Context: India has the highest suicide rate amongst 15-29-year-olds globally and this rate has been increasing

Present Scenario of Student Suicides

• Overall, India saw 1.3 lakh suicides in 2018, of which students made up 8%, almost the same as those involved in the farming sector, while 10% of them were unemployed people.
• While 28,000 students committed suicide between 1999-2003, by 2014-18 this number had increased to 46.554.
• Every hour one student commits suicide in India, with about 28 such suicides reported every day, according to data compiled by NCRB
• The NCRB data shows that 10,159 students died by suicide in 2018, an increase from 9,905 in 2017, and 9,478 in 2016.
• Maharashtra had the highest number of student suicides in 2018 with 1,448 — almost 4 suicides every day — followed by Tamil Nadu with 953 and Madhya Pradesh with 862.

Reasons for Students Committing Suicide:

• Academic Stress- A quarter of the student suicides in 2018 were because of “failure in exams”. Suicides even in premier institutes such as IITs hold a mirror to the stressful education system.

• Relationship breakdown is another leading cause.
• Lack of adequate support: A student commits suicide when he doesn’t get emotional support at the time of crisis
• High expectations from Students: Parental and peer pressure also have an adverse effect on mental health of students which leads to suicidal tendencies. Kota, primarily known as a coaching centre hub, has seen a series of student deaths every year. 58 students ended their lives in Kota between 2013 and 2017.
• Social Stigma: not enough discussion around depression and suicides
• Mental Issues: Anxiety disorder, depression, personality disorder — all these result in mental illness that leads a student towards suicide.

Steps that can be taken

• Social Awareness: The first step is to start a serious debate on the issue in schools and colleges
• Academic Support Groups by College administration: Teachers and College staff should form groups which identifies people who are not performing well in academics and provide them with special coaching/guidance.
• Counselling centres in Colleges: This may help student have an avenue to get proper psychiatric guidance on dealing with their emotional/mental issues
• Helplines by NGO and Civil Society Groups: This can help those who are having suicidal tendencies
• Leveraging Social media groups: while technology is rightly blamed for increasing self-imposed isolation and alienation, especially among the young, it can also be part of the solution—chatbots that are intended to fight depression among humans by addressing loneliness are an example.