IIT Bombay gets wall-mounted fans after student suicide, says move part of renovation
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has begun replacing ceiling fans in student hostel rooms with wall-mounted fans, with the first batch of the new fans having arrived on campus. The move comes amid renewed scrutiny over student suicides at premier technical institutions, including the death of 20-year-old BTech second-year student Sahil Wakode, who was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room at IIT-B on September 18.
Sources said the replacement of ceiling fans had been under consideration for around two months and was recently finalised. Students said the first batch of wall-mounted fans had now arrived on campus.
The replacement was among the measures the IIT Bombay administration had assured students it would undertake in July. However, institute officials said the fan replacement was part of a broader hostel renovation exercise that had already been planned and was not linked to the recent student deaths.FAN REPLACEMENT PART OF HOSTEL RENOVATION, SAYS IIT-B
IIT Bombay officials, however, said that several renovation works had been planned for the hostels and that replacing ceiling fans was one component of the exercise. The administration's decision to replace the fans, they said, had been taken earlier and was not a response to the recent suicides.
The timing of the move has nevertheless drawn attention because replacing ceiling fans with wall-mounted alternatives has been used at some educational campuses as a means-restriction measure following concerns over suicides.
NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande questioned whether changing the fans could address the larger issues facing students. “Absurd to think replacing a ceiling fan will fix a broken system!” Gawande said.SAHIL WAKODE'S DEATH TRIGGERS PROTESTS
Wakode, a student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his hostel on the Powai campus on Friday evening.
According to the institute, the student had been caught using a mobile phone during a mid-semester examination hours before his death. His family, however, alleged that he had faced institutional harassment and caste-based discrimination.
The incident triggered protests on campus, with students raising questions about the institute's handling of the matter. IIT Bombay Dean of Administrative Affairs Suryanarayana Doolla was subsequently removed from his post amid the protests. Police have booked Doolla under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and on a charge of abetment to suicide.
Faculty members on Monday held a march on campus in support of Doolla. The Faculty Forum said he had followed the “Senate-approved exam procedure” when he reported Wakode for alleged phone use during the examination.39 IIT STUDENTS DIED BY SUICIDE BETWEEN 2018 AND 2023
The deaths at IIT Bombay have also brought the wider issue of student suicides at higher educational institutions back into focus.
The Ministry of Education told Parliament in July 2023 that 39 students had died by suicide across IITs between 2018 and 2023. Data compiled by the Global IIT Alumni Support Group puts the number of unnatural student deaths across IITs at 171 over the past 20 years, with 82 per cent classified as suicides on campus.
The issue has gained further attention after an IIT Delhi student died by suicide last month, while an IIT Kanpur PhD student's death earlier this year prompted the Centre to order a review of mental-health and student-support systems.TASK FORCE FLAGS ACADEMIC PRESSURE, DISCRIMINATION
An interim report of the Supreme Court-appointed National Task Force on student suicides, made public in June 2026, identified multiple factors associated with the problem, including academic pressure, caste-based discrimination, financial stress, sexual harassment and examination-related setbacks.
The panel also flagged gaps in institutional preparedness. Responses from 31 centrally funded institutions, including 23 IITs, showed that faculty members across IITs often felt ill-equipped to address students' mental-health concerns, with 90 per cent lacking proper training for handling such sensitive issues.
The report said only four of the 31 institutions reported formal training for faculty mentorship programmes, while 10 reported formal training for peer-support initiatives.IITs TRY PEER SUPPORT, WELLNESS INITIATIVES
The Centre has said it is taking steps to strengthen mental-health support in higher education. Under the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme, the Ministry of Education has drawn up an integrated approach to promote positive mental health, resilience and wellbeing. Union Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar told Parliament that fortnightly sessions were being held with faculty members to help them identify and address student mental-health concerns at an early stage.
IITs have also adopted different measures. IIT Kharagpur has introduced evening power blackouts to encourage students to step away from electronic devices and interact with one another, while IIT Guwahati's 'Know Your Neighbour' initiative focuses on strengthening peer connections.
Other measures across IITs include curriculum changes, on-campus wellness and counselling hubs, wellness websites and apps, gatekeeper training and peer-support groups.
Meanwhile, an IIT Delhi committee headed by retired Delhi High Court judge Justice Mukta Gupta is examining the death of a 31-year-old MSc student and is expected to submit its report by September-end. At IIT Kanpur, a three-member panel set up by the Education Ministry in January to review mental-health guidelines, counselling and grievance-redressal systems has not yet made its report public.- EndsWith inputs from PTIPublished By: Priyanka KumariPublished On: Sep 21, 2026 19:48 IST
