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Amidst a global pandemic and lockdowns, five suicide cases were reported in central universities between 2020 and 2022, said Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on April 1 ,2022.
Answering queries on student suicide from MP Kunwar Danish Ali, he reported a total of 24 deaths by suicide between 2017 and 2019 with the highest number of cases in 2017 (seven deaths).
“University Grants Commission (UGC) has informed that Central Universities under its purview have reported 24 suicide cases of students from the year 2017 to 2022. The reasons of suicide by students are not maintained,” said Pradhan.
Six cases each were recorded in 2018 and 2019, one in 2020, three in 2021 and one so far in 2022. The break-up includes two cases of students’ deaths at Teerthanker Mahaveer University in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh between November, 2018 and October, 2021. The said University is a state private university.
In November 2020, the suicide of a second-year Mathematics student at the Lady Shri Ram college following delayed scholarship, pending fees and the pressing concern of a digital divide in education. However, far from being an outlier, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows that student suicides increased from 7.4 percent in 2019 to 8.2 percent in 2020.
Data showed that the highest number of cases of death by suicide were recorded in 2020 in Maharashtra with 1,648 cases, followed by 1,469 cases in Odisha, 1,158 cases in Madhya Pradesh, 930 cases in Tamil Nadu and 704 cases in Jharkhand. Even Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan reported 417 cases and 582 cases respectively. It is worth mentioning that in the data provided by Pradhan, no region other than Delhi acknowledged a death by suicide in this year.
According to The Hindu, in 2021, students stuck inside their houses without access to classrooms or socialising opportunities go through more tension and fear. Where once students worried about exam dates, children nowadays worry about moving on to the next grade or job opportunities.
To address this issue, the Minister said the Centre started the MANODARPAN initiative that provides psychological support to students, teachers and families for mental and emotional well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. Further, students, wardens and caretakers are sensitised to notify any signs of depression in fellow students to authorities for timely clinical consultation.
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