Students, faculty at IIT-Madras seek solution to stop suicides

"Sir, since I joined in 2009, every year there has been a suicide. As a student I have the right to know about IIT-M's actions to prevent such unfortunate incidents. And even after the introduction of MITR (a guidance and counselling system), the story is same," reads a mail sent by a student of IIT-Madras after institute dean (students) L S Ganesh posted a condolence message following the suicide of a first year student on Friday.

The suicide of 18-year-old Akshay Kumar Meena, a student of chemical engineering student, is the eighth at IIT-M in the last four years.

The dean dismissed fears of any inadequacy in the suicide preventive measures taken by the administration, but a large number of students and faculty remain agitated with the response.

Besides academic stress, say some faculty members, the increasing population on the campus, from 3,000 in 1980 to 8,000 this year, and a mix of students from different social strata should be seen as trends leading to new challenges.

IIT-M director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said they had implemented recommendations of M Anandakrishnan Report on increasing suicides in centrally-funded institutions. "Professional counsellors are available 24 hours a day on the campus and the identity of those seeking help is protected. We also have a mentoring system run by senior students in which a volunteer helps at least seven students individually," he said.

Many students and professors find these measures quite ineffective. "Instead of finding the root cause and building a collective support system of students and teachers, the measures implemented here are to silence or control students. Seniors working as mentors for MITR mostly spy on students who smoke or are in relationships," said a fourth year dual degree science student.

A senior faculty member said suicides were no more a shock. "Despite an effective public announcement network, it took three days for the management to inform us about the suicide," he said. The existing mechanism to prevent suicides is formal and does not reach students.