33 IIT students died by suicide in last 5 years, says Ministry of Education

As per Ministry of Education data, as many as 33 IIT students died by suicide in the last 5 years due to academic stress, personal reasons, family reasons, mental health issues etc. The data presented in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday stated that in total 61 cases were registered during this period from NITs, IIM, and IITs, of which over half the cases were from IITs.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education presented data in Rajya Sabha that stated that thirty-three students have died by suicide across the Institutes of Technology (IITs) since 2018.

As per the data presented, in total, the IITs, National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) registered 61 suicide cases during this period. However, the IITs accounted for over half of the suicides, followed by the NITs (24) and IIMs (4), as reported by Indian Express.

The highest number of suicides was recorded in the years 2019 and 2022. In 2018, 11 such incidents were recorded, while five in 2020 and seven in 2021 occurred when institutions were closed or classes were being conducted online. According to statistics, there have been six suicides so far this year.

The latest is a third-year student at IIT Madras died by suicide on Tuesday, the second such death on the campus in just over a month. It is not clear if the government has included this latest suicide case in its data or not. Also, last month, a second-year research scholar ended his life at the IIT Madras campus, while a first-year student of chemical engineering died by suicide at IIT Bombay.

Read more:

• IIT Madras constitutes Inquiry Committee to look into suicide incidents on campus
• IIT Madras students demand details of Suicide inquiry committee