The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has taken an initiative to find ways to overcome academic stress on students. According to a report published by Indian Express, the university has made a separate committee to examine how to reduce the stress on students, specifically the students who are in their first year.
This initiative has been taken after an interim report submitted by a panel of experts which was probing the suicide of Darshan Solanki, a first year student in IIT Bombay cited his deteriorating academic performance as a possible reason.
This new committee will have professors from different departments who will be looking at the ways to reduce the stress of the first year students. According to the institute, first-year academic stress has an adverse influence on students’ confidence levels and has a cascading impact on their next academic years on campus. IIT officials claim that this indicates the need for assistance in the initial year of the course.
According to the report published by the Indian Express, a senior official from IIT Bombay mentioned that academic difficulties played a significant role in Darshan’s case and apart from this individual case, various other students and mentees have mentioned how academic difficulties in the first year shatter the confidence level of students. This can cause inferiority complex, particularly if you were the top student in your class but struggled academically or finished last after being admitted to IIT. Additionally, if something goes awry in the first year, it affects later years.
The official emphasised that the new panel will expand its efforts to those admitted in various other categories, such as people with disabilities and other students, and will not limit its efforts to those coming on reserved category seats.
The official further said the anticipated committee will submit its report within three weeks, after which the suggestions will be presented to the senate for approval. He also stated that these changes will be done from the next session. No major changes will be done to the current batch as already major changes had been done in the curriculum of this batch by including various non-core-engineering subjects such as management, and humanities, among others, to provide broader exposure.