IIT-Madras (IIT-M), one of the institutions most affected by student suicides, has adopted a ten-pronged strategy to address the problem and help students, the institute’s Director V. Kamakoti said here on Monday.
Talking to reporters, he said in the last eight months, the institution had witnessed five student suicides. “We did carry out a very deep analysis into this matter and found some instigating factors,” he said.
Post-COVID-19, there was a lack of socialisation among students, Mr. Kamakoti said. Campuses were closed and the lack of peer interaction resulted in some students lacking in the development technical expertise, such as coding languages. Since there was no peer interaction, the students were not expressing themselves to others, he said. “This led to suicides,” he added.
He said the institute had taken a ten-pronged approach to address this. “This includes time-bound redressal of grievances. This is working very well,” he said. “Apart from measures such as student faculty meetings, which are recorded to ensure there are structured interactions, we have now formed listener groups so people can vent their personal feelings,” Mr. Kamakoti said.
He added that the institution had a zero tolerance to caste discrimination and committees had been set up to deal any complaints relating to such acts.
