Students' suicide on rise

Cases of students committing suicide are rising year after year with one in every four taking their own life due to failure in examination.

Latest government statistics showed that 26,416 students committed suicide in three years between 2014 and 2016 of this, 28.24% or 7,462 ended their own life due to not living up to their expectation in exam results. Of the total suicides in the country, students account for 6-7% and among those, 40-45% were girl students.

In 2016, for which the latest figures are available, 9,474 students took their own life, up from 8,934 in 2015 and 8,068 in 2014. Of this, 2,403 students in 2014, 2,646 in 2015 and 2,413 in 2016 committed suicide due to failure in exams.

Maharashtra has topped the list in 2016 as well as in previous years in instances of student suicides. In 2016, it had 1,350 student suicides followed by West Bengal where there were 1,147 such incidents.

Tamil Nadu was at third position with 981 suicides while Chhattisgarh reported 633 and Gujarat 556 suicide cases. Karnataka was at sixth in 2016 with 540 student suicides, down from 597 in 2015 and 570 in 2014.

Referring to figures of student suicides, the Ministry of Home Affairs recently told the Parliament that the government of India attaches highest importance in the matter and has approved implementation of the District Mental Health Programme in some of the districts with added components of suicide prevention services, work place stress management, life skills training and counselling in schools and colleges.

Experts said that students are increasingly in pressure and many of them could not take it. There is no institutional help available for them.

The numbers could be more alarming if one takes into account the suicide attempts by students for various reasons. Many of them go unreported, they said.