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

Why in the News

The University Grants Commission (UGC) asks higher education institutions to keep one mental health professional for every 500 students, but most Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) examined fall several times short. Replies under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI) reveal the gap as protests grow over a Dalit student’s suicide at IIT-Bombay, and also show faculty reservation shortfalls.

What does the UGC counsellor norm require?

1. What it is: The UGC’s mental health and wellbeing guidelines for higher education institutions set a fixed ratio of counsellors or psychologists to students. It works like a minimum staffing norm for student care.
2. Why it exists: A counsellor is often the first point of support for a student in distress, so the ratio decides whether help can be reached in time.
3. How the gap surfaced: A former IIT-Bombay student filed detailed RTI queries. The replies disclosed counsellor numbers and suicide records for seven IITs.
4. The takeaway: Most IITs studied fall well short of a norm meant to keep help within reach, just as student suicides have drawn public protest.

How far short do the IITs fall?

1. Worst ratio: IIT (BHU) Varanasi has one counsellor for every 4,750 students, nearly ten times the UGC ratio.
2. Kharagpur and Roorkee: IIT-Kharagpur has one counsellor per 1,136 students and IIT-Roorkee one per 1,317.
3. Only one compliant: Only IIT-Ropar reported enough counsellors under the UGC recommendation.
4. IIT-Bombay: The website of its Student Wellness Centre is currently inaccessible, so its counselling capacity cannot be checked.

Why has the shortfall become urgent?

1. Suicide record: IIT-Kharagpur recorded 10 student suicides in the last five years. IIT-Roorkee and IIT (BHU) reported three each over the same period.
2. IIT-Bombay protests: Protests are mounting in Mumbai for institutional accountability over the death by suicide of Sahil Wakode, a Dalit student at IIT-Bombay. His parents have gone on hunger strike.
3. Overlapping gaps: Kharagpur, Roorkee and BHU, the three institutes reporting suicides, also have some of the weakest counsellor ratios.

Do the IITs meet faculty reservation mandates?

1. SC and ST quotas: The reservation policy reserves 15% of faculty hiring for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes (STs).
2. OBC quota: A further 27% of hiring is reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
3. Near total non-compliance: Almost none of the seven IITs meets the faculty mandate. Only IIT-Ropar reported SC and ST shares at or above the quota, at 15% and 8.6%.
4. Steepest gap for STs: ST representation among faculty in these institutes ranges from just 0.2% to 2.1%.

Challenges

1. Advisory norm: The UGC ratio is a guideline recommendation, so an institute that falls short faces no penalty.
2. Opaque reporting: Counsellor numbers are not readily public, so students cannot easily learn what support exists.
3. Few mentors from their communities: Thin SC and ST faculty presence leaves students from these groups with few teachers from similar backgrounds.
4. Accountability after a death: The IIT-Bombay protests show families see no clear institutional accountability after a student’s suicide.

Way Forward

1. Meet the ratio: Each IIT should recruit counsellors until it meets the UGC staffing recommendation.
2. Public disclosure: IITs should publish counsellor strength and wellness data on their websites without waiting for RTI requests.
3. Reserved post drives: The Ministry of Education should require IITs to run time bound recruitment for vacant reserved faculty posts.
4. Independent review: Each institute should commission an independent review after every student suicide and act on its findings.

Conclusion

The IITs are falling short on both student care and faculty diversity. The marker to watch is whether the IIT-Bombay protests lead to enforceable staffing and disclosure standards across the IITs.

Key numbers

1. IIT-Jodhpur and IIT-Patna: six counsellors and psychiatrists at Jodhpur and two counsellors at Patna, each for about 4,000 students.
2. IIT-Tirupati: three counsellors and psychologists for about 1,700 students.
3. IIT-Delhi: 12 counsellors for around 12,000 students.
4. SC and OBC faculty shares: SCs 2.8% to 10.9%; OBCs 1.5% to 17.5% across the seven IITs.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2015, GS2, 12 marks] The quality of higher education in India requires major improvements to make it internationally competitive. Do you think that the entry of foreign educational institutions would help improve the quality of higher and technical education in the country? Discuss.”