Human Resource Development, HRD Minister addressed replying to questions proposed in the parliament which shared the data on the number of suicides in 23 Indian Institutes of the country. The revelation shall shock you to the core, as 50 students suicided at the 23 IITs have been notified over the past 5 years.
It was reported the highest number of suicides is around 14 – which is close to 3 suicides every year. The IIT Madras and IIT Bombay have 7 student suicides each in the last 5 years.
The other top IITs have also had their portion of student suicides and deaths. The IIT-Delhi has had 4 suicides in the past 5 years whereas IIT Kharagpur had 5 such ill-fated deaths. IIT-Kanpur has had one and IIT-Roorkee two.
Out of these the recent ones were reported from IIT Guwahati and IIT Madras. A Japanese Exchange student was found dead in the hostel room at IIT Guwahati while Fathima Lateef, a first-year student at IIT Madras had taken the severe step on November 9, sending ripples of shock through the country. The hostel continuously reportedly linked to harassment by faculty members. In this particular case student suicide has been shifted to the crime branch, the administration has also decided to originate a better grievance redressal system.
While many have often surrendered to the pressures of finding their success, cases have also been reported of students who though managed to reach the famed IITs never truly wanted to be engineers. These numbers, though minuscule in terms of the actual strength across the IITs and the corresponding success rates, are still ominous and call for stricter measures.
The Indian Institutes of Management or IIMs also have their part of such tragedies. As many as 10 student suicides have been reports at the 20 IIMs in the last 5 years – reported the government in the same reply.