‘Study stress, need counselling, time outdoors’: In shadow of suicides, what students are telling NIT Kurukshetra

With the students away, a six‑member probe committee has been set up to consider measures to help them, including with academics, hostel life and health facilities. It has been told to submit its report within a week.

One of the premier government-funded engineering institutes in the country, ranked among the top 100 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework, NIT Kurukshetra admits students via the JEE. It has approximately 6,000 students, of whom 5,400 stay on the campus, in 14 hostels.

The first of the recent suicides was reported on February 16, of a 19‑year‑old youth. About a fortnight after it, a third-year B.Tech student took his life on March 31. On April 8, a 22-year-old killed himself in the room directly on the floor below.

A police official who investigated the deaths told The Indian Express that at least in one of the cases, the “signs” had been there, with friends talking about a rope in her room for three-four months. “But they thought she kept it as a joke,” the official said.

A high performer, she had fallen behind in one semester and reportedly fallen into depression, officials said. Officials said in the note she left behind, she wrote: “I have wasted my parents’ hard‑earned money, and a seat at NIT.”

In one case, a college official said, the breaking point was being offered “Rs 100” by a family member when he asked for money. The student’s father is a poor farmer in Telangana.

NIT Kurukshetra charges approximately Rs 35,000-Rs 70,000 per semester as tuition fee, depending on the course. No tuition fee is charged from SC/ST students or those whose annual family income is Rs 1 lakh or below. For families with annual income between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, only 30% of the tuition fee is payable.

An official said that in the case of the death traced to alleged gambling addiction, “the student had used multiple credit cards to pay off money he owed”. “He would ask his friends to lock his door from the outside so that nobody would know he was inside.”

The administration has now urged banks to stop issuing credit cards to students, and “harassing” them for payments.

NIT Registrar In‑charge Vinod Kumar said: “We found that some banks gave credit to students as easy money. After we pointed this out to a private bank, it agreed not to do so. No recovery agents will come to the institute.”

What had the administration particularly shaken was the April 17 incident of a girl student climbing up to the fifth floor of a hostel building and posting a message on a WhatsApp group, threatening to kill herself.

ASI Vinod Kumar of the local police post said they received the alert around midnight, and immediately rushed to the spot. By then, a crowd of students had gathered to dissuade her, and she came down after expressing her despair at not being able to keep up academically. A top scorer in Classes 10 and 12, she was managing just 40%-50% marks in her first year at NIT. “I am finding it difficult to understand coding,” she said, as per students present.

The next day, the administration directed students, who had stayed back in hostels after the college break was announced, to vacate the premises.

Several students The Indian Express spoke to talked about “undue academic pressure” at the institute.

A student who was part of a protest at the NIT said: “Just holding grievance committee meetings after each incident does not solve the problem.”

Another student sought “accountability”. “The institute should explain what measures it has taken and where the gaps lie.”

However, a fourth‑year mechanical engineering student said there was another side to the story. “It seems the students concerned were struggling with mental health issues… I don’t fault the academic system. Without a certain level of strictness, how can the NIT maintain its status as a national institution?”

NIT Public Relations In‑charge Professor Gian Bhushan said they were also looking beyond academic stress, pointing to the death by suspected suicide of the 20-year-old who had secured 8.8 CGPA in her first and third semesters and 8.2 in the second.

Her father told The Indian Express: “We don’t know what prompted her… There was no issue at home, or money problems.”

Last month, soon after the second suicide, NIT announced that over 200 faculty members would act as mentors to 20-25 students each. Students were told to share if they were under stress and the causes for it, plus possible solutions, in writing. Sources said most of the responses they have got so far cite academic pressure, request counselling and seek physical activities.

NIT authorities say that since 2022, they have had counselors on campus for the students and a ‘Thought Lab’ in collaboration with the Brahmakumari sect to promote mental well‑being, concentration, and personal development.

Kurukshetra Superintendent of Police Chander Mohan said there should be greater social interaction among students. “Parents should also interact with their children, and visit the college,” he said.

Student Federation of India state president Akshay Mahla said: “There should be a platform for students to express their views freely. There is no student union on the NIT campus, which has created a vacuum.”