Bring back assimilation event: Students of IIT Kharagpur write to authorities
Telegraph | 7 February 2025
The students of IIT Kharagpur have written to the authorities urging them to reintroduce the assimilation programme to improve bonding between students on the campus.
The IIT authorities stopped the programme in June 2023 after the family of Faizan Ahmed, a third-year student found dead on the campus, called it “a glorified term for collective ragging” by senior students.
Faizan was found dead in October 2022 and his family alleged that he was murdered.
An office-bearer of the Technology Students Gymkhana (TSG), the student body of IIT Kharagpur, that wants the programme resumed said the demand was part of suggestions to the authorities who sought their points on things to do after a student was found hanging in his hostel room on January 12.
The students came up with the suggestion because they thought the assimilation programme helped students know each other better and forge a bond that could prevent campus deaths.
IIT’s interim director Amit Patra said they were looking into the suggestions offered by the students and the good suggestions will be accepted “according to the law of the land”.
Asked whether they would reintroduce the assimilation programme as suggested by the students, Patra said in a text message: “We have a core committee looking into these suggestions. We shall adopt all good suggestions, keeping in mind rules, regulations and the law of the land.”
A student, a member of the TSG, said they told the authorities to boost interaction among the students in the halls of residence so that bonds can be strengthened, going beyond the scope of academics.
IIT’s interim director held a series of meetings in the wake of the death of third-year electrical engineering student Shaon Malik, found hanging in his room hours before his parents came to meet him on January 12, to hear “issues and concerns” among students about their wellbeing.
“We are in discussions with the IIT Kharagpur authorities over the resumption of the assimilation programme because such a mechanism will help strengthen the bond among students. If students get to know each other better, they could help each other in times of distress,” a student said.
Apart from the assimilation programme, the students have proposed introducing more extracurricular and co-curricular activities at the institute and halls.
A petition filed by Faizan Ahmed’s parents in Calcutta High Court in October 2022 said Faizan had declined to be part of the “assimilation programme” at Rajendra Pratap Hall of Residence in February and March 2022 and was murdered by senior students because of his stand.
“The hall-level assimilation programme should be discontinued with immediate effect,” the institute had said in a notice issued by an assistant registrar on June 12, 2023.
An IIT official said on Monday: “We have to tread cautiously while examining the suggestions presented by the students. The committee will take an appropriate decision following the rules, regulations and the laws.”