One in three freshers at IIT M need psychological help: Survey

CHENNAI: One in three freshers (32%) at IIT Madras needs some kind of psychological help, the first ‘well-being survey’ on the campus has found. The results show 3 per cent of the 2,800 newly enrolled UG, PG, and PhD scholars need immediate intervention. Student volunteers and professional counsellors will keep tab on these 3 per cent students.

IIT-M, which took up the survey to identify vulnerable students at an early stage and prevent suicides on campus, found that 2% of freshers are deeply impacted by past trauma, while 17% said they are marginally affected by trauma. “Loneliness and lack of social bonds, striving for self-improvement, concern over others’ opinions, and lack of contentment with life are among the most common challenges the freshers face,” said Sathyanarayana N Gummadi, dean (students). “We are planning to conduct various programmes including stress management and coping skills, self-awareness workshops, behavioural skills training, resilience-building workshops, and financial literacy.”

The survey, done in July, had 70 questions on psychological well-being, family dynamics and atmosphere, and self-efficacy. Taking note of incidents of self-harm and such stress-related behaviour among students, IIT M this year reduced the number of credits required for the degree programme from 434 to 400. IIT M has also introduced a mandatory recreational course; students can select from Bharathanatyam, Carnatic music, painting, sketching, story writing, yoga and spoken Tamil courses in their first year.

“These recreational courses are now part of the curriculum, for which students get two credits. At a counselling session during the induction programme, experts explained to parents not to put pressure over grades or placement offers and provide emotional support to their children,” Gummadi said. The institute will send periodic messages to parents inquiring about the well-being of their wards. IIT M conducts programmes on wellness on Wednesdays. Students will also have fixed times to review evaluated answer sheets and address their concerns.

Students can raise grievances with mentors, department heads, deans or the director; also available is an anonymous grievance box. The institute says most grievances are addressed within 48 hours. Between February and March last year, four students died by suicide on the IIT M campus.