New Delhi: The reasons behind the high number of student dropouts from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) over the years and how to deal with it were discussed in the meeting of the IIT Council held Tuesday, ThePrint has learnt.
Family issues, problems in adjusting to the high-pressure environment in the IITs and lack of support from peers are some of the reasons cited for the dropouts, especially in the undergraduate (UG) level, at the meeting chaired by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
According to the data shared by the Ministry of Education in Parliament in July 2020, 440 undergraduate students dropped out of the IITs from 2016 to 2020. The IIT dropouts were from both reserved and general categories.
Another data regarding students from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes at all levels (UG and PG) shows that 4,440 students dropped out from IITs between 2018 and 2023.
The high numbers of dropouts in the combined data is because of the M.Tech students dropping out after getting a job, a senior official in the education ministry informed.
The IIT Council, however, is more concerned about the dropouts of students in B.Tech, which are mostly linked to the mental well-being of students.
“Each institute was told to engage people who are aware of counselling and early detection. There is a general concern about mental health and welfare of students, and all possible ways and means through which we can deal with their mental health should be explored,” said a source who was present in the meeting.
The institutes were also asked to train teachers in identifying the issues of students. “There could be issues going on with them at home, or students are probably unable to cope up with the study pressure. But all this needs to be detected by teachers and peer groups. Hence, we need to sensitise the teachers as well,” the source added.
IITs already have an existing mechanism of dealing with students welfare and mental health issues. They have, however, been asked to come up with at least 15-20 such measures to handle the cases of students.
Earlier in April, IIT Roorkee Director K. K. Pant had said that the institute took the help of senior students in counselling the new batches and helping them adjust in campus. “I have told new students that if they have difficulty adjusting to academics and are not comfortable with a particular subject, they can even change that. We are trying to do everything we can to help students feel comfortable in the institute,” he told ThePrint.
While some IITs have student counsellors, a few others provide help in bridging the language barrier.
“Some students from underprivileged backgrounds are unable to cope up because of the language issues. We provide special English coaching to such students to cope up with the environment of the college and academics,” a faculty member from IIT Delhi said.
(Edited by Geethalakshmi Ramanathan)