Student suicides in India continue to raise serious questions about academic pressure, mental health and the expectations placed on young people. A recent death by suicide at IIT Bombay has once again brought attention to a problem that extends well beyond a single institution or an individual case.
The circumstances surrounding the IIT Bombay student’s death remain under investigation, and conclusions should not be drawn from incomplete accounts of the student’s final hours. However, the incident has also highlighted the wider concern surrounding youth suicides and the pressures faced by students in high-achieving academic environments.
Student suicides are a wider concern
Student suicides are not unique to India. Universities in the United States and other countries have also faced similar tragedies. Among full-time US college students aged 18 to 22, around 11% to 15% have reported serious thoughts of suicide during the previous year, depending on the survey.
Research from the US has also found higher levels of anxiety, depression and other mental health problems among students in high-achieving environments compared with national norms. While much of the available research comes from the US, the underlying pressures faced by young people can also be relevant to students in India.
Data from India’s National Crime Records Bureau showed 14,488 suicides among people categorised as students in 2024. Students accounted for 8.5% of all reported suicides that year. A nationally representative mortality study covering the period from 2001 to 2019 found that 44% of all suicides occurred among people aged 15 to 29. Among women, the proportion was 56%.
Academic pressure can affect mental health
The reasons behind suicide are often complicated and cannot always be understood through a single factor. Family conflict, relationships, social isolation, mental illness, academic stress and financial uncertainty can overlap in ways that are difficult to identify after a death.
Examination results can become particularly difficult for young people when marks are treated as a measure of intelligence, personal worth or future prospects.
A review combining findings from 52 studies across several countries found that most of the studies reported a relationship between academic pressure or the timing of the school year and at least one negative mental health outcome. These included anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation.
The pressure can be especially intense in institutions where students are expected to maintain exceptionally high academic standards. A poor examination result may then feel less like a temporary setback and more like a threat to a student’s entire future.
Building resilience before failure
The discussion around student suicides also raises questions about how young people are prepared to deal with failure. Resilience can be developed before students encounter their first major academic setback. When children grow up believing that a very high mark represents success while anything lower amounts to failure, their understanding of achievement can become narrowly tied to examination performance.
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Parents can play an important role in changing that approach. Instead of repeatedly asking, “What rank did you get?”, greater emphasis can be placed on the question, “What did you learn?”
Academic performance early in life does not necessarily determine eventual professional success. Changing direction, repeating a year, moving to another college, failing an examination or choosing a different career can all become part of a person’s longer journey.
Why does connectedness matter?
Counselling services at universities can provide support, but they cannot address every problem on their own. Students may hesitate to seek help if they believe that asking for support is a sign of weakness.
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Another important factor is connectedness. Research has found that students who feel they belong to their school or university, believe that adults care about them and have people they can approach for help face a lower risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviour. Creating a stronger sense of belonging can therefore form an important part of efforts to support students.
Education must prepare students for life
The death of a student should not be reduced to a statistic or used simply as an example in debates over examinations, caste or technology such as ChatGPT. The wider issue of youth suicides is far larger than any one case.
The purpose of education extends beyond helping young people perform well in examinations. It also involves preparing them for setbacks, failures and unexpected changes. For students, learning how to cope when plans go wrong can be as important as learning how to succeed when everything goes right.