To be or not to be...

The increase in IITs surely has given the people of India a reason to smile. More IITs mean more chance of many other aspiring students to reach the institutes of excellence. The place which proves to be a launch pad for many students to make it big in the world. These and many other “good things” are there with the increase in seats and increase in the number of IITs itself.
But there is a vast difference in what students inside IIT think and what students outside think on this issue. For every IIT aspirant the increase in seats is a welcome gesture. Some of us who study in IITs however have our own reservations. I am just one of the few people voicing my concerns. When we entered IITs there were seven IITs. Now according to latest data there are fifteen. Of the new eight IITs there are none have a permanent campus let alone proper infrastructural facilities required to make it to the standards of an IIT. Many new IITs have their students attending classes in their mentor IITs putting an extra strain on the already poor infrastructural facilities and the staff. The few grave immediate problems which the students will face as I see are as follows: (most of the facts told will be on the basis of IIT Bombay)
1. Accommodation and mess
Well this is a very serious issue with a severe crunch of hostels. Currently there are 13 hostels in IIT Bombay. There are currently 4 hostels catering only to the PGs. And there are PGs distributed in other hostels as well. In the remaining hostels where UGs live there is a severe shortage of rooms already with students poised to remain double till their final year. In IIT Bombay the rooms are meant for single occupancy and except 3 hostels all other rooms are so small that with 2 beds in one room there is no space even to walk let alone sit on a desk and read. In the three hostels with slightly larger rooms the condition is only marginally better. The situation in the mess is such that during lunch time when all the inmates of the hostel go in the mess to eat then there is no space to stand and the food takes like forever to reach due to a lower number of mess staff.
2. Availability of classrooms to conduct classes for larger batches
The scene in the classrooms in a majority of the classrooms is such that if there is full attendance on someday then from the coming batches students will have to sit out of the class and will not even be able to learn a bit. Many classrooms are also ill equipped to handle large number of students with no PA system and the electronic teaching aid meant only for a smaller class.
3. Lesser workspace in labs and fewer faculty for a larger batch of students
The situation in this is even worse. The situation is so bad that if one professor goes on leave or sabbatical or due to some other reason has to miss classes for a week then there are no professors in that field to take over and teach the students. In the current size of classes itself the professors find it difficult to teach the entire class with most of the students not being able to keep up to the mark in the subject. And the result of this is that students who somehow pay less attention in the class or if the professor is unable to convey then most of the class fails in exams.
4. Placements and further studies
This is the most important section for students. After all it is the dream of every student in IIT to get a job which is a bit better than those not in IITs. There are also many who wish to pursue a MS in their subject. For those who wish to pursue MS or PhDs from India or abroad is reducing day by day. And even this class of students wish to have a job first and then see their options in further studies. Considering the fact that IITs are institutes of technologies then there should be enough jobs in each of the branches in India to absorb the students passing out from the IITs. To be frank and being a student who has seen placements for 4 years I have found that there are rarely any technical companies coming to IITs. Their reason: “We cant pay the students the amount of salary being demanded by the placement team.” Why does the placement team demand more salary for the students sitting for placements? The reason is simple that non tech companies are offering huge amounts of salaries in comparison to the tech ones. But the number of jobs created in India in these sectors are not increasing at the same pace as the increment in the number of seats or IITs. Even with lesser strength the placements stats in IITs rarely reach 100% barring a few branches for which the salaries in tech companies are in comparison to the non tech ones. The issue of placement needs an entire blog and I wont be able to do justice to it over here and can only show some points here.

It is a good move to increase the intake in IITs and to increase the number of seats in IITs but the basic issues need to be addressed. I just tried to pen down a few points coming to my mind.