In the film 'Three Idiots', actor Ali Fazal played the role of a student who is unable to complete his project on time. He is failed and later commits suicide.
This film, released in the year 2009, had made a question a part of common conversation, when the pressure on promising youth to succeed increases so much, then how do they cope with it?
It has been more than 15 years since the film came out. But the question of student suicide still remains.
Earlier this year, in the case of 'Amit Kumar and others vs Government of India', the Supreme Court said that the cases of suicide of students in the country had doubled in a decade and reached about 13 thousand by 2022.
On September 18, the body of a second year student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering of IIT Bombay was found in his room. After this, students demonstrated in the campus and demanded transparency in the education system and safety of students.
The student's family alleged that because he was a Dalit, teachers discriminated against him and he was pushed towards suicide.
The administration of the institute has denied the allegation of discrimination. Things related to alleged cheating have also come to light in the examination. Police investigation into the matter is ongoing, so it would be too early to draw any conclusions on the cause of the student's death.
But this incident has again raised a big question. What is happening with the mental health of students studying in the most prestigious educational institutions of the country?
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(Suicide is a serious mental and social problem. If you are also under stress, you can take help on the Jeevan Aastha helpline of the Government of India 18002333330. You should also talk to your friends and relatives.)
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The interim report of the National Task Force set up by the Supreme Court on mental health of students and prevention of suicide says that student suicide cannot be understood only as a mental health issue.
According to the report, the environment around the student, the system of the institution and the social and economic pressure exerted on him will also have to be considered.
In the same report, a study of 2025 by researcher Prabhakar Krishnamurthy is mentioned.
According to the study presented in the programme, the dropout rate of SC and ST students at IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur was 318 percent higher than that of general category students. Financial problems were a reason for 47.6 percent of cases of reserved category students leaving studies.
There are also questions on the provision of help in the task force report. According to the UGC data mentioned in the programme, there were 27,136 people registered in higher education institutions who were said to have been appointed for counselling.
An average of one for every 221 students. But out of the 50 people whose qualifications were checked by the task force, 47 were teachers, placement staff or study advisors. He was not a trained mental health specialist.
According to the report, more than 70 percent of the institutions did not have any full-time specialist for mental health. Less than four percent of institutions had established procedures to deal with suicide risk. Of the 23 IITs, only four had written procedures for mental health emergencies.
To understand these figures and the experiences of the students, Mukesh Sharma, Director of Journalism of Collective Newsroom, spoke to three people in BBC Hindi's special program 'The Lens'.
These include Dr. Pranab Jeevan, an alumnus of IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay; Rajeev Kumar, professor of computer science at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, BITS Pilani and Jawaharlal Nehru University; And clinical psychologist Dr. Aruna Bruta was also present.
What might caste discrimination look like in IITs?
Students reach IIT after clearing the same tough entrance exam. Then how can caste discrimination emerge there?
When asked this question, Dr. Pranav Jeevan said that in his experience discrimination often occurs in ways that may be difficult to immediately recognize from the outside. There are also incidents of open discrimination, but according to him they are less.
Dr Pranav said that for a student coming from a reserved category, especially if he is the first person from his family to reach such an institution, the new environment can be intimidating.
He said, "At such a time, he expects support. But if he does not see any teacher from SC, ST or OBC community in his department, then the feeling of being alone can increase further."
According to him, "Some students hear taunts in their own class or around about those who take admission from reservation. Like they will not be good in studies, will fail or will get a job easily. Dr. Pranav said that others may find these things funny, but hearing them repeatedly has an impact on the students."
He also explains the difference in the way failure in studies is viewed. According to him, if a student from the general category fails, it is considered his own failure, but if a student from the reserved category fails, then some people start forming opinions about his entire caste or community.
Due to this, the student is not under pressure just to pass the exam. He may also be worried that his own failure will be attributed to his entire community.
Does every student arrive with the same preparation and support?
In IIT there is talk of 'merit' i.e. qualification. But can the complete preparation of a student be understood only by the marks obtained in the examination?
