IITs move to relieve students from tech-induced stress

Five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are taking proactive steps to relieve students from unnecessary and imaginary stress elements, said officials. "Our aim is not to pick their weaknesses but to encourage their innate strengths and then sharpen them further. We need to understand that most brilliant students in the country get admitted into IITs and their problems are very unique," said Partha Pratim Chakraborty, Director of IIT-Kharagpur.

"We need to relieve students from unnecessary and imaginary stress elements that they suffer from. And that is the reason why we are trying to get a unique solution," he added. A pan-IIT workshop on the promotion of wellness in IIT campuses was hosted by IIT-Kharagpur on Tuesday. The workshop had sessions wherein perspectives were presented by IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Bombay, IIT-Madras and IIT-Gandhinagar. Experts from IIT-Kharagpur, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai and several industry experts delved deep into the campus life at the IITs and tried to find a solution.

We need to relieve students from unnecessary and imaginary stress elements that they suffer from. And that is the reason why we are trying to get a unique solution

Partha Pratim Chakraborty, Director, IIT-Kharagpur

The Institutes have considered programmes such as students' helpline, induction programme, academic curriculum update, etc. IIT-Kharagpur is introducing four programmes for its undergraduate students. While the First Year students will have an induction programme helping to settle into campus life, the Second Year students will have an assimilation session where they will understand the IIT system better. The Third Year students will have reorientation session, and they will go through a de-induction programme in the Fourth Year to make them ready for life outside the campus. 

IIT-BHU has introduced an induction programme as well while IIT-Bombay has collaborated with TISS for counselling helpline. It has been observed that the students fight peer pressure, parental pressure and have trouble with time management. And many are suffering from stress induced by technology addiction, officials said. "We need to increase the human connect. These days, the students are more active virtually. Also, we need to understand what makes the brilliant students go through failure. And our aim is to help them build resilience and handle it," added Chakraborty.

The programme has been initiated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to develop a set of recommendations which could promote wellness among the students across old and new IITs.  The outcome and recommendations of the workshop will be communicated to the HRD Ministry for considering execution at the IITs and similar institutions.