After spate of student suicides, IIT Madras starts mental health wellness series on campus

Chennai: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) started a wellness session series for its students on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.

The programme is being conducted with the support of the National Health Mission, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu, for students through talks by renowned professionals involved in enabling mental wellness programmes across the State.

The IIT has launched the programme to increase awareness on Mental Health and various options available to students to address and mitigate stress whenever it is experienced. This comes after the IIT witnessed three student suicide cases since the beginning of the year.

In a recent case, Sachin Kumar, a PhD student at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) and a native of West Bengal, had ended his life at his friend's house in Chennai on March 31, 2023.

Earlier, on March 14, 2023, a third-year student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras allegedly died by suicide in his hostel room. The deceased, identified as V Vaipu Pushpak Sree Sai (20), hailed from Andhra Pradesh and was a electrical engineering student.

The IIT, in February, also reported the suicide of a second-year MS scholar who hung himself inside his hostel room at the college campus in Tharamani on Monday, February 13. The deceased was identified as Stephen Sunny, who hailed from Navi Mumbai.