One in three freshers at IIT M needs psychological help: Survey | India News – Times of India

CHENNAI: One in three first-year students (32%) at IIT Madras needs some form of psychological help, according to the first ‘wellbeing survey’ on campus. The results show that 3 percent of the 2,800 newly registered UG, PG and PhD scientists require immediate intervention. Student volunteers and professional supervisors keep an eye on these 3 percent of students.
IIT-M, which conducted the study to identify vulnerable students at an early stage and prevent suicides on campus, found that 2% of freshers are deeply affected by past trauma, while 17% said they were marginally affected due to trauma. “Loneliness and lack of social bonds, pursuit of self-improvement, concern about the opinions of others and lack of satisfaction with life are among the most common challenges faced by freshers,” said Sathyanarayana N Gummadi, Dean (Students). “We plan to implement various programs including stress management and coping skills, self-awareness workshops, behavioral skills training, resilience building workshops and financial literacy.”
The survey, conducted in July, included 70 questions on psychological well-being, family dynamics and atmosphere, and self-efficacy. Based on incidents of self-harm and such stress-related behavior among students, IIT M has this year reduced the number of credits required for the course from 434 to 400. IIT M has also introduced a mandatory recreational course; Students can choose from Bharathanatyam, Carnatic music, painting, sketching, story writing, yoga and spoken Tamil courses in their first year.
“These recreational subjects are now part of the curriculum, for which students receive two credits. During a counseling session during the induction programme, experts explained to parents that they should not put pressure on grades or placement offers or give their children emotional support,” said Gummadi. The institute will send periodic messages to parents with queries regarding the welfare of their wards. IIT M conducts programs on wellness on Wednesdays. Students are also given fixed times to review the evaluated answer sheets and address their concerns.
Students can raise their complaints with mentors, department heads, deans or the director; An anonymous complaints box is also available. The institute says most complaints are resolved within 48 hours. Between February and March last year, four students died by suicide on the IIT M campus.