A LACK of initiatives to arrest student suicide is deplorable. When a few hundred students commit suicides and many more attempt it every year, it is worrying that authorities and educational institutions fail to take programmes that could contain such incidents. A report by the Aachol Foundation says that at least 310 students committed suicide in 2024. The report is believed not to be comprehensive as many incidents of suicide go unreported. The report says that 59 per cent of them were schoolchildren, 29.54 per cent college students and 9.09 per cent university students while about 61 per cent of the deceased were female. The report, prepared based on media reports, mentions that the highest number of suicides was committed by people aged 13鈥�19, which accounts for 65.7 per cent of the total suicide case while suicide tendency increased among students aged under 12, which is 7.4 per cent, in 2024. The highest number of student suicide was recorded in the Dhaka division, which is 29 per cent. The report says that most incidents of student suicide are linked to depression caused by uncontrolled emotion and fragile mental stability. The other reason it listed include emotional issues, academic pressure, loneliness, family disputes and bullying.
Student suicide has for some years become a major cause for concern. At least 513 students committed suicide in 2023 and 532 in 2022. The alarming rate of student suicide suggests that mental health issues of students are largely ignored. Psychologists and psychiatrists say that there is a serious lack of programmes to support students suffering from mental health problems and at suicide risk. Mental health experts have for long urged the government and educational institutions to hold counselling. The government, which announced that counsellors would be appointed to educational institutions, has not been able to do anything as yet. The government also announced that multi-sector programmes would be taken up to address mental health issues, but nothing pragmatic has been initiated. The situation is no better among adults, too, as around 10,000鈥�15,000 people commit suicide every year. The government adopted the National Mental Health Strategy 2020鈥�2030 and the National Mental Health Policy in 2022, but their implementation has yet to begin. What is concerning is that when a complex issue such as suicide requires support at institutional, societal and family levels, it appears that there is neither institutional nor societal or family support. Health facilities in districts and upazilas are not also equipped to help and handle people at risk of suicide.
The government should, therefore, implement relevant strategies and policies. The authorities should also begin counselling facilities in educational institutions to ensure students鈥� well-being, with a special emphasis on mental health. Families also have a big role to play in helping students to deal with their emotional issues and academic pressure. The authorities should also initiate telehealth programmes to respond to students and people鈥檚 psychological concern, allocate resources for health facilities in districts and upazilas and train community health workers so that they can respond to mental health emergencies.
