September 10 is observed as the World Suicide Prevention Day. According to Government of India figures (National Crime Records Bureau), around 13,000 students (7.6% of the total suicides in India) committed suicide in 2022, and it is quite possible that the actual unrecorded figures may be much higher.    

This is a much higher number than that of farmer suicides (~11,000).  The farmer’s suicides are always in the news yet the major crisis in Indian society is the suicides by the young students.  Also, the highest number of student suicides are in Maharashtra (~14% of total student suicides), India's most industrialised and one of its richest states. India unfortunately also has the highest number of student suicides in the world.  

What are the pressures on young minds that force them to commit suicide? And how have we come to this sorry situation where the students - the future of our society - do not have the desire to live?  

Driven By Sense of Despair

It is only human beings who commit suicide.  No other living forms do it. It is probably a consequence of the big brain that we possess which sometimes creates a sense of despair and makes us not interested in life. Once this sense develops the thoughts and acts of suicide happen. 

The young and formative minds are more prone to come under such pressures which makes them commit this act. The triggers therefore could be from anything and anywhere, but it is the mental makeup which ultimately leads to this tragedy. At a young age the brain is powerful and unhampered by memory knots. This makes it sensitive and such sensitive minds (which are also highly intelligent) easily buckle under pressures.  

An Exam-passing Society  

The biggest pressure on students today is getting good grades.  Right from early childhood the children are programmed only to pass exams and excel academically. We have become an exam-passing society which not only puts tremendous pressure on young minds but has also resulted in suppressing curiosity and inventiveness in them.

We are therefore creating a whole generation of clerks.  The students will excel in doing what is told to them but will hardly invent, innovate, or think out-of-the box because their curiosity has been curbed. This is a very serious matter, and society must introspect why we stress so much on grades and nothing else. By doing this we are robbing our children of their childhood. A society which cannot provide its children and young students with a nice, happy and healthy environment to grow and flower is doomed.

Most children are always afraid of failing exams. The pressures by parents to perform well in competitive exams create a sense of fear. Such accretion of fears  at a young vulnerable age make the mind highly strung emotionally, and any trigger can snap it. So, saying that pressures of education, ragging, break-ups etc. lead to suicide is wrong. These kids were already prone to suicide – the trigger could be anything.

Adults Must Recognise Signs 

Also, during young age, sexual hormones rage in the body. Those energies need to be channeled. If left unattended they create havoc in the brain and lead to loneliness and possible suicide. This is not a green signal for promiscuous behavior but a warning to adults to recognize the signs and help in their sublimation.

If we can create conditions by which we can sublimate these strong desires into something positive; for example, making children do hard physical and creative work and challenging them with interesting tasks then loneliness may be reduced.

The addiction of children to social media accentuates the whole process of loneliness and makes the brain even more highly strung. This makes the children learn from an early age to only react and not think or contemplate.

Reading Can Help

One of the ways to help them out of this addiction is to create in them the desire and interest to read. If children read a lot – it will be good for their mind and their development.

Reading helps create an internal mental movie which uses a major portion of the brain. This expands the horizon of the mind because it allows one to think, assimilate and reflect. This is far better than the information onslaught from ears and eyes (which happens from social media and mobile phones) and makes the children react and not think. Reading therefore to my mind is the best bet against loneliness and suicide. 

Social Media Accentuates Loneliness 

Also, the physical interaction that children lack nowadays increases loneliness. In our young days (before the internet age) we fought (physically and otherwise) and there was no way to avoid physical interaction with peer groups.  It helped in overcoming loneliness and many times helped in resolving mental issues.  Today the wall of social media, quite a few times, hides loneliness and is no substitute for human touch.

So how can all of us help in reducing suicide among students?  By creating lots of curiosity in children and making them aware that there are other things in life than only passing exams. Also making them aware that there are other avenues of employment besides engineering and medicine – which are very competitive.

By putting more stress on reading. This will require discipline on the part of teachers and parents. Parents need to spend more time with their children. No person other than parents knows them better.

By creating an interesting environment in school so that children become interested and curious about issues surrounding them. Once their bright formative minds are seized of the idea then they will vigorously pursue it. In its absence they revert to social media and idle chit chat.                         

Having professionally trained counseling services manned by empathetic and competent people in schools and colleges will help to a greater degree in reducing the sense of loneliness and providing proper mental guidance for young people.   

A society which cannot take proper care of its children and young students can never progress and achieve greatness. We talk of Viksit Bharat (Developed India), but unless we create a happy and vibrant atmosphere for our children and students, we can never achieve it.

(The writer, an IIT and US-educated Indian spiritual engineer and rural development pioneer,  a 2022 Padma Shri award winner, is the Director, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute, Phaltan, Maharashtra.  He can be reached at anilrajvanshi50@gmail.com/@anilraj24.bsky.social)