50-hour mandate sparks crisis at IISc: Students decry 'corporate culture' and suicide risk
Students quickly denounced the new requirement, which demands up to 14–16 hours of work every day for senior scholars, claiming it would eliminate time for rest or social life and "could lead to a rise in suicides."
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A prestigious department at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has ignited a major confrontation with its students after implementing a strict new attendance policy requiring mandatory lab hours, a move students condemn as importing "corporate culture" into academia and raising severe mental health concerns.
The Department of Electronic Systems Engineering (ESE), home to approximately 200 MTech and first-year PhD students, now expects these scholars to spend a minimum of 50 hours a week in departmental labs. Senior PhD students are facing even higher pressure, with documents suggesting they should aim to match their advisors' demanding 70-80-hour work week schedules, though 50 hours remains the recorded minimum.
The policy, introduced in an October 2 email by department chair Professor Mayank Shrivastava, replaces a previous system where students only had to mark attendance twice daily with no specified working hours. Students quickly denounced the new requirement, which demands up to 14–16 hours of work every day for senior scholars, claiming it would eliminate time for rest or social life and "could lead to a rise in suicides."
On October 14, the IISc Students Council formally petitioned the institute's director demanding the immediate withdrawal of the policy, citing health, privacy, and surveillance concerns over the mandated hour-counting.
Despite the backlash, the department began tracking attendance in a pilot mode on October 16, utilizing Radio-Frequency IDentification (RFID) access cards and facial recognition devices at entry points to monitor lab hours. Students now fear this policy may spread institution-wide after IISc recently floated a tender for 7,000 new access cards.
Professor Shrivastava defended the system in his October 2 email, stating it was introduced to make attendance tracking "transparent, efficient, and fair" while enhancing security. However, in a subsequent note on October 4, he stressed the need for accountability, stating, "A majority are not visiting the department during afternoon hours, and our laboratories are often found empty by evening... such disengagement is not sustainable."
An internal survey conducted by the Students' Council between October 4 and 7 revealed overwhelming opposition: 97% of participating ESE students found mandatory working hours unhelpful, and 96% reported that the change caused stress or hindered their academic progress. IISc has not yet publicly responded to queries regarding the new policy.
