IIT-Bombay wants to stem the dropout rate. At the end of the first and second semesters, weak students will go through a remedial programme. They will have to take a test after completing the programme. And they have to qualify in it to continue in the next semester.
“It is not like our preparatory programmes. Many students are not prepared for the IIT curriculum for several reasons – it can be academic, financial, or personal. They tend to drop out after completing two or three years in the institute. But dropping out then is a waste of time and energy,” dean of academic affairs S Biswas said. “We want to bring down the dropout rate through this programme.”
A year’s preparatory programme trains students in basic Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and English before they join the under graduate course. This programme will have handpicked students who fared poorly in the first or second semesters, Biswas said. Students are counselled twice a week to make them more confident. To start off, 16 students have been chosen.
H Narayanan, a professor from the electrical department, said many among those who had cleared the IIT-JEE needed polishing before going into the main IIT programme. “We want to bring down the dropout rate. We already had a qualifying test for students failing in more than four subjects,” he said. For these tests students do not have to attend lectures. “We felt we should go beyond this. Students and teachers have to connect. The programme is designed keeping in mind the needs of students.” The professor is one of the counsellors as well.
