Kolkata: An external experts’ committee that IIT Kharagpur had set up earlier this year to look into suicides at the institute has suggested that parents be included in the induction programme after 85% students said they faced parental pressure in securing good internships and placements. The “parental pressure’ factor came to light during an in-depth interaction between the committee members and students on Monday.The committee’s suggestion is aimed at making parents aware of the IIT system of education and the pitfalls of putting “undue pressure” on their children to maintain high grades and chase the best internships and jobs during placement.On Friday morning, fourth-year mechanical engineering student Ritam Mondal was found hanging in his room at Rajendra Prasad Hall, the fourth such death in seven months and the fifth since June 2024 on the campus. The experts’ committee of counsellors, psychiatrists, psychologists, legal experts, educationists and alumni was formed in April-May to probe the spate of suicides and suggest measures to reform the system. Members of the committee met director Suman Chakraborty on Tuesday and shared their suggestions with him. It will provide a detailed report with recommendations in a fortnight.“The committee independently interacted with a large number of students and more than 80% flagged the issue of parental pressure in securing good internships and placements. The committee found that students were unhappy with parental interference and suggested that along with the students, we also hold an induction programme for parents,” said Chakraborty.The induction for new BTech students is scheduled on Friday, and Chakraborty said parents could be included partly in the programme this year itself. “We have never really connected with parents, and this is probably one of the deficiencies we have. An interaction with them will enable us to understand their aspirations and thoughts. While it is important to respect their sentiments, it is equally important to make them aware of the gap between their aspirations and how the IIT system operates,” Chakraborty said. According to the director, it is important to make students and their parents understand that it is not the number of internships but what a student is learning from an internship is more important for his or her career. “There is no need to get stressed about getting good internships. There is a huge possibility of getting internship opportunities using the IIT’s own ecosystem and network, including the alumni network,” Chakraborty added.Teachers at the institute admit that students are increasingly focusing on taking up lucrative internships to make their CVs look impressive. “We often find students doing multiple internships arranged by parents in the hope that this will increase their placement prospects. This leads to undue pressure, and if this pressure keeps building up, it can trigger an outburst. It is important to make parents and students understand that all these internships will not be decisive in their career,” said a teacher.Another senior professor said that during informal interactions with students they sometimes get hints that they were worried about family expectations. “They start getting anxious about securing good jobs two years before placements. As teachers, we can motivate them and help them solve issues, but we cannot encroach into family matters,” he said.The experts’ committee has also suggested measures like employing full-time professionals for management of students in hostels in addition to the existing setup of wardens and assistant wardens, who are faculty members. “A facial recognition system at the mess has been suggested so that we can keep track of students who are coming to the dining area for meals. If any student is found missing meals daily, it could be an indicator of something amiss,” said Chakraborty.The committee has also pointed out that since students nowadays were dependent on gadgets and social media, there was need to introduce life-skill programmes and courses like socio-emotional learning and emotional resilience in the curriculum.“The committee has suggested increasing the number of counsellors and also making the counsellors undergo an orientation programme. The committee feels the counsellors should visit different hostels and interact with students so that the stigma around visiting the counselling centre is broken,” said a senior official.
