Campus contrarian: IIT-Gandhinagar's help in Covid-19 leaves out none

Institute told students they were welcome to stay back during the pandemic, set up plans and teams to help all on campus

In March 2020, when most schools and colleges were closing down and sending hostel residents back home, Sudhir K Jain did the opposite. The director of IIT-Gandhinagar not only asked all students still on campus to stay back if they wished, but he also sent out an email asking students who were home for Holi and final year students trekking in Uttarakhand they could return.

The message was: the campus is your home away from your family home. You are free to pick. 

This was in contrast to many colleges, including other IITs, that in March asked students to go home as managing them on campus was fraught with challenges. In the early phase of Covid-19, certain institutions had few students on campus, mostly those with poor internet or infrastructure at their homes for online classes.

At IIT-Gandhinagar, some faculty members believed that keeping students on campus and being responsible for them was like playing with fire. Providing full support and taking responsibility was all very well but it could lead to serious trouble if any student or staffer died, they said. 

Jain and a few others disagreed. An institution, they felt, could handle a crisis of this nature better than individual families. Many students came from backgrounds where the family could be ill equipped to provide the kind of care and treatment the institution could. Moreover, blame is part of the game and happens even within families. “I felt we could not shy away from our social and human obligations only due to fear of or avoid blame” says Jain.

Some of the students would in fact be safer and more comfortable on campus--many were from India’s remote parts or were underprivileged and would find coping with the coronavirus at home or online instruction quite difficult. 

A campus prepares for Covid crisis

Of the 1700-odd students, almost 600-650 remained on campus even as hostels around the country began to empty out. IIT-Gandhinagar started to put in rigorous protocols and procedures to keep them safe from Covid-19. Three committees were set up to handle the pandemic. A crisis management group of five, including Jain, was set up for macro-level management for decisions like who can come in safely and adopting protocols and procedures to keep the campus safe. A second, Padosi Gram Sahyog Samiti, was set up to assist two neighbouring villages with awareness campaigns, use of masks and other help. A medical response team was set up to care for Covid-19 patients.

“The crisis management group was looking at the broad picture but if someone was infected, the medical response team took charge”, says Jain. In addition, a Shramik Kalyan committee was set up to help construction workers on site. The idea was to “institutionalise” the handling of the situation so that an individual or a family was not left to fend for themselves alone. 

To begin with, the IIT asked all its mess, housekeeping and outside contract workers to move into the campus. Anticipating Covid-19 infections, it converted some of its flats on campus into care facilities with isolated beds since its guesthouse was still under construction. In the first wave of infections, 16 isolation beds were operationalised and anyone--students, faculty, faculty’s family members, construction, mess, housekeeping staff--who tested positive was isolated in these apartments. Two full-time nurses who worked at the campus were in charge. Serious patients were ferried to three hospitals in Ahmedabad, where the institute had tied up to send their patients. At least 400 patients were assisted by the institute’s facility, with the youngest patient being the 6-year-old daughter of a contractual driver.

IIT Gandhinagar offered money to students who couldn't afford to buy laptops for online classes.

The first wave of Covid-19 infections was mild; the few cases were referred to hospitals and things were manageable. The guesthouse was ready by January and was converted into a care facility for Covid-19, as IIT was aware that there may well be a second wave. A retired Indian Army colonel was hired to manage it; a couple of nurses were dedicated to it from the institution's regular medical pool, as were vehicles to ferry patients. The IIT decided to help everyone: even family members of contract workers and labourers who worked at their sites.

Ready for second wave of Covid-19

When the second and far-more devastating wave hit in April 2021, not only was the institution ready, it managed to help even those not directly on its rolls. When a driver’s brother or mother needed care, they moved into the Covid-care ward. A doctor was always present through the night as often emergencies (drop in oxygen levels or need to move to a hospital) happened late. In effect, the facility was able to both look after its students, staff and their families but also all those associated with it: be it their construction workers on site, housekeeping or other outsourced staff and their families. This helped lower the load on Gandhinagar’s health system. 

Again, some in the management and deans argued that there was no reason for the IIT to take responsibility for those who were not their employees. Jain and a few others argued that they could not shy away from their duties just on account of fear of blame. “Even within families people blame each other--'my uncle should have taken my niece earlier'; 'help came too late' and so on. I felt we could shoulder the blame as a family does,” says Jain. 

Jain observed during Covid that a medical emergency paralysed family members and threw them into indecision. In such times, the institution was a step removed and could handle a crisis objectively and take decisions quickly. “When a close family member watches their loved one deteriorate, they may dither on the next steps: 'Will hospitalisation be dangerous? Is the person better off at home?' Here an objective person, not emotionally vested and medically qualified, was taking timely critical calls. To many family members, this was quite a relief”, says Jain.

Helping with heart and head

It wasn’t just with Covid that the college responded through its heart than head. A quick survey revealed that many students didn’t have personal laptops, so the institution gave a grant of Rs 40,000 each early in the pandemic to enable those who needed them to buy one. Then through the pandemic, there were students who needed loans to pay for hospitalisation of their family members. The students promised to return the loan after they graduated and got jobs. The institution decided to support all such pleas since it only meant a marginally lower balance in its own bank accounts but meant a fair bit to the students and their family.
 

IIT Gandhinagar’s approach is interesting for a variety of reasons. It raises the question of whether it makes sense for similar colleges and institutions to step in and help students. Across institutions in India, hostel students from less privileged sections felt let down when they were asked to leave campus in the pandemic. The second wave highlighted the acute shortage of beds and medical personnel in the country. By stepping in the way it did, IIT Gandhinagar took “the load off the Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad healthcare system”, says a former health ministry secretary. 

If other institutions could pitch in, it could relieve some of the burden that city and district administrations have faced in this deadly pandemic. The IIT has prepared a white paper on its own experience with do’s and don’ts that it hopes will perhaps guide other institutions if there are more waves.

It has managed to earn the gratitude, respect and unstinting loyalty of its students, their families, staffers and a few thousand contract workers.