NEW DELHI: Fourteen students have died by suicide in higher education institutes, including IITs and AIIMS, this year, the Rajya Sabha was informed Wednesday.
In the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), seven deaths due to suicide were recorded, with three of them being SC students, while one was OBC.
In the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), three students died by suicide, of which two were ST students, the data showed.
In the National Institute of Technology (NIT), four students took the extreme step. One of them was a SC.
In 2022, 23 students, including nine in IITs died by suicide. In 2021, 11 students took the extreme step, including four from IITs and three from AIIMS.
In 2020, nine students died by suicide, while in 2019, the figure stood at 18 – eight each from IITs and NITs.
ALSO READ | Treat students gently to prevent suicides
To a question from Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi on the dropout rate of students from these institutions, Minister of State for Education Dr Subhas Sarkar said that the maximum number of dropouts is in Postgraduate and PhD programmes.
The main reasons are offers for placement in Public Sector Enterprises and personal preference for better opportunities elsewhere.
“The drop out in Undergraduate programmes is attributed to withdrawal due to wrong choices filled, poor performance and personal and medical reasons,” the minister said
According to data, this year, 320 students dropped out from IITs, of which a whopping number of students – 80 – were from the OBC category, followed by 48 SC students.
Similarly in IIMs, 99 students have dropped out this year, of which 20 are from the OBC category, followed by 19 SC students.
In NITs also a similar trend was seen. Out of the 127 students that dropped out this year, 40 were OBC, and 20 were SC.
On steps taken by the government to prevent student suicides in these premier institutions, the minister said the government accords the highest importance to each incident of suicide on campuses of educational institutions and has initiated numerous initiatives in this regard.
“The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 provisions for counselling systems for handling stress and emotional adjustments in institutions. It also provisions for opportunities for student’s participation in sports, culture/arts clubs, eco-clubs, activity clubs, community service projects, etc,” he said.
The Univeristy Grants Commission has also notified UGC regulations on curbing the menace of ragging in higher educational institutions and issued circulars for strict compliance with the regulations.
The ministry has undertaken various steps such as peer-assisted learning, and the introduction of technical education in regional languages for students to ease academic stress, Sarkar said.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050 (available 24x7))
