IITians, that began here Friday, IIT Bhilai director Rajiv Prakash said: “Many of our students now are from rural areas. They not only carry the pressure of their families, but even of the villages on their shoulder.”Deeksha Awasthi, a Pan- IIT member and founder of DeekshaLife, a mental health platform, said just like how there is a standard protocol against ragging, there should be a standard process for ensuring good mental health of students across all IITs. “We have three suggestions. One, can we reduce the academic pressure? We need to sensitise students on what is expected of them and the reality they will meet once in an IIT campus. Two, IITs should ensure community activities. Students should visit old age homes and orphanages to understand how privileged they are. Finally, there should be self-development activities like having healthy food, being mindful of social media and so on,” she said.Day 1 of the two-day event — PanIIT-World of Technology — saw a host of new IIT directors, IIT alumni and academicians discussing various issues — ranging from research to startups. Seven new IITs are being represented by their directors or other senior faculty.“What are the issues that result in anxiety among students?” asked an IIT director.“The students experience new freedom after years of entrance coaching. As soon as they start enjoying this freedom, exams come and they start failing in them. Loneliness, culture shock, peer pressure, all lead to depression,” explained Deeksha. “Many children come here because of parental pressure. We offer curated programmes under faculty supervision through which students can opt for humanities and science programmes. We also offer exit paths,” said IIT Jodhpur director Santanu Chaudhury. The institute also allows counsellors to stay inside hostel so as to identify students suffering from depression early. Yet another issue identified by the IIT directors was a lack of interest in core engineering programmes. “Even while India will take giant leaps in the manufacturing sector, we will face a huge manpower shortage. We can’t blame the kids as the core sectors do not pay as much as the IT industry. Those students who take core branches also do not end up working there but move on to finance, banking and others. We need to engage the industry to encourage students to take up core engineering streams,” said IIT Tirupati director Satyanarayana Khalidindi. Many of the IITs requested help from PanIIT association to send successful alumni members to college to motivate students.