Suicides in IIT Delhi: Students Issued Charter Demanding End To Caste Discrimination (www.home.iitd.ac.in/gallery.php)
Days after a student, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste, died by suicide, second incident in two months, Delhi IIT students have filed a demand to the authorities seeking necessary actions on the institution”s behaviour and treatment towards it”s backward caste/class students.
The demand draft titled “Justice For Anil Kumar And Ayush Ashna includes ten clauses in total, all directions to enhance the educational environment of the institution irrespective of the students” caste and religion. In it, the students have demanded that all faculty members be sensitised to issues of caste discrimination and social justice.
It is the recent suicides of two students of the IIT Delhi advanced others to initiate such a move.
The 21-year-old Anil Kumar, a BTech student, was found hanging in his room in the Vindhyachal Hostel on Friday. He was pursuing a BTech in Mathematics and Computing for the session 2019-2023. Police are yet to reveal the reason behind the suicide.
Ayush Ashna, another Dalit student, had ended his life two months ago. The 20-year-old was also a BTech student, and found hang in his hostel room on July 8.
“The Delhi police is investigating the very sad incident of the untimely demise of our student”, responded an IIT Delhi official to TimeLine.
“Nothing as of now”, said the official when asked about the charter.
Students now demands that, “teaching practices of faculty, their attitude towards students with low grades, course withdrawal and pending course requirements must be regularly scrutinised”.
“The culture of taking pride in failing students must stop”, they added in the draft. They also demands a flexible coursework and a standardised evaluation systems.
Major demands of the students includes,
- Implementing a reservation policy for students and faculty
- Conduct constant monitoring and sensitisation of all faculty members
- Immediate relaxation of academic requirements for all Covid-affected batches
- Strengthening of the mentorship program to identify all B.Tech students on extension, and assist each student individually to fulfill their credit requirements for speedy dispatch of their degrees
- Review curriculum and teaching practices as there are many students who struggle with English language skills
- Revamping of anti-ragging guidelines to include discrimination based on entrance rank, caste, economic background, sexuality, and so on
- Inclusion of topics to caste discrimination and social justice in course
- Boost caste equity initiatives
- Increasing the number of counselors and caste and gender sensitization programs
- Expanding financial assistance for marginalised students on extension
The students have observed a terrible number of SC/ST representation within the faculty. “There is no SC/ST faculties in total of 14 departments of the IIT. 24 have no ST faculty, where as 15 have no SC faculty”, the draft reads.
Considering the valuation, “every “F” grade assigned to a student also reflects the failure of the faculty and, therefore, the faculty must be held accountable for students” academic performance. Teaching practices of faculty, their attitudes towards students with low grades, course withdrawal and pending course requirements must be regularly scrutinized”, the demand noted.
