Mumbai, May 12 (IANS) Three months after the suicide of a student named Darshan Solanki, the IIT-Bombay Senate has taken several initiatives to reduce ‘academic stress’ of its first year students, officials said here on Friday.
On February 12, Solanki (18), a native of Ahmedabad, had jumped off his hostel building on the IIT-B campus, allegedly over caste discrimination and harassment, according to his family. The tragedy had sparked a huge furore on higher education campuses all over India.
One of the key decisions of the Senate is to remove the option of branch change at the end of the first year for 2023 and later entrants.
“This decision was taken based on the observation that the pressure to get higher grades to earn a branch change was causing stress on many students, while only a few benefitted from the change of branch,” said an official.
The number of seats at the time of admission may be correspondingly increased by a small number in some of the popular branches, as per the IIT-B.
Another key decision taken by the Senate is to reduce the academic load and stress of the students by reducing one course per semester in the first year.
Thus, those junior students who find it difficult to cope up with the academic load will get more time to work on their courses, said the official.
–IANS
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