<p>More than 4,400 students have dropped out of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) without completing their course in the last three years due to various reasons, including their “inability” to cope with “academic stress”, the government told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>A total of 2,060 students dropped out from the IITs alone with highest from IIT-Roorkee (575) followed by the IIT-Delhi (548), IIT-Kharagpur (535), IIT-Bombay (212) and IIT-Hyderabad (86), according to data tabled in the Lower House by the Human Resource Development (HRD) on Wednesday.<br /><br />The NITs saw a total of 2,352 students dropping out since 2012. The NIT-Kurukshetra topped the list with 510 dropouts followed by Rourkela (412), Jaipur (395), Calicut (313) and Surathkhal (187).<br /><br />“The reasons for dropout cases may be attributed to shifting to other institutions, personal reasons, medical reasons, getting jobs during PG courses, inability to cope with academic stress etc,” the HRD ministry told the Lok Sabha.<br /><br />Giving an oral reply to a question, however, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said the Department of Higher Education had written to IIT-Roorkee, Kharagpur, Delhi and Bombay, asking them why such a large number of students were dropping out. “I am sure that the institutions will respond soon,” she added.<br /><br />The issue came to light after the IIT-Roorkee recently expelled 73 students for their under-performance and later took them back to give another chance for improving their performance amid an uproar in the political circles as most of these students belonged to the reserved categories.<br /><br />BJP Dausa MP Harish Chandra Meena had on Friday raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, demanding the Centre to intervene and ensure that the premier institutes take back these students and allow them to pursue their studies. He said “anti-reservation forces” were behind the expulsion. The minister defended the institutes’ decision, saying the court had upheld the IITs’ right to ensure academic performance. “IIT-Roorkee undertook an initiative to take these students back only if they fulfil those academic standards that they gave as an undertaking when they joined the system,” she said.<br /><br />The data tabled by the ministry in the Lok Sabha indicates there has been no dropout case at IIT-Kanpur and Mandi in the last three years. While the IIT-Madras has seen only eight students dropping out in 2013-14, the institute did not record any such case in 2012-13 and 2014-15. The number of dropouts ranged between 1 and 23 at other IITs. AIADMK member M Thambidurai, while asking a supplementary question in the Lok Sabha, drew a comparison of figures and sought to know from the HRD minister why the students were moving out from “reputed institutes” like IIT Roorkee, Mumbai and Delhi in high numbers but not from similar institutions like IIT Madras.</p>
<p>More than 4,400 students have dropped out of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) without completing their course in the last three years due to various reasons, including their “inability” to cope with “academic stress”, the government told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>A total of 2,060 students dropped out from the IITs alone with highest from IIT-Roorkee (575) followed by the IIT-Delhi (548), IIT-Kharagpur (535), IIT-Bombay (212) and IIT-Hyderabad (86), according to data tabled in the Lower House by the Human Resource Development (HRD) on Wednesday.<br /><br />The NITs saw a total of 2,352 students dropping out since 2012. The NIT-Kurukshetra topped the list with 510 dropouts followed by Rourkela (412), Jaipur (395), Calicut (313) and Surathkhal (187).<br /><br />“The reasons for dropout cases may be attributed to shifting to other institutions, personal reasons, medical reasons, getting jobs during PG courses, inability to cope with academic stress etc,” the HRD ministry told the Lok Sabha.<br /><br />Giving an oral reply to a question, however, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said the Department of Higher Education had written to IIT-Roorkee, Kharagpur, Delhi and Bombay, asking them why such a large number of students were dropping out. “I am sure that the institutions will respond soon,” she added.<br /><br />The issue came to light after the IIT-Roorkee recently expelled 73 students for their under-performance and later took them back to give another chance for improving their performance amid an uproar in the political circles as most of these students belonged to the reserved categories.<br /><br />BJP Dausa MP Harish Chandra Meena had on Friday raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, demanding the Centre to intervene and ensure that the premier institutes take back these students and allow them to pursue their studies. He said “anti-reservation forces” were behind the expulsion. The minister defended the institutes’ decision, saying the court had upheld the IITs’ right to ensure academic performance. “IIT-Roorkee undertook an initiative to take these students back only if they fulfil those academic standards that they gave as an undertaking when they joined the system,” she said.<br /><br />The data tabled by the ministry in the Lok Sabha indicates there has been no dropout case at IIT-Kanpur and Mandi in the last three years. While the IIT-Madras has seen only eight students dropping out in 2013-14, the institute did not record any such case in 2012-13 and 2014-15. The number of dropouts ranged between 1 and 23 at other IITs. AIADMK member M Thambidurai, while asking a supplementary question in the Lok Sabha, drew a comparison of figures and sought to know from the HRD minister why the students were moving out from “reputed institutes” like IIT Roorkee, Mumbai and Delhi in high numbers but not from similar institutions like IIT Madras.</p>
