IITs Move Towards Human Excellence; Wellness Programmes to be Launched for Students

IITs are now looking forward to exploring the human excellence domain in order to help their students become successful engineers as well as strong emotional beings. Several IITs have joined hands to brainstorm and launch innovative programmes in this domain.

A workshop regarding the same was organised at IIT Kharagpur on July 5, 2017. The aim of this workshop was to promote wellness at IIT campuses and perspectives were shared by IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras , IIT Bombay and the new IITs were represented by IIT Gandhinagar .

The campus life at various IITs was studied by experts from TISS, NIMHANS and IIT Kharagpur in order to come up with solutions that will help in promoting emotional wellness.

Director of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, said that all IITs should focus on encouraging students and sharpening their strengths rather than picking their weaknesses. He also added that some of India’s most brilliant students are enrolled in IITs, therefore, their problems are also unique.

The aim of coming up with a unique solution is to relieve the students from unnecessary and imaginary stress elements that often emerge in a competitive society, added Prof. Chakrabarti. Amongst the unique programmes that the IITs are planning to start are, students' helpline, academic curricula update, induction programme, etc.

IIT Kharagpur will be launching four programs for its undergraduate students that will include the induction programme for first-year students in order to help them settle. Second-year students will be provided with an assimilation session to help them understand the IIT system better.

Third-year students will be provided with a reorientation session and a de-induction program for final year students to prepare them for life outside campus and within the industry.

IIT BHU has also started the induction program for fresher students, whereas, IIT Bombay has joined hands with TISS, Mumbai for starting counselling helpline.

Also Read: Admissions Helpline Service Launched by IIT Kharagpur for Girl Students

IIT Kharagpur is also planning to introduce the representation of four categories of students in the student council, i.e. Woman, Postgraduate, Undergraduate and Ph.D., from each of the departments. These members will be further represented by a council member from each category.

In order to encourage students to take up counselling without any stigma, career development and other career related services will also be provided through counselling sessions. This step has been taken to encourage the students to be conscious regarding their health and wellness.

IIT Bombay has also prepared a detailed questionnaire to examine the mental health of students. IIT Madras has also launched reactive and proactive programmes by the name of Mitra and Saathi respectively.

Also Read: JEE Advanced 2017: Fewer IIT Bombay Aspirants among Top 100 Students

The initiative to promote mental wellness at the IITs was started by the HRD Ministry. The aim was to gather recommendations from experts in order to promote human excellence programmes. The outcomes of the workshop will be sent to the HRD Ministry for the final approval and execution of the recommendations at IITs and other such institutes.