Flag issues in 48 hrs, IIT head tells students after 2 deaths in 10 days

Kolkata: Flag any academic or non-academic issue within 48 hours through a special email response window so that an action plan can be created within seven days to address the problem as much as possible: this was the advice from IIT Kharagpur for students after many of them pointed at grievances against faculty members at an open house discussion with the director that took place on Thursday.Two deaths were reported on the Kharagpur campus of the tech school within a gap of 10 days, prompting the authorities to conduct a three-and-a-half-hour discussion with students. The first among the recent deaths was reported on April 18, when third-year engineering student Jayveersinh Dodiya reportedly fell from the eighth-floor terrace of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall of Residence. Ten days later, on April 28, fourth-year engineering student Soham Halder was found hanging in his room at Madan Mohan Malviya Hall.At the open house, a student said, "Many flagged harassment and intimidation by certain faculty members, which adds to our stress. No leniency is shown when a student falls ill or has a medical emergency at home. Instead, less marks are given to him or her. Attempts by research scholars to change supervisors are met with retaliatory actions. General students also feel the new evaluation system with 40-mark continuous assessment, including surprise tests and assignments, is worsening the stress."Assuring help and an effort to ameliorate the situation, IIT-Kgp director Suman Chakraborty said, "We will accept special email responses regarding any urgent academic or non-academic issues in the next 48 hours. Within seven days, we will create an emergency action plan to redress those grievances as much as possible in a realistic framework, keeping student well-being as the top priority."Chakraborty pointed out the 30-30-40 academic rule existed in other institutes, such as MIT, too. "Rather than it being a system problem, it's more a problem about individual teachers. If a teacher wants to be tough on students for some reason he or she can be tough under any system. Faculty advisers should perhaps be more responsible. Students may have various deviations, but an honest and sincere attempt should be made to address it. That doesn't happen everywhere. Some work wonderfully, going beyond their limits. Then there are the outliers in the system, and it can have major implications. It can build up frustration to the point where it might be a factor when someone takes an extreme step," said Chakraborty.He also shared they would instal 16,000 spring-loaded, anti-suicide fans, worth Rs 75 lakh, on the campus in May and June, replacing traditional ceiling fans to ensure those could not be used by any as a means of self-destruction.
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