Dr Vineet Joshi, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, along with other senior officials from the ministry today reached the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Kurukshetra, to assess the overall situation at the institute. Four suicide cases have occurred at the institute within a span of two months.
Joshi was accompanied by Tejaswini Ananthkumar, chairperson, Board of Governors, NIT Kurukshetra; Joint Secretary (TE) Saumya Gupta; Joint Secretary (TEL and NITs) Govind Jaiswal; and Deputy Secretary (NITs), Ministry of Education, Heera Lal. They had come to interact with the deans, students, head of the departments and the NIT administration.
Meanwhile, officials from the district administration and Police Department also attended the meetings.
This was the third visit to NIT Kurukshetra by officials from the Union Ministry of Education in the past four days to obtain information and probe the suicide cases at the institute.
After the meetings, Joshi said, “We are assessing the overall situation and have interacted with the stakeholders, including the administration, teachers and students, to seek their views and suggestions. We have received some academic and non-academic suggestions. After obtaining all the suggestions and views, we will have a final discussion with the NIT administration and management here.”
About the suicides, Dr Vineet Joshi said, “The prima facie reasons behind the suicides are in the knowledge of the police. We are positive that we will create a good environment for the students and improve the overall situation.”
Sources said that some teachers during the meeting have made suggestions regarding improving the teacher-student ratio for better interaction with the students, and some measures regarding the usage of social media by the students.
A senior professor in the institute, on the condition of anonymity, said higher usage of digital media, lack of interaction with friends and parents, loneliness, higher aspirations and peer pressure among some issues creating trouble for the students.
“It is unfortunate to see NIT making headlines for the wrong issues. I have personally interacted with over 25 students in the past few days to know about the issues being faced by the students. It is being observed that students have confined themselves to their rooms and their social media interaction is the only means of interaction. Some students have told us about academic stress. They want a private coaching institute-style environment where the entire focus remains on cracking the entrance exam and on target-oriented studies instead of the overall development,” he added.
The professor said, “The students these days are more active on social media than in real life. They don’t interact with fellow students, family and friends and don’t want to share their personal issues. Higher aspiration from parents and peer pressure are the other major issues.”
