• Source:JND
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The Indian Insititute of Technology, Delhi has revised its evaluation system and also dropped a set of mid-semester exams to reduce the stress of students, said institute director Rangan Banerjee.

This significant move comes in the wake of several cases of student suicides across IITs which has sparked a debate across the country about whether the strict study schedule and the curriculum are affecting the mental health of students.

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In an interview with news agency PTI, Banerjee said that one set of exams was dropped after conducting an internal survey and taking feedback from all students and faculty.
“Earlier we used to have two sets of exams during a semester, final exams at the end of each semester and several continuous evaluation mechanisms. Now there will be two sets of exams besides routine evaluations," Banerjee said, as quoted by PTI.

Banerjee further emphasised that the exam calendar was too packed and therefore the institute decided to reduce the stress and burden on students.

“The decision has also been approved by the Senate and will be implemented from the ongoing semester. A maximum cap of 80 per cent weightage has been kept for the two examinations," he said.

The institute is also focusing on facilitating faculty-student interactions via academic-domain-independent and academic-domain-dependent faculty mentorships.

"In addition to existing mechanisms to deal with stress and ensure mental well-being among the students, IIT Delhi is pushing to strengthen some mentorship and interactive verticals, especially to encourage interactions with students outside the classrooms, preferably at an individual level," Banerjee said.

Recently, a 21-year-old post-graduation student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad died by suicide in her hostel room. The student was a resident of Odisha who joined the institute in July. She was staying in a single-seater room in the college hostel. The other students found her hanging from a ceiling fan.

Last month, a 20-year-old B.Tech final-year student at IIT Delhi died by suicide in a campus hostel. These incidents raised concerns regarding the mental pressure and study pressure these students face on these campuses.

Banerjee also commented on the incidents of suicides and said, “Any suicide is tragic and it's heartbreaking for everyone. We have to create an enabling ecosystem so that whenever a student is facing any difficulty emotionally or mentally, he or she should be able to approach someone and get the right counselling and mentorship at that stage".