Youth Suicide Crisis: India Needs Change

According to WHO’s (World Health Organization) recent reports, around 800,000 people commit suicide every year. Suicide is responsible for more deaths than malaria, cancer, war or even homicide in the world. Also, more than 50 per cent of the suicides globally are committed by people younger than 45 years.

India, the world’s second most populous country of over 1 billion, has one of the highest suicide rates among those aged 15 to 29. They are the youth, the highest risk-bearing group.  In India, the suicide rate among those with more education is higher than those with little or no education; this adds another angle to it.

The suicides begin in school, continue in college and into the late 20's. Academic stress is a major reason for suicides among both female and male students in India. It’s not uncommon to see students stressed, anxious and under pressure in a society that believes in keeping students in check by pushing them beyond their limits toward higher achievements. The Indian education system impose a competitive environment, and students who don’t secure admission to top institutes are viewed as failures.

Young high school students are forced to enroll in coaching classes where they prepare for exams to get into prestigious schools like the IITs and AIIMS. Students follow drastic rules and study schedules that leave them feeling depleted and depressed. Many students are forced to take very few holidays and follow very long hours study schedule with very little breaks.

Those who fail to follow the demanding study schedules feel responsible for disappointing their parents and falling behind their peers. Many students who eventually pass the entrance exams feel even more pressure to excel at university, often taking their own lives when it all becomes too much to handle.

The pressure continues beyond school and college life. In India, job security is viewed as an integral addition to a good education, which leads colleges to heavily advertise their placements to garner good reviews and get more students to enroll. All major Indian schools have a placement process, where companies offer entry-level jobs to students on campus. Stories of successful students securing high salaries make the headlines and play a significant role in parents pushing their children to earn the same. This creates pressure on students who feel a sense of personal failure when they do not secure the best job during placement season.

Student suicides can be expected to increase if the job market remains highly competitive and the education system offers no solace to those getting college degrees. The lack of jobs and failure to create skills among the country’s youth will simply increase the frustration among students, forcing them to take the drastic step of ending their lives.

Many young Indians find it difficult to switch jobs owing to their low grades in college or the prestige level of their institution they have passed out of, which are the main criteria for many companies in India. Adding to it India is already known to produce labor that does not meet international standards because of a broken higher education system. Although the Indian higher education system is the third-largest in the world (after the US and China), but the expansion in the number of colleges and universities has not ensured quality education and funding.

The current Indian economy which is failing to provide employment to the youth with higher education is a source of constant stress for the hopeful young graduates who thought that investing in higher education was a sure-shot ticket to success, stability, and secure life. The government needs to take affirmative action before several issues such as rising unemployment begin to further threaten the mental health of countless students across India, who face a bleak future if they don’t secure a job upon graduation.

Grades and colleges should stop being viewed as the only criteria for securing a “good job.” India should try adopting the systems which increases transparency and reduce anxiety among candidates in the early stages of their career, who should be judged on the basis of their skills, not external competencies. Stressing on education as a medium for success needs to become a thing of the past. Until then, schools and colleges need to foster a culture of understanding and trust, where students feel free and safe to talk about issues like anxiety and depression. Student suicides can be easily averted, but merely setting up training and sensitization sessions for teachers, increasing the role of counselling services across schools and colleges.

India needs change, and it needs it now.