As many as 9,474 students committed suicide in 2016 – almost 26 every day, according to a reply to the Lok Sabha by H G Ahir, Minister of State for Home Affairs, on January 2.
Student suicides in the country have increased 52 per cent – from 17 every day (6,248) in 2007 to 26 every day in 2016, data show.
Maharashtra reported the most — 1,350 — student suicides in 2016, or four every day, followed by West Bengal (1,147) and Tamil Nadu(981).
Failure in examinations led to 2,413 suicides by students in 2016 — or seven every day — accounting for 25 per cent of student suicides. Around 23,000 student suicide deaths (30 per cent) between 2007 and 2016 have been attributed to failure in examinations.
India has one of the world’s highest suicide rates for youth aged from 15 to 29, according to a 2012 Lancet report.
“The popular perception is that failing exams or inability to cope with academics is the primary reason for student suicides,” Shaibya Saldanha, co-Founder of Enfold India, an NGO which works with children and adolescents, told IndiaSpend. “This is rooted in a sense of helplessness or extreme frustration.”
[Analysis by IndiaSpend]
