November 27, 2025 08:53 PM IST
First published on: Nov 27, 2025 at 08:53 PM IST
On November 21, the front-page headline of The Indian Express read: “Student’s suicide: Top Delhi school suspends four of staff, Govt to probe’. A 15-year-old Class X student of a renowned school jumped to his death at a Metro station after being humiliated by his teachers for months. Known to be creative and interested in extracurricular activities, the boy had been visiting the school counselling room frequently, looking for a safe space to share his experiences but found no support, according to reports. The complex dynamics that led him to take such an extreme step are perplexing and jarring, and has divided the school community and the public at large. I heard the boy’s father on a TV show demanding the most damning punishment that our law can exact for the accused school teachers. Blame, accountability and a legal response become inevitable when we are faced with such a profound and irreversible loss. Many people have raised questions about the mental-health epidemic and the sharp rise in self-harm and suicide amongst our children and youth.
Three more tragic incidents came to light in quick succession. One in Jaipur where a 9-year-old Class IV student jumped to her death from the school terrace after her repeated pleas to stop the bullying she was suffering at school for 18 long months fell on deaf ears, the second one in Jalna, Maharashtra where a 13-year-old died under similar circumstances after being allegedly “mentally tortured” by her teacher, and a third in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh where a 17 year old left graphic descriptions of how a “male teacher” physically tortured her before she took her own life.
Understandably, the wrath of parents and the larger community has turned towards schools, which are perceived as uncaring, apathetic and neglectful towards the emotional needs of children — even exploitative and abusive towards vulnerable students. While some of those interpretations may be true, they may not give us an in-depth understanding of this disturbing phenomenon that raises uncomfortable questions about who we are as a society and people. India, after all, has one of the highest rates of suicide amongst the youth in the world. It is the number one cause of death in the age group between 15 and 29 in our country. According to National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) latest report 13,892 students died by suicide in 2023, which shows a 65 per cent rise in the last decade.
The way suicide is reported in the media often makes it seem as if there were no antecedents or warnings. Nothing can be farther from the truth in a large majority of cases. Most often, a suicide attempt is a culmination of a series of erosive external and internal experiences, an act of desperation by a young person who has gone through months or even years of emotional turmoil that has, in most instances, gone unattended. The fact that we can’t pick up the many early signs is a disturbing reflection of our lack of awareness and sensitivity towards the emotional life of young people. And to top it all, the ones who survive an attempt are blamed and labelled attention seeking, self-centred and irresponsible.
Suicide prevention strategies, as understood by most stakeholders today, operates from a biomedical model; it banks upon availability of experts who will identify symptoms early, make timely diagnoses and treat them effectively before the disturbed youth spiral out of control. It assumes that problems reside within young people who need to be protected from their own selves and treated against their will if necessary. This approach goes hand in hand with increased vigilance including cameras and informants, mandatory reporting by counsellors whenever they sense risk of self-harm, exclusion of students from schools and colleges as soon as they are seen as high risk, punitive action against alleged abettors, and forced admission to psychiatric hospitals when the perceived danger rises.
In an attempt to stop or delay the final act of deliberate self-harm, the system denies young people their dignity, robs them of agency over their own lives which are already in jeopardy. It pushes them further away from the possibility of working collaboratively with caring adults who might help them regain trust in the crumbling societal structures around them. This model has failed in Western countries too where experts and structural resources for mental health are in plenty as compared to our own scanty and patchy facilities. For instance, in the US, despite having one of the largest budgets for mental health, the rates of suicide have risen steadily in the last two decades.
If we truly want to curb and control the alarming increase of suicidal behaviours and deaths in our young people, we need to turn our current approach on its head. We can no longer wait for such crises to explode before intervening, but must invest in deconstructing the trajectories that lead up to these tragic outcomes. We have to look into the intersections of society that contribute or disrupt the emotional well being and mental health of our children: Maternal health and attachment, accepting or excluding children who are wired differently, child protection and safe spaces at home and outside, awareness and prompt redressal of bullying in schools and playgrounds, diverse educational pathways that reduce stress and toxic competition, the digital space and social media, poverty and polarisation, othering of minorities and the marginalised, policing and the legal systems interacting with our youth.
We have to appeal to various stakeholders — parents, educators, policymakers, state departments and funders, doctors and mental health professionals — to establish the fact that the emotional well-being and mental health of our youth is quintessential for the sanity and survival of our society. And keep these concerns and conversations alive till they weave them into the fabric of their institutions.
Take the case of schools, since the current uproar is about how they are failing our children. They need to realise that students will do well if they feel emotionally safe, both academically and personally/socially. The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) emphasises a holistic and equitable education, opening up avenues of addressing neurodiversity, emotional health and inclusion. This can translate into a plethora of practical measures in the form of sensitising students, teachers and parents on mental-health matters, training mentors, creating emotionally safe spaces for students during challenging times, circle time in classrooms that are collaboratively curated by students and teachers, accepting and including children who are prone to be marginalised, foster care, compassion and collaboration as central values, and so on. Such an environment is more likely to nurture our young people’s zest to live and thrive.
The writer is co-founder and director, Children First