IIT Kharagpur has decided to reintroduce its assimilation programme to improve bonding among students following the spate of deaths on the campus.

The assimilation programme, which used to last for a week, aims to orient new students to academic and campus life and help them get acquainted with the institution’s culture and resources. Senior students help juniors get acquainted.

The IIT authorities had stopped the programme in June 2023, after the family of Faizan Ahmed, a third-year student who was found dead on the campus in October 2022, called it “a glorified term for collective ragging” by senior students.

Now, the programme will be held under the supervision of the IIT administration to prevent chances of ragging, said Amit Patra, acting director of IIT Kharagpur and also director of IIT BHU (Varanasi).

Patra said: “Once the bonding increases, students will know more about each other. They would know about the difficulties faced by others and share inputs with the hall presidents, chosen from among the students. The hall presidents might alert the administration about vulnerable cases. This could help us track difficulties students are encountering... We will ensure the programme is not reduced to the level of ragging.”

He said students’ representatives raised this when he met them on Monday.

“The programme will now be conducted under the watch of wardens and assistant wardens of the respective halls of residence so no complaints of ragging emerge. Students worked out a pattern, which we have approved,” he said.

An IIT official said representatives of the Technology Students Gymkhana (TSG), the student body of IIT Kharagpur, wanted the programme resumed when the administration sought their suggestions on preventive measures after three students were found dead the campus in the past four months.

The last two student deaths — Aniket Walkar from Maharashtra and Md Asif Quamar from Bihar — took place within a fortnight.

“The programme will help strengthen the bond among us. If we get to know each other better, we could help each other in times of distress,” a student said.

An IIT official said they were treading cautiously on the resumption because of the controversy that the programme had earlier caused.

A petition filed by Faizan’s parents in Calcutta High Court in 2022 said Faizan had declined to be part of “assimilation programmes” at the Rajendra Prasad Hall of Residence in February and March 2022, and was murdered by senior students because of his stand.