Table of Contents
Mental Health
- In just the past week, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru lost two students to suicide. Last Monday, Rajarshi Bhattacharya, a native of Kolkata and a third-year PhD student in the organic chemistry department, was found dead in his hostel room.
- A day later, on Tuesday night, 21-year-old Rishabh Mishram, a native of Rajasthan, was found hanging in his room.
- A statement issued by Rishabh’s father suggested that his son,, was suffering from depression and undergoing treatment at NIMHANS.
- Earlier this year, on 2 March, a 34-year-old PhD student Ranadeer Kumar from Bihar committed suicide.
- In all, four students have died by suicide since March, a figure that rises to five if the date is set back to August 2020.
- The suicides have also prompted students to accuse the institute of paying little heed to their mental health amid the Covid pandemic, while authorities told that they have been conducting surveys to ascertain the mental state of the students, have opened a wellness centre, and are looking at other ways to address the problem.
- The pandemic has been extremely tough for our students.
- Several students claim the institute has put undue pressure on them and has simultaneously failed to make provisions for mental health. They say the lockdown months were hard to survive at IISc.
- A PhD student of institute, said strict lockdown measures took a toll. “Since science students need to be in the laboratory as experiments cannot be done online, several students stayed back in the institute.
- Those who stayed back were only permitted to go to class and come back,” she said. “We would collect our food from the cafeteria in tiffin boxes and eat it in our rooms.
- A ‘Covid brigade’ was set up.
- It monitored what students were doing and who they interacted with. We were not allowed to even speak with our batchmates on open grounds. It was extremely unnerving and the act of living there in isolation took a toll on our mental health.”
- “Going out of the campus was a cumbersome task that required written permissions from several authorities. Nobody wanted to undergo the tedious process,” she added.
- “We were not allowed to go out of the campus even when the city had opened up after the second wave. It is only now that students can easily move out of the campus
- the institute said it is “committed to ensuring that the IISc campus is a safe and inclusive space for everyone”.
- “The pandemic has disrupted research and teaching timelines considerably, and we realise that this has put additional pressure on students. Online teaching has been challenging for both students and faculty members; they cannot replace traditional classes in the long run,” it added.
- “We will switch back to physical classes as soon as we know that we can do so without compromising the health and safety of our students and teachers.
- The institute also said that it has set up a wellness centre for the students.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant worldwide impact on the lives of more than 1.6 billion students at its peak and their schooling
- Mental health refers to cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being. It can affect physical health.
- After the outbreak, many countries implemented mass quarantine (lockdown) to contain the spread of disease, which restricted people from usual outdoor activities (e.g., exercise or social).
- In turn these restrictions might result in loneliness, anxiety, depression and sleeping disorders. College students, as an outdoor active group, might be affected mentally by this restriction
- Mental health issues are the leading impediment to academic success.
- Mental illness can affect students’ motivation, concentration, and social interactions—crucial factors for students to succeed in higher education
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