Student suicides in India: Sound mind in a sound body
Educational institutions, backed by family and the State, must address students’ mental health issues
A 16-year-old’s suicide note blaming harassment by teachers at his school in the national capital — and other such recent incidents, including the death of a nine-year-old at a Jaipur school — hold up a mirror to the inadequate attention paid to the mental health needs of students. This is a critical failure, especially when pre-adolescents and adolescents choose the path of suicide and self-harm. While this requires action at all levels, a significant part of the problem is the lack of capacity and training among school staff, including teachers, to identify concerns and take mitigatory measures. This deficiency is exacerbated by insensitive/callous handling or even active contribution, as alleged in the Delhi incident.
Student suicide numbers paint an alarming picture — as per the latest data (for 2023) from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), such deaths accounted for 8.1% of all the suicides in the country. Decadal trends (2013-2023) show student suicides rose faster than overall suicides in the country, underscoring the need for urgent intervention. There is a raft of scientific literature on the need for careful handling of young adults, adolescents and, increasingly, pre-adolescents. The latter two are periods in human biological development when several hormonal shifts begin and activity in specific areas of the brain that regulate risk-reward perception and emotion-processing surges, causing a spike in risk-taking behaviour and heightened emotional sensitivity. Throw in genetic and social influences — with social media significantly altering self-perception and behaviour among the young — and the vulnerability of these age groups significantly rises. Competition and academic pressures exacerbate this already fraught situation.
While all this is known, action to prevent suicide and self-harm among students remains inadequate. To be sure, schools and colleges are increasingly appointing counsellors, and there are several State interventions oriented towards mental health support for adolescents and young adults, including the Manodarpan counselling services and the Tele-MANAS toll-free helpline. But protecting mental health among the young needs more than just counselling services. It needs the staff in the classrooms, play areas and the corridors to be sensitive, responsive and, most importantly, watchful. Schools and colleges must intensify mapping behaviour, risk monitoring, and sensitivity training among teachers and other staff. The last is particularly important because it is the fulcrum on which all other school-level interventions to protect students are leveraged. To illustrate, in many suicide cases, parents and peers report complaints about bullying at school being met with indifference or even dismissive responses from teachers (as it was in the Jaipur case).
There is also an urgent need to review the use of social media by people in this vulnerable (and impressionable) age group. Australia’s pathbreaking ban on social media accounts for those under the age of 16 goes into effect in December. It is aimed to protect children from online risks, and India would do well to take a close look at the rule.
Finally, while schools need to become kinder and more considerate spaces, social isolation, especially familial isolation where there seems to be a rising lack of connection between parents and young children, needs correcting as well. Parents also need to be better listeners. An “all-hands” approach, led by educational institutions, but backed by parents and the State is the only way to deal with this looming crisis.
A 16-year-old’s suicide note blaming harassment by teachers at his school in the national capital — and other such recent incidents, including the death of a nine-year-old at a Jaipur school — hold up a mirror to the inadequate attention paid to the mental health needs of students. This is a critical failure, especially when pre-adolescents and adolescents choose the path of suicide and self-harm. While this requires action at all levels, a significant part of the problem is the lack of capacity and training among school staff, including teachers, to identify concerns and take mitigatory measures. This deficiency is exacerbated by insensitive/callous handling or even active contribution, as alleged in the Delhi incident.
Student suicide numbers paint an alarming picture — as per the latest data (for 2023) from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), such deaths accounted for 8.1% of all the suicides in the country. Decadal trends (2013-2023) show student suicides rose faster than overall suicides in the country, underscoring the need for urgent intervention. There is a raft of scientific literature on the need for careful handling of young adults, adolescents and, increasingly, pre-adolescents. The latter two are periods in human biological development when several hormonal shifts begin and activity in specific areas of the brain that regulate risk-reward perception and emotion-processing surges, causing a spike in risk-taking behaviour and heightened emotional sensitivity. Throw in genetic and social influences — with social media significantly altering self-perception and behaviour among the young — and the vulnerability of these age groups significantly rises. Competition and academic pressures exacerbate this already fraught situation.
While all this is known, action to prevent suicide and self-harm among students remains inadequate. To be sure, schools and colleges are increasingly appointing counsellors, and there are several State interventions oriented towards mental health support for adolescents and young adults, including the Manodarpan counselling services and the Tele-MANAS toll-free helpline. But protecting mental health among the young needs more than just counselling services. It needs the staff in the classrooms, play areas and the corridors to be sensitive, responsive and, most importantly, watchful. Schools and colleges must intensify mapping behaviour, risk monitoring, and sensitivity training among teachers and other staff. The last is particularly important because it is the fulcrum on which all other school-level interventions to protect students are leveraged. To illustrate, in many suicide cases, parents and peers report complaints about bullying at school being met with indifference or even dismissive responses from teachers (as it was in the Jaipur case).
There is also an urgent need to review the use of social media by people in this vulnerable (and impressionable) age group. Australia’s pathbreaking ban on social media accounts for those under the age of 16 goes into effect in December. It is aimed to protect children from online risks, and India would do well to take a close look at the rule.
Finally, while schools need to become kinder and more considerate spaces, social isolation, especially familial isolation where there seems to be a rising lack of connection between parents and young children, needs correcting as well. Parents also need to be better listeners. An “all-hands” approach, led by educational institutions, but backed by parents and the State is the only way to deal with this looming crisis.
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