122 students of IITs, IIMs and central institutes committed suicide from 2014-21: Government

The highest number of student suicides was from central universities (37), followed by NITs (30)

A total of 122 students of IITs, IIMs, central universities and other centrally funded higher educational institutions committed suicide between 2014 and 2021, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.

In a written response to a question in Lok Sabha, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that of the 122 students who committed suicide, 24 belonged to Scheduled Caste (SC), 41 to Other Backward Classes (OBC), three to Scheduled Tribe (ST) and three were from the 'minority' category.

The number of student suicides in various IITs during the period was 34, while four students from different IIMs had also committed suicide. The Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs) and IISc Bangalore accounted for nine suicides, while four were from the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs).

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The highest number of student suicides were from central universities (37), followed by National Institutes of Technology (NITs), which reported 30 student suicides.

“The government and University Grants Commission (UGC) have taken several initiatives to check the incidents of harassment and discrimination of students. UGC (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2019 have been formulated to safeguard the interests of the students. Further, the ministry has undertaken various steps such as peer-assisted learning, introduction of technical education in regional languages for students in order to ease the academic stress,” Pradhan said.

"The government initiative, named MANODARPAN, covers a wide range of activities to provide psychological support to students, teachers and families for mental and emotional wellbeing during the Covid outbreak and beyond. In addition, institutions conduct workshops/seminars on happiness and wellness, regular sessions on yoga, induction programmes, extracurricular activities including sports and cultural activities and appointment of student counsellors for overall personality development and de-stressing students. Further, students, wardens and caretakers are sensitised to bring to notice the signs of depression in fellow students to the authorities so that timely clinical consultation may be provided,” he said.

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