Tutors planned to help weaker students at IITs

NEW DELHI: Just over two months after IIT Roorkee sparked a furore by expelling over 70 students for failing to meet academic standards, the Centre is putting together a novel 'tutor model' to handhold 'educationally weaker students' at the premier engineering colleges. The issue will be taken up with all IITs at the meeting of the IIT council on October 6.

The 'tutor model' will involve close handholding and mentoring of identified students through their seniors at the same institute. Each IIT will be asked to treat the issue on priority and identify 'educationally backward' students within one month of the academic session beginning. These students will then be tutored in identified areas by selected seniors at the same institute after regular class hours. One tutor will not address more than two such students.

"The idea is to identify the students who need additional assistance at the very start of the academic session so that they do not lag behind peers. Once identified, the tutor model will work on a 1:2 format instead of the traditional 1:10 faculty-student ratio followed at IITs or the 1:30 format followed sometimes for extra classes," an official versed with the IIT council's agenda told ET.