New Delhi:  More than 7,000 students have been dropped out form IITs due to various reasons over the last five years. . Some of the reasons for postgraduate students leaving the courses midway are the offers for placement and better opportunities, said HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in the Parliament in Question Hour recently.

A proposal to allow those IIT students who are poor in academic performance to opt for B.Sc. (Engineering) after the second semester (instead of being forced out of the course) came for discussion in the recent IIT Council meeting.

In case of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, the Coordination Forum chaired by the Minister of Human Resource Development, in its meeting held on 16 October 2019 has approved a similar proposal authorizing the respective Boards of Governors (BoGs) to decide on the modalities for its implementation. There is no such proposal in respect of other premier engineering institutions.

The HRD Minister informed the House that the Government is providing fellowship/Scholarship/Assistantship and tuition fee waiver, as applicable to the students pursuing different courses in IITs. IITs have also initiated various steps to reduce the dropout rate of students in the Institutes, which includes, regular counselling and monitoring of the academically weak students, providing facilities on campus for the students to de-stress, sports facilities, organization of workshops on stress management, problem-solving, etc.

Similarly counselling and career guidance services are also provided to the students throughout the year in all Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to address the issue of dropouts.

A total of 7248 students have dropped out from IITs during the last five years. There are currently 23 IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) in India.