Pressure cooker November: IIT students stressed because of salary disparity and huge family expectations

Every year, as the placement season begins in the reputed IITs across the country, a lot of IIT students get into depression. This happens as a result of the stress that they go through, while trying to get a top-paying job. Also, the news of packages of Rs 1 crore being offered to some students does not help the students, who also face family pressure because of this.

Another issue that results in the stress is the wide disparity between the highest and lowest salaries which is offered to students. Reportedly, the packages range from as low as Rs 8 lakh to as high as Rs 2 crore including stock options. Not to forget, the expectations from family is another reason for students slipping into depression and not being able to give their 100% in the interviews.

Not only this, some students also change their subjects and switch to streams that get hefty packages, giving up their dreams in pursuit of money.

Cases are reported when high-ranking students slip into placement depression when they fail to get picked up on the first or second day of the placements, even though there are chances that they might get good jobs at the end of the season.

The results, obviously, are disastrous. Reportedly, at least 10% of IIT Delhi students face an identity crisis, as per IIT-D student counsellor Rupa Murghai. Also, as much as 75% of IIT Madras students who seek help suffer from clinical depression, according to an IIT-M student counselor.

"With the growing competition and extreme emphasis on ranks, marks and placements, our education system has transformed into more of an examination system," Shobhana Mittal, consultant psychiatrist at Cosmos Institute of Mental Health & Behavioural Sciences (CIMBS), told ET.

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