On Monday, April 3, the Lok Sabha was informed that out of 15 student suicides reported this year, nine are from central universities alone. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) reported three cases each this year. From 2018 to 2023, as many as 103 students in these higher educational institutes in India have taken the extreme step, stated the report by The New Indian Express.
Let's look at the numbers
In 2018 and 2019, 20 students died by suicide in each of the years. In 2020, the number dipped to 13 and dropped to 10 in 2021 but rose again to 25 in 2022, out of which, the maximum number of cases were reported from IITs.
As many as nine students in IITs took the extreme step last year. In 2018 and 2019, eight cases each — the highest — were from IITs alone.
However, in 2020, AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) and central universities reported four cases each, while three cases were reported from IIT. In 2021, out of the ten suicides reported from these higher educational institutes, four were from the IITs. In 2022, out of the 25 cases, nine were from IITs, followed by seven from NITs, five from central universities and three from AIIMS.
Education Minister responds
“The government accords the highest importance to each incident of suicide on campuses of educational institutions and has initiated numerous initiatives in this regard." said the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply.
The minister said that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has provisions for counselling systems for handling stress and emotional adjustments in the institutions. He further listed the various steps undertaken by the education ministry to ease students’ academic stress such as peer-assisted learning introduction of technical education in regional languages.
Similarly, the government's initiative, MANODARPAN, covers a wide range of activities to provide psychological support to students, teachers and families for mental and emotional well-being during the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond. Moreover, for the early detection of cases of psychological stress, various measures have been implemented by the IITs and other institutions like the students’ specialised psychological counselling helplines, students’ wellness centres, buddy-support systems and more.
