Sixty one students of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) committed suicide between 2018-23, the centre told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Academic stress, family reasons, personal reasons, mental health issues, etc. are some of the reasons for such suicide cases, Minister of State for Education Dr. Subhas Sarkar said in written reply to a question raised by Congress’s Dr. L. Hanumanthaiah.
Asked about steps taken by the government to address the root cause of student’s suicide in the universities, Sarkar said NEP 2020 provisions for counselling at institution level on handling stress and emotional adjustments.
“It also provisions for opportunities for students participation in sports, culture/arts clubs, eco-clubs, activity clubs, community service projects, etc…University Grants Commission have circulated the National Suicide Prevention Strategy formulated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,” Sarkar said.
The minister said, MANODARPAN, a govt. of India initiative, provides psychological support to students, teachers and families for mental and emotional well-being during the COVID outbreak and beyond.
“The Ministry has also advised the institutions to make the system more robust that would include prevention, detection and remedial measures for addressing possible cause of suicides,” he added.
Suicide cases at IITs, NITs, IIMs between 2018-23
| Institutes | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| IITs | 7 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| NITs | 3 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
| IIMs | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 11 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 6 |
(Source: Ministry of Education/Rajys Sabha)
