757 Dropouts from IITs, 717 from NITs in 2014-15: Smriti Irani

New Delhi, August 6, 2015: A total of 757 students dropped out of IITs and 717 students from NITs in the 2014-2015 academic session, parliament was informed on Wednesday.

The reasons for the dropouts may be attributed to shifting to other colleges, personal, medical, getting jobs during postgraduate courses and inability to cope with academic stress, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani informed the Lok Sabha.

According to data, 606 students dropped out of the 16 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in 2012-2013, while 697 dropped out in 2013-2014.

The figure for the 30 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) was 850 (2012-2013) and 785 (2013-2014).

She said that the IITs had initiated continuous corrective actions to minimise dropouts, including counselling to de-stress students, guidance and counselling unit headed by faculty members and appointments of advisors.

"NITs have also adopted measures like quarter classes and special exams, additional coaching for weak students and tutor guardian in respective departments," she said.

Over 4,400 students dropped out of IITs and NITs in the last three years due to various reasons including "academic stress", the government said today and assured that corrective actions have been initiated.

As many as 2,060 students dropped out from various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) from 2012-13 to 2014-15, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani informed the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

During this three-year period, 2,352 students dropped out from the National Institutes of Technology (NITs).

"The reasons for dropouts may be attributed to shifting to other colleges/institutions, personal reasons, medical reasons, getting jobs during PG courses, inability to cope with academic stress etc," Irani said in a written reply.

In 2014-15, IITs witnessed 757 dropouts which was higher than 697 dropouts (2013-14) and 606 (2012-13).

During this period, IIT Roorkee saw the highest number of dropouts at 228, followed by IIT Kharagpur (209) and IIT Delhi (169).

Interestingly, there were no dropouts at IITs in Mandi, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Madras and Ropar during 2014-15 period.

There are 16 IITs and 30 NITs in the country. Of the NITs, there were 717 dropouts in 2014-15, lower than 785 seen in the year-ago period.

In 2012-13, the dropout numbers stood at 850.

Irani said there is a mechanism for helping students who are under stress.

The government is committed to address issues related to academic stress, she added.

Listing out various initiatives that are in place to minimise dropouts at IITs, Irani said there is a guidance and counselling unit, headed by a faculty member.

It works closely along with a number of faculty counsellors and advisors to "identify students facing emotional difficulties and guide them to professional counsellors for help".

IANS