A worrying trend...

Another worrying trend found in our country as a whole among the youth’s students commit suicide more than any other age group. On an average 35 students die by suicide every day. One more worrying alarming tendency of rising number of girls under the age of 18 taking the drastic step. According to the National Crime Records Bureau data for 2021, 5,607 girls under 18 died by suicide as compared to 5,075 boys.

From 2011 onwards, there has been a consistent annual rise in the occurrence of student suicides in India. According to Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, “The NCRB data about more teenaged girls than boys dying by suicide reflects the fact that girls experi- ence more pressure by parents and society to conform and also experience more violence in relationships.’’

He said girls are “blamed” for relationships when discovered by parents who view it “as a loss of reputation’’. Experts said there is an urgent need for public health programmes focusing on the rates of youth suicide in India which is the highest in the World.

Statistics show that suicide rates in the 15-29-year-old Indian men is twice the global average, while rates in young Indian women is nearly 6 times as high. Dr Shetty added that “complex psychopathology” is the main cause for suicides among the youth. We also see a lot of teenagers in distress with multiple problems,’’ he said. In India, the experts said that the day calls for attention once again to the frequently overlooked problem of suicide among housewives.

In the 2021 ADSI report by NCRB, family problems were identified as the major cause of suicide among individuals under 18 years old followed by “love affairs” and “failure in examination”. Majority of cases categorised under illness, specifically 58%, were linked to mental health issues. Another example is Kota in Rajasthan India's coaching capital, grappling with a surge in student suicides, driven by the immense pressure to excel in pro- fessional entrance exams. The combination of rigorous test preparation, long study hours, and parental expectations exert great pressure on the mental well-being of students with one suicide every alternate month.