IITs to offer internships, exposure trips to Northeastern students

NEW DELHI: In a move prompted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for integration of northeastern states, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have now collectively proposed to offer internships and exposure trips meant exclusively for students of this region.

The country’s premier engineering schools made a presentation to Modi and HRD Minister Smriti Irani last week in which they proposed to host 2,016 schools students from northeastern states on their campuses during vacation and also offer internships to 250 college students for a monthly stipend of Rs 8,000.

According to sources, the programme, tentatively titled ‘Ishaan Vikaas’, has the approval of both Modi and Irani. The presentation was made by director of IIT Guwahati Guatam Biswas.

“There is an imbalance between the educational facilities available in the northeastern states and the rest of the country. Students here not aware of the opportunities in higher education and therefore lack the ambition to succeed. The proposal made on behalf of the IITs is aimed at helping them spend time at the country’s best institutes to hone their approach to academics and life,” said an IIT director, who did not wish to be identified.
Integration of northeast states is one of the main thrust areas of the HRD Ministry and the programme has been proposed by the IITs at the behest of Irani. “In June the minister has asked the IITs to come up with a proposal for northeast students. This is a stop gap measure till the government can improve the education standards of the region,” said a government officer, who did not wish to be identified.

Under Ishaan Vikaas, the 16 IITs and 5 IISERs will host 2,016 students of classes IX and XI selected from 504 schools (63 schools from each of the seven states) in one academic year. Each of the 21 institutions will invite two batches of 32 students each during the summer break and one batch during the winter break. Each batch will have an equal number of class IX and XI students. During their stay, school students will attend lectures, discussions, visit classrooms and laboratories and they will also have senior students as their mentors.

Students from 25 government-funded (state as well as central) institutions will be invited to intern under the mentorship of the faculty members of IITs. Interns will work on well defined research problems for two months and will earn a monthly stipend of Rs 8,000.

IITs have projected an annual expenditure of Rs 5.4 crore for hosting schools students and Rs 1.2 crore for the internship programme.