Kolkata: In an effort to curb campus suicides and support students in emotional distress, IIT Kharagpur is considering replacing standard ceiling fans in hostel rooms with smaller variants to make them unusable for self-harm, a senior official said on Thursday.

The move comes in response to a spate of student suicides on campus this year, raising alarms over mental health and well-being in the residential hostels.

“Apart from initiatives like 24x7 student outreach, regular parent interaction, the 'Campus Mothers' mentorship programme involving women faculty and staff, and the presence of full-time psychiatrists, we are also exploring measures such as resizing ceiling fans to make them unsuitable for self-harm,” Institute Director Suman Chakraborty told PTI.

“This is not a substitute for mental health care, but a preventive step to deter impulsive actions during vulnerable moments when no one is around,” he said.

Chakraborty added that even small environmental changes, combined with strong emotional support, can make a significant difference in preventing tragic outcomes.

Asked about the rollout, he said the plan is to replace ceiling fans across all 21 hostels, which house about 16,000 students, in phases. However, no specific timeline has been announced yet.

A 10-member fact-finding committee has also been set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Ritam Mondal, a fourth-year BTech student found hanging in his hostel room on July 18. Mondal had returned to campus just three days earlier after a two-month vacation.

Earlier this year, three other students — Shaon Malik (January 12), Aniket Walker (April 20), and Mohammad Asif Qamar (May 4) — also died by suicide in separate incidents on campus.

To enhance accessibility to mental health resources, the institute has installed barcodes on hostel room doors. These can be scanned to access 24x7 counselling helplines during moments of emotional crisis.