Student Suicides In DU Reflect Indian Public Education’s Systemic Failures
Anil Sethumadhavan
TW: Suicide
Across the world, there has been a rise in suicide rates since the outbreak of COVID-19, including in India. Within this, there has been a consequent increase in students’ suicides in the country, in public universities as well. The factors contributing to this rise are many, and a concerted effort is required to understand these better. This essay attempts to analyse suicide rates among students in one of the largest public universities in India, the University of Delhi.
Student suicides are not an independent phenomenon. There are several aspects to be considered to understand this in whole. According to the most recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, India saw a record-breaking 12,526 student suicides in the year 2020. In 2021, the number further increased to 13,089. Since 2019 thus, records have registered a shocking increase of 21.19 per cent. More than 1.8 lakh students have committed suicide since 1995, with 2020 recording the greatest number.
News reports show that a large number of students cite poor performance in examinations as the reason for this. While there is a tendency amongst policy makers, officials, authorities and other stakeholders to reduce the reason behind student suicides to individual problems, studies in disciplines like Sociology and Social Psychology argue something else. According to these, society plays an important role in this.
For Emile Durkheim, one of the first sociologists to study suicides and the role of society, rising suicides indicated a collective breakdown of society itself. He used the concept of ‘integration’ to explain his theory. When an individual is integrated into the group he belongs to or the society as a whole, it protects him from what Durkheim called ‘egoistic’ suicide. Such suicides, he explains, occur from the isolation of individuals from groups and the society at large. The other kind of suicide explained by Durkheim happens because of the ‘over integration’ of individuals into society. To explain, he uses the example of the ritual of ‘sati’ that existed among some Hindus. Following this, other sociologists have argued that this type of suicide exists in modern societies too within various religious groups, families, educational institutions, and the like.
How do we understand and place Indian students’ suicides in the background of Durkheim’s suicide studies?
Some might argue that a big chunk of student suicides occur due to their isolation from the rest of society, and thus, it comes under the first category of Durkheim’s suicides. However, we have to also look into the reasons that lead to this isolation, which subsequently then contribute to suicides. A female student, who commits suicide due to pressure from her family to discontinue her education, may have serious mental health issues and might be considered as isolated from social groups. However, we have to recognise that the key reason that gives birth to such a situation in the first place is the existence of patriarchy in society. Therefore, even within ‘egoistic suicides’, society plays a role indirectly.
NCRB data also shows that the predominant reasons for student suicides are exam failures, family problems, work stress, and anxiety about the future, and the like. What we must understand is that a lot of these reasons indirectly point a finger at the involvement of society and policy makers in these suicides. The rising number also proves that stakeholders such as government, university authorities and policy makers haven’t been taking the issue seriously or that there is a lack of an ideological push in the efforts taken to address the issue.
To understand this better, let us take a look at Delhi University, one of India’s largest public universities, and the state of student suicides cases in it.
Student Suicides in Delhi University
The fact that there is no official data on the number of students who have died by suicide in the University of Delhi itself shows how lightly the university administration considers the issue to be.
At the same time, I am forced to write this essay in the wake of repeated suicides among students in the DU campus. A month back, a student of Ramjas College died by suicide in the premises of the institution itself. Similarly, a female student died at Zakir Husain Delhi College (ZHDC) a few weeks back. In yet another incident, a female student of Delhi University Law Faculty died by suicide at her flat in Mukherjee Nagar. Again, on the 18th of November, a student of Miranda House died by suicide. In fact, these incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. The larger chunk of suicides are those that do not catch the attention of administration, media and students.
The reasons for many of these cases vary from academic pressure to various other constraints placed by social institutions such as family and patriarchy. A female student of ZHDC, who died of suicide in the month of October, was facing acute pressure from her family to discontinue her studies and was not even allowed to attend her lectures. The close friends of some of these students have later revealed that they were battling mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Such diseases could be the after effect of stress imposed by academic and societal pressure.
Providing mental health support to students via universities and colleges is certainly one way of dealing with this problem. However, as of now, very few colleges under Delhi University have functioning support cells, and a university-wide assistance system is entirely absent.
In the context of increasing suicide cases, while students’ organisations have been demanding the setting up mental health assistance mechanisms in colleges and universities, the administration’s response has always kept mum about such matters. Some college administrations have even ‘advised’ students to recognise the value of human life! Moreover, the Delhi University Students Union is least bothered by increasing suicides in the university. The union, led by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, has failed to take any action regarding this, nor has it formally or informally expressed their concern over the repeated deaths on campus. It should also be noted that the matter cannot be dealt with by providing psychological support alone.
Reducing the reasons behind suicides to individuals and their personal problems is not justified, as seen from the observations of various scholars. For instance, shortened semesters and a heavy syllabus being taught in a span of three-four months, without appropriate breaks, have naturally contributed to the deterioration of students’ mental health in Delhi University. Although students’ and teachers’ organisations have pointed this out at various points, no considerable measure has been taken by the administration to reduce the pressure on students and teachers. As shown by examples from across the country, such systemic changes can bring about a drastic change and will reduce the number of students’ suicides. Journalist Anoo Bhuyan, in an article concerning student suicides in the country and how to counter the issue systemically, pointed out that in 2003, the Tamil Nadu government introduced supplementary examinations for students who had failed their public exams, claiming that this decreased suicides by 50 per cent.
Exam failures on a large scale is not new to Delhi University. In 2018, students of the Mathematics Department protested against mass failures in examinations, pointing out that it was a systemic failure. In the same year, students of the Physics Department also raised the issue where 94 percent of first semester students in the varsity’s MSc Physics programme failed in either theory or internals or both in exams conducted in December 2018. Are there any attempts being taken by the administration to deal with such issues? The answer is none.
Delhi University students are forced to struggle against a range of problems on a daily basis, due to the administration’s lack of interest in dealing with them. This includes the university not disbursing scholarships on time, pushing students from marginalised backgrounds to extreme financial difficulties; the university not providing accommodation to students, leading to students renting out highly expensive and privately owned places outside. Aishwarya Reddy, a student of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, who died of suicide during the second lockdown period left a note revealing how the delay in the disbursement of her scholarship money impacted her life badly, and how the online education system, imposed all of a sudden, left students like her hopeless.
Without finding solutions to such systemic discriminations, reducing the number of suicides of students in Delhi University, like in any other educational institution in the country, would be unimaginable. Empowering female students – by providing them with scholarships, and accommodation that is safe and affordable – is what will help them break the chains of patriarchy, which in turn will help them attain quality education without having to deal with societal and familial pressures. However, with the implementation of the National Educational Policy (NEP) 2020, the attack upon public education has been geared up by the government to another level altogether.
Delhi University teachers with whom I interacted shared their concerns over the newly admitted batch of students that came in through the Common University Entrance Test. In their observation, the proportion of women students and the number of marginalised students have come down compared to the past years. With the implementation of the Four Year Undergraduate Program or FYUP, the number of students able to complete their undergraduate education will obviously reduce drastically.
While no attempt is being made by the administration and government to deal with student suicides, several new policies have been brought about that can potentially increase the frequency and number of suicides on campuses. In this background, the necessity of students to unite against NEP 2020 has to be emphasised more and more. We must come together to fight this anti-student government, since we have nothing to lose but death knots.
Anil Sethumadhavan completed his Masters in Development Studies from Ambedkar University Delhi.
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