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Shattered Dreams Of 73 Students – Don’t Let Anyone Limit Your Dreams

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“Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into light.” – Helen keller

It was a sunny morning. All excited to work at the new place, I reached my office early, not to forget about the awesome breakfast I had on the streets of Bangalore. I met my colleagues and settled down, all excited to start working on my work-stream. As a routine, I was checking my mails and social media platforms when I came across this news article in Times of India on my Facebook feed, “73 students expelled from a prestigious Indian Institute (IIT Roorkee)”. Being a student from another IIT, I was really unhappy to see my brothers suffering just because they could not secure a  CGPA (cumulative grade point average) above 5 on a scale of 10, at the end of two semesters.

The most shocking point was, the parents of these students were made to sign a declaration during admissions, which said “Poor performance of their child could result in expulsion from the Institute”. Isn’t it too early for signing such a declaration and why will a parent doubt his/ her child’s ability to excel in any sphere of life especially when they are cream de la creme, students who have cleared JEE (Advanced).

This batch has students from AIR-314 to AIR 8000 and above this there are students from reserved categories. Many of them face problem with classes in English medium. Our country has decided to support some of their citizens by providing reservations at all levels. Abiding to that law, how can we expect all such student to perform upto the mark (decided by the Institute) within two semesters?. Shouldn’t they be give time to adjust to the changed environment?
P.S: There can be always someone with less CPI when it as relative grading. As per the official documents of IIT Roorkee CGPA 5 is equivalent to 55%.
 
Source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/5686175/Shattered-Dreams


I will share a short story of my friend (Pavan) from Mechanical Engineering, may not be with CPI<5 at the end of 2 semesters, but inspiring.
Semester
SPI
CPI
First
5.97
5.97
Second
5.51
5.73
Third
5.32
5.60
Fourth
5.67
5.83
Fifth
4.85
5.64
Sixth
6.95
6.01
Seventh
9.66
6.49
Eighth
9.67
6.87
As many IITian, he was also from a normal financial background and a sports enthusiast. He started enjoying the freedom that Institute has provided without missing the classes. He later joined with Hockey club and represented the Institute at Inter IIT meets. His grades took a hit and were consistently in the range of 5-6 and kept getting worse till fifth semester.
Two years passed, the results of fifth semester were out and this time he had hit a new low, 4.85 SPI (Semester Performance Index). It was not only shocking but an eye opener for him. He was a competent guy and he had proved that to everyone in the field of sports. The current result made him question his priorities and he realised that it was his responsibility to utilize the freedom/facilities given by the Institute carefully and balance academics with other things.
“With freedom comes responsibility”
He questioned himself “What the purpose of his study was?” and believed that it was for his parents. This gave him a reason to study hard. Without leaving his extra curricular activities, he planned his timeline for the coming semester and did his best, but could secure 6.95 SPI, a good 2 grade points above his previous semester but still a long way to achieve what he had kept his target. He did not get demoralised, instead became much stronger to face failures. 
Seventh semester is the most hectic semester at IITs, with an added burden of placements. The tight schedule did not scare him, but helped him micro-manage his schedule. He put double the efforts than the previous time. With all the hard work he scored an unbelievable 9.66 SPI and a huge confidence on himself. People thought it might be a fluke, but not for my friend. He was happy and confident but was determined to repeat the same and prove everyone wrong.

Unfortunately he did not get placed in any company in the Phase I, but he was confident than he had ever been in his life. He did not care about failures and started working for final semester. The final semester was a acknowledgement of the hard work and determination of my friend. Not only he secured an amazing 9.67 SPI but also got placed in Coal India Ltd. Everyone in college who were questioning his ability and fluke got their answers.

This real story of my college friend raises a few questions in my mind:
Q1) Whom should we blame for his low CPI in first year?
A1) I am still not sure about it and it needs a good debate/discussion.
Q2) Whom should we applaud for his success at the end?
A2) His hard work (Mainly) and also parents, freedom that Institute gave him to analyze.
On one hand, there are institutions like IIT KGP, IIT Guwahati, IIM Bangalore etc taking initiatives like Shadow Teachers, Remedial classes, Seniors as Buddies etc. to help these students cope up with language problem, stress, anxiety etc. Whereas there is an other extreme adopting an easy way of getting rid of the students to solve the problem.
Improvement is a shared responsibility of the student and the institute itself. Running from one’s responsibilities will help you get rid of the problem, not solve it.

“Success isn’t just about what you accomplish, its about what you inspire others to do.”

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About author
Om Prakash Reddy studied at IIT Guwahati. He held the position of Vice President at IITG community and brought a lot of student friendly policies like increasing the role of students in college Alumni Connect, academic council etc. He recently joined YourDOST with the aim to reach the masses and help them. He is a foodie and also loves to play hockey and football.
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