A disturbing trend has emerged in India, where student suicides have alarmingly surpassed both population growth rates and overall suicide trends, according to a recent report titled Student Suicides: An epidemic sweeping India. This report shows that the situation with student’s mental health in India is deteriorating, and it has been released at the Annual IC3 Conference and Expo 2024.
Annual Increase: The report shows that the total suicides in India were increasing at a rate of 2% per annum, while the suicides among students were increasing at a rate of 4% per annum. This is double the national average, and the student suicides are rising at an annual percentage of 4% in the last two decades.
Regional Disparities: The states which are identified to have the highest number of student suicides are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, which account for one third of the total suicides in India. The southern states and union territories contribute to 29% of such cases and Rajasthan, the state known for its highly competitive academic environment, stands at 10th.
Gender Disparities: The male students were 53 percent of the total student suicides in 2022. Male student suicides have decreased by 6% in between 2021 and 2022 while female student suicides have increased by 7%.
Underreporting Concerns: The real number of students who committed suicide may be even higher because many cases remain undocumented due to shame and because of criminalization of suicide under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code; however, the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 decriminalized suicide attempt in case of a person with mental illness.
At the same time the population of people in the age of 0–24 years declined from 582 million to 581 million, but student suicides have doubled from 6,654 to 13,044. This increase is quite significant, and it means that there is a deterioration of the situation as far as students’ mental health is concerned.
Several factors are driving this alarming trend:The following are some of the reasons that have led to this worrying trend:
Academic Stress: This pressure from parents, teachers, and society leads to a lot of stress and strain to perform well in examinations.
Economic Factors: Education has become a means of getting a better standard of living, but the prices for preparatory courses and tertiary education are rather high.
Social Pressure: Student suicides are as a result of pressure to secure government jobs or well paying jobs in the private sector, relationship problems, and family problems.
Lack of Support: Learner’s mental health is an issue because schools and colleges do not have enough trained human resources in guidance and counselling.
During his speech at the IC3 Movement, Ganesh Kohli the founder of IC3 movement pointed out that the pressure system that has been implemented in education systems around the world has to be abolished. He also encouraged the creation of complex career and college guidance frameworks within institutions, these to be part of the learning curriculum.
