We are confronting a quiet yet devastating emergency. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data show 13,044 student suicides in 2022 alone, accounting for 7.6 per cent of all suicides in the country - tragically surpassing the number of farmer suicides.
This translates to the death of a student by suicide every 40 minutes! The situation is not episodic but systemic, as there were 1,03,961 student suicides officially recorded over the past decade (2013–2022).
Parallelly, NCRB data reveal that crimes committed by juveniles increased from 29,768 cases in 2020 to 30,555 in 2022. Between 2013 and 2022, a total of 3,40,168 crimes were attributed to minors. These stark figures indicate a unique and mounting mental health crisis within school environments. Therefore, the mental well-being of students must be treated as a national priority.
Contributing factors to student distress
A 2024 study by Sucharita Maji et al. analysing student suicides (2019–2023), identifies academic reasons (dissatisfaction, stress and failure), institutional reasons (bullying, discrimination, ragging, harassment and toxic institutional culture), mental health issues (depression, psychological stress and anxiety), financial distress, and online gaming as major contributing factors. The findings underscore the need for comprehensive institutional and policy reforms and evidence-based mental health interventions.
Adolescent mental well-being is best understood through Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, which views development as shaped by interactions across five interconnected systems. They are: microsystem (immediate personal environment), mesosystem (interactions between microsystems), exosystem (indirect external influences), macrosystem (cultural and societal values), and chronosystem (time and historical context). When internal psychological resilience is weak due to pressures across these systems, the risk of self-harm, violence, and suicide escalates.
Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s perspectives, the prevention of student suicides and violence demands coordinated interventions by teachers, parents, policymakers, and student communities whose collective responsibility is to address systemic stressors, nurture resilience, foster supportive environments and reduce vulnerabilities.
Nurturing support systems
Teachers and schools serve as pivotal stakeholders in safeguarding student mental well-being by fostering supportive environments and embedding preventive frameworks. Integrating mental health curricula, training teachers in gatekeeper strategies, and institutionalising early referral systems to professional services or helplines like KIRAN - a 24×7 toll-free mental health rehabilitation helpline (1800-599-0019) in 13 languages across India - are crucial. Internationally, initiatives such as Australia’s 'MindMatters' and the UK’s 'Whole School Approach' exemplify effective models, underscoring schools’ transformative role in reducing violence and suicide among students.
Unlike teachers and schools, whose role is institutional, families shape a student’s emotional foundation from within the home. Coercive environments and unrealistic expectations exacerbate anxiety and suicidal ideation. Equipping parents with skills for empathy, balanced expectations, and recognition of distress signals is indispensable. Parental responsibility extends to proactively monitoring students’ behavioral patterns and media use. Parent-focused initiatives such as counseling sessions, peer-support networks, or structured interventions like Parenting Skills Programs and The Art of Parenting by UNICEF foster positive parent-child interactions. Emotionally nurturing households significantly buffer students against self-harm, violence, and psychosocial breakdowns.
At the governance level, policymakers hold the levers to embed mental health into the architecture of education. Legislative measures such as the Mental Healthcare Act (2017) and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2022) mark a paradigm shift toward compassionate, rights-based approaches. Complementing these, state-level initiatives like the Rajasthan Coaching Centre Regulation Bill (2024) demonstrate targeted responses to systemic stressors. Internationally, Finland’s integration of mental health services within school curricula illustrates how institutionalised, policy-driven frameworks can normalise support, mitigate risks, and safeguard student well-being across diverse contexts.
Further, media and social institutions hold transformative power in shaping attitudes toward student mental health. Responsible reporting, in contrast to sensationalised coverage, mitigates contagion risks and challenges the erroneous perception of suicide as a ‘solution,’ while encouraging help-seeking. Simultaneously, awareness campaigns by NGOs, community leaders, and faith-based organisations create supportive ecosystems for students in distress. By destigmatising dialogue and offering accessible resources, these institutions can contribute to preventing student suicides and violence.
Students are not passive recipients but active stakeholders in fostering mental well-being. Peer-support networks and student-led initiatives reduce stigma and encourage openness. Life is never a smooth ride; resilience is what keeps students moving forward. Positive psychology practices like journaling, mindfulness, and expressive writing strengthen resilience. Students should learn to harness the technology-enabled interventions that offer confidential, stigma-free avenues of support. By using such tools, students can access timely resources, manage stress proactively, strengthen emotional resilience, and significantly reduce vulnerability to self-harm.
Curbing student suicides and violence in India requires a systems-based response, as Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory reminds us. Addressing this crisis is not a choice but a collective responsibility and meeting it with urgency and compassion remains the defining imperative of our time. Teachers must nurture safe schools, parents provide empathetic homes, and policymakers build enabling frameworks, while students embrace resilience. By strengthening these interdependent systems, we safeguard not only student well-being but also the nation’s future - since investing in students’ mental health is, ultimately, investing in our nation’s future.
Dr Joseph Emmanuel is the Chief Executive and Secretary of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE).
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.