Bhubaneswar: Even as rising number of student suicide cases has turned a matter of grave concern across the country, Odisha has emerged as one of top 5 states in this regard.
The latest date of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) showed that total 13,089 cases of students’ suicide were reported across the country in 2021, registering an increase of nearly 4.5% compared to 2020. Around 53% of them were reported from five states — Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Odisha.
Of total suicides committed by students, 14% were reported from Maharashtra (1,834) followed by 10% from Madhya Pradesh (1,308), 9.5% from Tamil Nadu (1,246) and 6.5% from Karnataka (855). The trends showed that between 1995 and 1999, student suicides accounted for 5.2% of the total suicides, and it increased to 8.2% in 2020.
Though the report does not mention any specific reasons behind suicides, the Bureau said ‘failure in examination’ was one of the reasons.
On September 8, a 22-year-old medical aspirant ended her life by jumping from the nineteenth floor of a tower in her society as she could not clear the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET)-UG examination. The incident was reported from at Greater Noida’s JP Aman Society in Sector 151. As per reports, an initial investigation revealed that the girl was unhappy after the declaration of her NEET result.
In a similar incident, a 19-year-old Chennai girl allegedly died by suicide in Tamil Nadu’s Ambattur after she failed to clear the NEET exam. The girl took the extreme step just hours after the results were declared.
Likewise, a medical aspirant allegedly died by suicide over the fear of NEET on June 30. The 19-year-old from Choolaimedu (Tamil Nadu) was preparing for the medical entrance examination.
Similarly, on April 30, two 17-year-old girls allegedly committed suicide in separate incidents after failing to clear Class 12 board examination in Balaghat and Tikamgarh districts of Madhya Pradesh.
As per the Union Ministry of Education, the government and the UGC have taken several initiatives to check the incidents of harassment and discrimination of students. University Grants Commission (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2019 have been formulated to safeguard the interests of the students.
The UGC has also notified ‘UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009’ and issued circular for strict compliance of the Regulations.
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.
The government’s Manodarpan initiative, covers a wide range of activities to provide psychological support to students, teachers and families for mental and emotional well-being 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.
