IIT-Bombay director advised all parents of aspirants to let the kid be a kid among all other kids. (Graphics by Abhishek Mitra)The IIT-Bombay director, Subhasis Chaudhuri, recently took to social media to talk about the kind of requests that he receives from future candidates and their parents.
The director shared that a candidate’s mother called the institute to check if her child (who secured a high rank in JEE Advanced) will be able to get a scholarship as well as a flat on the campus due to the high rank that he/she has achieved.
“If my kid joins IITB, would you give him/her a scholarship because of a high rank? My reply was — if the parental income is low, we can definitely support if the student applies, but not otherwise. (ii) Can you provide him/her a flat on the campus?,” the mother asked, according to Subhasis Chaudhuri.
While the director told the candidate’s mother that her kid can get a scholarship if the parental income is less and if he/she applies for a scholarship, the second question did not sit well with Chaudhuri and he replied, “Are you trying to bargain because of the high rank of your kid?”
The director added that “all five kids of a mother may not be equally endowed, but to the mother all kids are equal. Similarly, for IITB also, once a student joins, all of them enjoy the same rights and privileges irrespective of their rank, income, culture or social status.”
With the example of this parent, he advised all parents of aspirants to “let the kid be a kid among all other kids and grow taller by being with them and not away from them”.
The former IIT Delhi Director, Ramgopal Rao, also added that this anecdote was “a reflection of the society” and “an unfortunate reality”.