IIT council meet today to discuss fee hike, measures to stem student suicides

The IIT council, the apex coordination body of all the 23 premier engineering colleges, will discuss the “mental health and wellness” of students on Tuesday.

The meeting happening after more than two years comes at a time when the institutions have been rocked by a spate of student suicides and subsequent protests. The last meeting of the IIT council was held on February 22, 2021.

One of the topics to be tabled includes the “need for a common entrance” for all Centrally Funded Technical Institutes. This is was resisted by the IITs in the past, especially when the UPA government had proposed it in 2012.

A revision of tuition fees, not carried out since 2016, is another key item on the agenda. It remains to be seen if the government resists the proposal coming as it does a year ahead of the general elections and protests on campuses such as IIT Bombay, Allahabad University and Banaras Hindu University among others over fee hikes.

While students belonging to SC, ST communities enjoy complete fee waiver at the IITs, for unreserved category students, it was hiked from 90,000 per annum to Rs 2 lakh in 2016 after a gap of seven years.

EWS students with family income below Rs 1 lakh per annum also enjoy complete fee waiver, while those coming from families earning between Rs 1 lakh-Rs 5 lakh have to pay one-third of the total fees.

Also, the presence of the “challenges” in implementing the quota policy in faculty recruitment by the IITs on the agenda of the council is important as the institutes have been facing questions over the low numbers on this count despite the government directing them to follow the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019 in letter and spirit.

The council is set to take up two more significant issues, the challenges in implementing reservation policy among the faculty rank of the IITs, and hiking allowance for SC and ST students, apart from the merit-cum-means based scholarship, sources said.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, senior officials of the Ministry of Education, UGC and AICTE will attend the 55th meeting of the council in Bhubaneswar apart from IIT directors and chairpersons of governing bodies.

The recent death by suicide of Darshan Solanki, a first-year chemical engineering student at IIT Bombay, and two students of IIT Madras sparked a nationwide debate on the issue. Since 2018, 33 students have died by suicide at IITs, nearly half of them from SC, ST and OBC communities.

According to sources, one of the options that the council may explore is getting all the IITs to make available round-the-clock professional help, either by collaborating with counsellors of nearby hospitals or having one on the campus.

The IIT authorities are also likely to be directed to offer training to enable students and teachers to identify those in need of help. Apart from counsellors, the idea is to have professional treatment available for those whose symptoms may have worsened, requiring urgent medical intervention.