Dharmendra Pradhan chairs review meeting on mental health of students

A number of suicides in the IITs have triggered a debate on the state of mental health and caste-based discrimination in the country’s higher educational institutes. Last Tuesday, a B Tech student at IIT Madras died by suicide.

In February, a second year research scholar also ended his life at the IIT Madras campus, while a first year student of chemical engineering died by suicide at IIT Bombay.

In total, 33 students have died by suicide across the Indian Instiutes of Technolgy (IITs) since 2018, shows data presented in the Parliament last week by the Ministry of Education.

The IITs account for over half of the suicides (61), followed by the NITs (24) and IIMs (4). The data, which cover the 2018-2023 period, was shared in response to a question by Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP L Hanumanthaiah.

“Academic stress, family reasons, personal reasons, mental health issues, etc. are some of the reasons for such suicide cases,” according to the written response by Minister of State Education Subhas Sarkar.

The proposed framework, said the ministry, will include the creation of inclusive, integrative and non-discriminatory environment.

“The ninister has also asked to invite suggestions from all the stakeholders through online medium. He touched upon various subjects such as gender equality, caste sensitivity, academic ease of pressure, robust system of counselling,” added the ministry.