IITs have far fewer mental health counsellors than recommended by UGC: RTI data

The number of mental health counsellors for students at multiple Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) across the country is several times lower than what the University Grants Commission (UGC) recommends, data obtained through the Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005, revealed.

While the UGC’s guidelines for higher educational institutions on mental health and wellbeing recommend having one mental health professional/psychologist for every 500 students, RTI replies seen by The Hindu showed that IIT Kharagpur is functioning with one counsellor for every 1,136 students, IIT Roorkee has one counsellor for every 1,317 students, and the IIT in Varanasi (BHU) is operating with one counsellor for every 4,750 students.

In the set of information revealed through the same RTI request, IIT Kharagpur revealed that it had seen 10 student suicides in the last five years, IIT Roorkee reported three suicides in the same time, and IIT-BHU reported three suicides in the same time. This data come as protests are mounting in Mumbai seeking institutional accountability for the death by suicide of Sahil Wakode, a Dalit student reading engineering at IIT-Bombay.

Responding to detailed RTI queries from Pranav Jeevan, a former student of IIT-Bombay, IITs in Jodhpur, Ropar, Kharagpur, Patna, Roorkee, Tirupati, and Varanasi revealed information on the status of the representation of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Classes among the faculty and also data on the number of counsellors employed at the institutes and the budget for running mental health centres for students.

Apart from this, the data on mental health counsellors showed that IIT Kharagpur had 12 regular counsellors and one psychiatrist on contract for a student population of over 14,000 students; IIT Roorkee had eight counsellors at its wellness centre for a student population of 10,500 students; IIT-BHU had two professional counsellors for over 9,500 students; IIT Jodhpur had six professional counsellors and psychiatrists for about 4,000 students; IIT Patna had two counsellors for about 4,000 students; and IIT Tirupati had three counsellors and psychologists for a student population of about 1,700 students.

The only exception

According to the data revealed in response to Mr. Jeevan’s RTI, only IIT Ropar reported having enough counsellors as per the recommendation made by the UGC in its guidelines on mental health and wellbeing. IIT Ropar reported having six counsellors and two visiting psychiatrists for a student population of about 3,000.

Apart from the IITs that have provided this data in response to the RTI queries, a cursory check of the IIT Delhi’s student wellness section showed a total of 12 counsellors available for a student population of around 12,000 students. Meanwhile, the website for IIT Bombay’s Student Wellness Centre is currently inaccessible even as the institute finds itself at the centre of protests seeking institutional accountability for student suicides.

The data obtained by Mr. Jeevan further showed that almost none of the seven IITs mentioned above fulfil the representation percentages for SC, ST, OBC, and EWS faculty members, with just IIT Ropar reporting that 15% of its faculty members were from SC background and 8.6% from ST background. Apart from this, the representation of SCs among faculty members ranged from 2.8% to 10.9% in these institutes; the representation of STs ranged from 0.2% to 2.1%; the representation of OBCs ranged from 1.5% to 17.5%.

The reservation policy in India mandates reserving 15% of hirings for SCs, 7.5% for STs, 27% for OBCs, and 10% for EWS.

(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on Tele-MANAS 14416, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)