IITs to discuss fee hike, mental health, student wellness in council meeting today

By Sheena Sachdeva & Vagisha Kaushik

NEW DELHI: The Council of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will discuss the issues including fee hike, mental health, and student wellness in the council meeting today. The 55th meeting of the council of IITs will be organised at IIT Bhubaneswar. Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan will address the meeting.

One of the IIT Council members told Careers360, "Mental health and student wellness is the main agenda of today’s IIT Council meeting. Though no specific case will be discussed. We are discussing how we can ensure a good mental health environment for students on campuses.”

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“The council may discuss the fee hike as well. Overall the cost of education has gone up. However, if you look at the amount of money spent on education in countries like the US and compare it with India, it is far less. A large number of students prefer to move out to study abroad,” the member added.

IIT Bombay suicide, IIT Delhi protest

In February, an IIT Bombay BTech student Darshan Solanki died by suicide. The investigation into his death and allegations of caste discrimination by his family and other student groups has result in a police investigation and the arrest of a classmate. The institute’s internal inquiry report ruled out caste-based discrimination as the cause of his death and instead pointed to poor academic performance. Whereas, the family members of the student opposed the report and asked for policy inquiry.

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Recently IIT Delhi students raised concerns about the increasing mess fees in the institute. According to students, the average mess fee has been raised to around Rs 7,000 per month.

The last IIT council meeting was held in February 2021. The then union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' had chaired the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) where he urged IITs to adopt a one-IIT-one-thrust area approach to research, basing it on local needs. The possibility of rationalising staff numbers also came up at the meeting.