Population Boom and Suicide Surge: India's Urgent Mental Health Challenge

Student suicide has become a major concern in the Indian subcontinent. A new report has shown the alarming rate of students taking their lives and how it outpaces the overall suicide trends and the country’s population growth. While the total numbers have increased by 2% annually, cases of student suicides have risen by 4%.  

Based on the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), data calls student suicides as ‘an epidemic sweeping India’. The report was launched on Wednesday at the Annual IC3 Conference and Expo 2024. The compiled report highlights that the rate of student suicides has almost doubled the national average. It also very strongly suggests how this is the current scenario, despite a likely ‘under reporting’ of most cases of this sort.  

The IC3 Institute is a volunteer-based organization providing essential support to high schools worldwide, by guidance and training resources for career and college counselling departments.  

The report brings to light the states with the highest number of student suicides, namely, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Madhya Pradesh, together accounting for 1/3rd of the country’s total count.  

The South Indian states and union territories collectively contribute 29% of these cases, with Rajasthan ranking 10th (known for its high-stakes academic environment). This highlights the intensive pressures and stressful environments that are associated with coaching institutes like Kota.  

The main problem here is how these students get terribly caught between unrealistic parental aspirations/expectations and the inability to cope effectively with these academic pressures. As a result, students tend to spiral into depression and often die by suicide.  

“All India Rank”, a Hindi film recently released in India, garnered rave reviews. The reason behind such wide acclaim? The movie succeeded in authentically depicting the trauma of a 17-year-old boy sent off to India’s largest and most well-known “coaching capital” Kota, in Rajasthan, to prepare for admission to the most reputed Indian Institutes of Technology!  

What is highlighted from this information is how this mounting pressure of entering these reputed engineering institutes has been driving an increasing number of teenagers committing suicide.  

In the past two months alone, 6 students in Kota committed suicide. The previous year witnessed an all-time high of 26 students taking their own lives. These suicides in Kota point towards a larger crisis in the country’s higher education sector.   

Coaching centers have a punishing and grueling schedule with students studying for as long as 18 hours a day and 7 days a week, leaving no time for any leisure. As marks become the sole defining identity of every student, every child only heads a step closer towards stress and anxiety. Taking the situation in Indian families in consideration, most families resort to taking loans to pay the exorbitant coaching fees, leaving the child with no option but to perform and excel.  

The Times of India pinpoints several important factors linked to student suicides in India. The most important causes include academic distress, focused career choices, bullying and ragging, financial stress and forms of discrimination. Several other factors include less support from families and educational institutions, evolving family structures, neglect of emotions, social apathy, and undetected psychiatric disorders due to lack of communication. All these factors highly contribute to rising suicidal rates.  

Rising Student Suicide Rates: 

The NCRB report highlights how student suicides have risen by 4% annually, as compared to a 2% increase in overall suicide rates. If data is to be believed, the population of individuals aged 0-24 decreased from 582 million to 581 million over the past decade, while student suicides have more than doubled, increasing from 6,654 to 13,044 cases reported.  

Decadal Increase in Suicides: 

The data also highlights a sharp rise in student suicides during 2013-2022. There were 104,000 cases recorded, which further marks a 64% increase when compared to the previous decade.  

Regional Disparities:  

The report also notes that southern states and all other union territories, including Kerela, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, have the largest proportion of student suicides in India, accounting for 29% of the total count.  

Gender Disparities in Student Suicides: 

The report exposed the fact that male students comprised more than half (53%) of all student suicides in 2022. However, from 2021-2022, female student suicides witnessed a 7% increase during the same period.  

Underreported concerns:  

The report further addresses the concerns about underreporting of most cases. The true number of these suicides is more likely higher due to social stigma and the criminalization of attempted and assisted suicides under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. This underreporting complicates our efforts to fully understand and address the situation of crises.  

Ganesh Kohli, the Founder of the IC3 Movement, mentioned how the report serves as a reminder to us all, of the urgent need to address mental health challenges within our educational institutions. He further talks about the necessary shift to fostering the competencies of learners, in a way that supports their holistic well-being, rather than pushing them to compete.  

In this endeavor, we must come together to build a systematic, comprehensive and robust career and college counselling system within every institute, while simultaneously integrating the same within the academic curriculum. This growing mental health crisis highlights a crucial point: the need for accessible, professional support is more pressing than ever. It's not just about addressing mental health in a broad sense but about ensuring that every individual has access to the help they need before reaching a critical juncture. 

Counsel India recognizes this imperative and is committed to addressing it through its "Har Ghar Counsellor" mission. This social initiative is driven by a vision to place a trained counsellor in every home, making mental health support as accessible as possible. This proactive approach is vital in preventing crises and reducing the incidence of severe outcomes like suicide.  

The need of the hour is to address this growing crisis by implementing comprehensive measures like mental health advocacy and promotion, ensuring quality education, and providing effective support services.