24/7 help to QR codes: IIT Kharagpur rolls out measures to curb deaths by suicide

IIT Kharagpur announced a series of measures, including formation of expert committee, round-the-clock access to in-person counsellors, a structured counselling calendar

Kolkata: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has announced a series of measures—including the formation of an expert committee, round-the-clock access to in-person counsellors, QR codes in hostel rooms, and a structured counselling calendar—to help prevent deaths by suicide among students.

After a third-year civil engineering student was found dead in his hostel room on May 4, the third death by suicide on IIT Kharagpur campus this year and the ninth in the last five years (inup.iitkgp.ac.in)

After a third-year civil engineering student was found dead in his hostel room on May 4, the third death by suicide on IIT Kharagpur campus this year and the ninth in the last five years, dean of students Bhargab Maitra said that a committee comprising psychiatrists, psychologists, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, ex-IITians from Kharagpur, and retired professors who were in charge of student affairs during their tenure had been formed.

“One of the present associate deans of students’ affairs has been made the convenor of the committee. The committee has been asked to submit a report within three months to the director,” Maitra, who is also a professor in the civil engineering department, said.

The committee has been directed to assess the factors affecting the mental health of students, take stock of initiatives that are already in place, identify gaps, and recommend further measures that can bolster the mental health ecosystem for students after speaking to all stakeholders, including students, faculty, and other staff.

Maitra said that currently, online counselling is available 24x7, while in-person counselling facilities on campus are available only from 10 am to 6 pm every day. The authorities are now planning to introduce round-the-clock in-person counselling facilities. “Many students have said that since classes often continue till 6 pm and sometimes beyond. So, we have decided to extend this till 8 pm. And from 8 pm to 10 am we have planned to introduce a facility where a counsellor will be made available on-call for students,” said Maitra.

The authorities also plan to introduce a second platform for online counselling with a different set of therapists. “In case a student is not be satisfied with the existing list of therapists in the current counselling platform, there is no other choice. The second platform will give students a choice to talk to a completely different batch of counsellors with whom he may feel free,” Maitra explained.

Also, a ‘counselling calendar’ will be introduced in line with the academic calendar from the next semester. “The calendar will mention specific dates on which counselling sessions will be held and which halls so that they may remain present there is needed. This calendar will be given to them at the start of the session,” said Maitra.

On May 4, an IIT staff member informed the police that a woman from Delhi had called the campus office to alert them regarding the deceased, a resident of Bihar. The student had apparently spoken to the caller over the phone shortly before dying by suicide. The deceased’s brother had then written to the IIT Kharagpur director seeking a probe.

Two more students have died by suicide on the campus, including a fourth-year student on April 20 and a third-year undergraduate student who was found dead in his hostel room on January 12.

Following the April 20 incident, IIT Kharagpur authorities had introduced barcodes on every hostel room door. Students can scan the code to seek help from on-campus counsellors. “If a student is distressed or for any kind of emergency, he will just have to scan the QR codes printed on stickers on his mobile and to get important numbers of IIT,” he said.

According to data compiled by the Global IIT alumni support group, a network of over 1,000 IIT alumni, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Chennai saw nine deaths by suicide each in five years, the highest among all the IITs in India. “IIT Delhi recorded seven deaths and IIT Kanpur registered six deaths during the same period,” said Dheeraj Singh, an IIT Kanpur alumnus, who founded the support group in 2023 after three SC/ST students died by suicide in two IITs across India.