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By Prachi Verma, ET Bureau | 7 Aug, 2015, 04.32AM IST

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How depression, cultural mismatch are becoming a part ofIIT, NIT syllabi

NEW DELHI: The premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are a dream destination formost undergraduate students in the country. But once they secure admission, manysteadily go downhill, fighting demons such as poor self esteem, a heavy study load and acultural mismatch.

IIT Roorkee bears this out. Out of the 1,050 students admitted every year, only 980graduate. This week, the dean of students made a presentation highlighting the rise indepression cases at the campus."Pushed by parents to enter IIT, they soon realiseengineering is not what they wanted to pursue as a career," said director Pradipta Banerji.

The institute saw the highest number of dropouts from 2012-13 to 2014-15, according to astatement the government tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. But this is not IITRoorkee's story alone. A staggering 4,400 students dropped out of IITs and NITs in the pastthree years due to various reasons including "academic stress", said Union humanresource development minister Smriti Irani. IIT Roorkee saw 228 dropouts, followed by IIT Kharagpur at 209 and IIT Delhi at 169.

The students struggle to bridge academic gaps, while juggling the new culture at IITs. Failure to comprehend lectures in English isanother challenge for the students, who are otherwise very bright. The institutes are doing the best they can to address the issues, frcounselling sessions to formulating coping strategies.

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Perhaps the biggest challenge students face is getting a grip on their new-found freedom. Every month, about 45 students approachstudent counsellor at IIT Bombay, Amita Tagare, for help to deal with academic pressure and competition from other performers in theclass.

"Studies take a backseat for many as soon as they enter IIT. They feel that by cracking the entrance they have won the battle. Soon trealise that they are far behind their batchmates and their self-esteem takes a dip," said Tagare.

To alleviate some of that pressure, IIT Bombay allows parents to stay with students.

IIT Hyderabad is setting up an early intervention faculty committee, which will act as a buddy for first-year students struggling to balatheir new-found freedom with academic pressure. "When they enter the institute, students really do not know how to handle freedomsaid director UB Desai.

"Lots of students drop out," added Rupa Murghai, student counsellor at IIT Delhi. Almost 3-4% of students leave the course half-waythrough as a result of this disconnect, she added.

It's not as if the students are strong in their core subjects either. Nearly 20-25% of the students admitted every year in the undergraducourses are weak in physics and mathematics, said a faculty at IIT Delhi. "Due to multiple choice questions, even those not comfortabwith maths and physics get selected. We (faculty) presume these students would be proficient in these subjects," said the faculty, whdid not wish to be named.

"All the students who get through to IITs are top-of-their-class back in school. Only a few work hard to remain at the top while the restheir hand at new activities," said Alok Mittal, IIT alumnus and managing director of Indifi (lending platform for small businesses).

Sandeep Sharma, IIT alumnus and co-founder, CTO of Yepme, testifiers to the intense competition. "From being in the top 5, here yofind yourself among the top 40 or 50," he said.

Faculty members also believe that spoonfeeding by institutes coaching students for the IIT entrance is to blame. "We have students really do not know how to handle freedom. Many of them are addicted to browsing the internet and playing video games, something never did before," said IIT Ropar director Sarit Kumar Das.

Three years ago, NIT Trichy stepped in when instances of depression started to go out of hand. The institute stretched its orientationprogramme for the new students to 21 days from the earlier one day. "We now have counsellors to help students. In addition, the facensures students are able to cope with academics," said director Srinivasan Sundarrajan. These may be small steps, but they ensuredreams donot die young.

Academic Stress, Personal Reasons to Blame: Smriti Irani

Over 4,400 students dropped out of IITs and NITs in the last three years due to various reasons including 'academic stress', thegovernment said on Wednesday.

Altogether 2,060 students dropped out from various Indian Institutes of Technology from 2012-13 to 2014-15, human resourcedevelopment minister Smriti Irani informed the Lok Sabha during Question Hour. During this period, 2,352 students dropped out from

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"The reasons for dropouts may be attributed to shifting to other colleges/institutions, personal reasons, medical reasons, getting jobsduring PG courses, inability to cope with academic stress etc," Irani said in a written reply.

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