Will The New Education Policy Slow Down Rising Student Suicide?

After the announcement of the new education policy, the Central government is claiming that this will reduce the pressure on students. It is too early to gauge its effect, but statistics show that the number of students who commit suicide is increasing year after year in the country.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau i.e. NCRB, in 2018, about 27 children committed suicide every day. In simple words, every hour more than one student took their life. According to the data, 9,478 students committed suicide in the year 2016, which increased to 9,905 in 2017 and in 2018, the figure of suicide reached 10,159.

These figures show that suicide cases have increased rapidly in many states. For example, in Tamil Nadu, 810 students took their lives in 2017, but in the next year 2018, this figure increased to 934. Similarly in Uttar Pradesh, 436 students committed suicide in 2017, which increased to 513 in 2018. In Odisha, 361 students gave their lives in the year 2017 and in 2018 the figure reached 501. In Jharkhand, 299 students took their lives in 2017 and in 2018 360 students laid down their lives. In Chhattisgarh, 524 students committed suicide, then the next year, this figure was 603. In Maharashtra, 1437 students committed suicide and in 2018 the figure reached 1448. Maharashtra has the most students in the country who took their lives.

It is a matter of relief that suicide incidents have also reduced in some states. For example, in Madhya Pradesh, the figure has reduced from 953 to 862 in 2017. Similarly, in Telangana 504 children gave their lives in 2017 and in 2018 this figure has come down to 428.

It is obvious that a large number of people are taking their lives in the country and in such a situation, everyone’s eye on the new education policy is whether it will bring down the death toll of the nation’s young.