India needs to stop sleepwalking into the student suicide crisis

Early this month, in an unfortunate event, a young NEET aspirant committed suicide. Recent news about student suicide is not limited to this. Numerous places, including Telangana, Maharashtra, Kochi, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and others have reported student suicides in the previous week. The student suicide crisis in India has been an issue for the past few years now. However, now death by suicide in context with students is emerging as a full-blown major public health crisis as it has become the leading cause of death amongst them.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB), accidental deaths and suicides in India (ADSI) report, 2020, more than 12,500 students died by suicide in the country in 2020 at a rate of more than 34 a day. Moreover, a study published by Lancet stated that India has one of the highest suicide rates on the planet, with a significant proportion between the ages of 15 and 29 years old. There cannot be a bigger wake up call for all school authorities, parents and education policymakers. While farmer suicides have been the subject of numerous regional and national conversations, student suicides are typically swept under the rug despite the fact that their numbers are higher. It is time we address the grave crisis and take affirmative actions to prevent these deaths.

Gaps in the data collection framework in India

The foremost challenge that the country faces in terms of working toward solving the crisis of students’ suicides is the lack of comprehensive data across several groups. Currently, NCRB is the only extensive and encyclopedic annual data source on overall suicides in India. There is unavailability of time-bound data; no stats on weekly or monthly suicide rates. Because of this, there is no correlation described for what actually leads to most students’ suicides and at what time. Apart from this, what makes the data ineffective for policy making in India is the fact that there is inter-state variation in the reliability and validity of data due to different practices and processes followed by possibilities of underreporting of cases in First Information Reports (FIRs).

Why are there so many suicide cases in India?

The issue of student suicides in India is a multidimensional and multifactorial one. There are many socio-economic factors that come into play. With whatever limited data we have,  we can infer that more than half of student suicides in India are not related to mental health problems which is the more popular narrative in the West. However, depression and mental health issues in India continue to remain largely undiagnosed due to the social stigma attached to it and hence finding the rate of correlation between the two is still highly undetected. One of the biggest and the most repetitive reason stated for student suicide in India has been failing exams. Exam pressure drives millions of students each year towards desperation. While there is a plethora of opportunities for students to explore, at most times, their world just seesaws between pass and fail. Their identities often are just linked to their mark sheet. They are often pressured by both school authorities and parents at home to follow tight study schedules which ultimately leave them depressed and helpless.

While achieving good marks is a stress faced by many, on the other hand, school is also an escape for many students. Many teenagers experience sexual, verbal, or physical abuse at home. Additionally, many females are under pressure to be married young or are asked to help with domestic chores resulting in high school dropouts. The pandemic which brought many other challenges also forced students to stay at home for a very long period of time, making them vulnerable to all such forms of abuse.

Moreover, in recent times, students have also been exposed to online abuse and ragging. According to a recent assessment by the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), India was the source of at least 25,000 daily uploads of photographs depicting child sexual abuse. All the factors combinedly bombard students with stress from all directions.

How can India address the issue?

Just like in most parts of the world, student suicides in India are preventable. They are at most times affected by the social and cultural environment. In its present actions, we are focusing on healthcare services to save lives after a student has attempted suicide but this does not help in preventing them in the first place. We need to look at the broader structural issues and focus on the blindspots.

Millions of students across the country are dealing with academic distress. The fear of failing in the cutthroat educational environment, due to lack of social accountability, students find it easier to end their lives. Adding to that now is this injected need of being skilled in all domains to be fit for the job market. It is time we revisit the functioning of our educational institutions, structures and systems. Many premier educational institutions have taken actions like removing ceiling fans that can take more than 40 kilograms of weight. It is like they don’t care about deaths but only about deaths at their institutions. With such an attitude, we are going the wrong way.

In order to have a broader interest in the country and the youth, it is necessary to make the right interventions to sustain an inclusive and growing environment for all students. The interventions are necessary to understand the verbal and non-verbal signs that individuals give before taking their lives. Helpline volunteers, teachers, school authorities, medical professionals and at best even parents need to be trained to be able to pick up the warning signs and have open conversations with young individuals. India currently does not have a suicide prevention policy and lacks infrastructure, monetary investements and even research. These trained gatekeepers can help save thousands of lives.

It is saddening to see that the constant pressure to be academically brilliant is also commercially portrayed in several advertisements. Like how many hot drink milk powder companies show that the students will be able to be top rankers after having the. This emotional pressure of also having mothers involved does add to the already high stress to be good amongst one’s peers. Affirmative actions are required from all sides: government, private companies and educational institutions to prevent further suicides.

Evidence-based interventions targeted toward the most vulnerable population can not only save lives but also provide students with a more secure, safe and holistic growing environment.

The author is Assistant Programme Manager at Takshashila Institution. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the stand of this publication.

A collection of suicide prevention helpline numbers are available here. Please reach out if you or anyone you know is in need of support. The All-India helpline number is: 022-27546669.

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