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New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Science, the country’s premier scientific research institute, is removing ceiling fans from the institute’s hostel rooms, apparently to prevent student suicides. The move has been taken after reportedly four students of the institute committed suicide Three of them hanged themselves – in their hostel rooms – since March this year.
While ceiling fans are currently being removed, there are plans to replace them with table or wall-mounted fans.
In a reply to two emails to ThePrint on Friday, IISc confirmed that ceiling fans are being removed from hostel rooms, and claimed it was “to restrict access to any means of self-harm on the premises”. which includes replacement of existing ceiling fans in the hostel rooms”. The institute said it is doing its best to “promote the psychological well-being of the IISc community”.
One of the emails added: “The measures we are taking are based on recommendations that have been made to us by mental health experts.”
Referring to other measures taken by the institute, the email said that “another initiative was for counselors to call individual students on campus to inquire about their well being and this exercise has already been completed”.
However, we would like to emphasize that these are just a few of the many measures taken in recent times.
ThePrint reached out to the student council president at IISc over the phone for comment on removing ceiling fans from hostel rooms.
Though he refrained from commenting on the issue, a report published in Deccan Herald On Thursday it claimed that it had accessed a survey conducted within the premises, “which found that 90 per cent of 305 respondents did not want ceiling fans to be replaced with wall-mounted fans, while 6 per cent said that they don’t care”.
The students had earlier alleged that the institute did not pay attention to the mental health of the students who had to stay back in the hostel during the months of the pandemic-induced lockdown.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one student was said ThePrint in September, “Since science students are required to be in the lab because experiments cannot be done online, many students stayed at the institute. Those who stayed were only allowed to go to class and come back (to the hostel).”
She said: “We used to collect our food from the cafeteria in tiffin boxes and eat in our rooms. A ‘Covid Brigade’ was formed. It monitored what the students were doing and with whom they interacted. We were not even allowed to talk to our batchmates in the open field. It was extremely upsetting and the action of being there in isolation took a toll on our mental health.
IISc. mental health initiative in
The institute also set up a wellness center sometime during the pandemic to address the mental health issues of the students.
In its email response to ThePrint, the institute claimed that other measures taken to ensure the mental health of students include “increasing access to wellness resources for the institute community: a 24X7 emergency call service, 24X7 online counseling and access to the YourDost platform”. through support, and counseling”.
It added: “In addition to on-campus counsellors, a panel of external advisors is also made available to students for appointments either online or in person. The Wellness Center has also been organizing several awareness sessions, invited talks, workshops and seminars related to mental health and wellness.
“Information about mental health resources, as well as programs organized by the Wellness Center, is disseminated to all campus community members via email institution-wide. Each department/centre of IISc also has a Wellness Committee – consisting of Consists of two faculty members and two students – whom the students can contact in case of any issues or concerns. The facilities of the wellness center are being used by many students.”
However, students who spoke to ThePrint in September claimed that the wellness center has only two consulting therapists, who are only available on weekends.
Was a PhD student in the Department of Biology of the Institute said Despite the establishment of a mental health service, the funds provided by the institute for its operation were not sufficient. “I take sessions with counselors and psychotherapists provided by the institute, but they are available for three-hour sessions only two days a week,” the student said on condition of anonymity. “There are only so many students in such a short time that these mental health experts can talk.”
(Edited by Polomi Banerjee)
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