In the last five years, 24 cases of suicide by students were reported in central universities of the country, and maximum of them are from Uttar Pradesh, as per statistics by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
It was the Minister of Education, Government of India, Dharmendra Pradhan who shared this information in response to a written question in the Lok Sabha, as reported by news agency PTI.
"University Grants Commission (UGC) has informed that Central Universities under its purview have reported 24 suicide cases of students from the year 2017 to 2022. The reasons behind suicide by students are not maintained," Pradhan said.
In 2017, seven cases were reported and in the years 2018 and 2019, six each. The maximum number of cases were in 2017. As far as suicide cases reported in central universities in the year 2020, 2021 and 2022 are concerned, the numbers stand at one, three and one respectively.
In central universities of Uttar Pradesh, maximum number of students suicide cases were reported during the period. This was followed by Delhi and Telangana with four cases each.
Puducherry reported two cases while states like Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu reported one case of student suicide each.
Union Minister Pradhan said that the government, along with the UGC, have taken several initiatives that help keep a check on incidents of discrimination and harassment of students. He mentioned the University Grants Commission (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2019 and said that it has been formulated to safeguard the students' interests.
"UGC has also notified UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009, and issued circulars for strict compliance of the regulations," the union minister said.
The other steps he mentioned were peer-assisted learning; introducing technical education in regional languages so that the academic stress reduces for students and sensitising students, wardens and caretakers to bring to the attention of authorities any signs of depression in fellow students so that timely clinical consultation can be offered.
On Monday, April 4, in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Education Rajkumar Ranjan Singh had said that 24 cases of student suicide were reported in central universities since the year 2017.