On this question, Dr. Pranav said that some students come from families where they already have experience of higher education. They get advice from family, acquaintances who have studied coaching or senior students present in the institute. Which subject to study, how to do the assignment or which teacher to talk to.
He said that not all students have such a network. After reaching IIT, some get introduced for the first time to things which other students already know.
Dr. Pranav mentioned what was said by the family of IIT Bombay student Darshan Solanki after his death in 2023.
According to him, the family had told that Darshan had no experience of using computers before coming to the institute and other students used to tease him about it.
Dr. Pranav said that the opportunities and information received earlier are often considered to be only a person's own ability.
He also raised the question of recruitment of teachers. According to him, when SC, ST or OBC applicants are not selected on the grounds that they are 'not suitable', it should also be asked how much is the participation of different communities in the selection process and how is its fairness observed. This is his question and his opinion on the recruitment process.
Whom should students talk to if they have problems?
Can a student ask for help without fear of being considered weak or unworthy of study?
Dr. Pranav said that some students from the reserved category are afraid to even tell about their community.
According to them, if they have seen other students being ridiculed on this basis, they may hesitate to open up about themselves or ask for help from their peers. He also raised questions on the counseling system.
Referring to a social media post by a counselor at IIT Bombay, he said that if a student feels that the person providing help views his admission or eligibility with suspicion, then how will he approach him? A separate investigation into this claim was not presented in the programme.
Dr. Pranab also raised questions on the institutional system that listens to the complaints of SC-ST students.
He alleged that in some cases, students who complain are asked not to pursue the matter further.
Referring to a 2021 incident involving a teacher at IIT Kharagpur, he asked that if action is not taken in any case brought to the notice of students, then how will other students have the confidence to complain.
These are the allegations and experiences of Dr. Pranav. The side of any concerned institution was not included in their response to the conversation.
Why does the study pressure change after admission?
Former professor Rajiv Kumar said that there is a big difference between the preparation for the entrance exam of IIT and the study after admission there.
He told that in preparation for the entrance examination, students practice solving questions quickly. Once they reach IIT, they have to contend with classes, assignments, projects and constant assessments. From the second year onwards, when students progress in the study of their chosen subject, this change becomes more clearly visible.
According to Rajiv Kumar, "It is not only the student's responsibility to adapt to the new environment. Family and teachers also have a role in this. That is why orientation programs are held in IITs for new students, so that they can understand the way of studying and living in the institute.
Do teachers pay attention if a student is not attending class or shows a sudden decline in his/her studies?
On this question, Rajeev Kumar said that in his experience, teacher, faculty advisor and hostel warden have different responsibilities.
He told that he used to try to talk to any student if he was continuously missing from class or was facing problems in his studies. If necessary, the student's advisor was also contacted.
On the question of cheating in exams, he said that the institutes take it seriously and the rules are told to the students in advance.
Regarding the case of death of a student in IIT Bombay, he clarified that he got information about the incident from the media.
He said that poor performance in any one exam does not determine a student's overall education, as marks in IIT are made up of multiple exams, assignments and projects.
What did the expert say on 'caste discrimination'?
Rajiv Kumar's opinion on caste discrimination was different from Dr. Pranab.
Rajiv Kumar said that in his experience as a student and teacher in IIT, there was no discrimination on the basis of caste.
However, he acknowledged that there are other types of discrimination among students. For example, what was one's rank in the entrance exam and did he get a subject like Computer Science or any other subject.
When asked whether a student's social background can be judged from rank, he said that institutes ask students not to ask each other's rank.
However, he also said that he did not know to what extent this was accepted.
According to Rajiv Kumar, as a teacher he did not have information about the caste of any student.
On the other hand, Dr. Pranav said that students can also feel discrimination from the comments of peers, teachers and staff. This is an important difference between the experiences of both.
Both had different opinions even on the small number of SC and ST teachers.
Rajeev Kumar admitted that their numbers were small, but stressed on the difficult process of teacher recruitment in IITs. Dr. Pranav raised the question that the process of determining eligibility should also be looked at and it should be understood what kind of support the applicants have received to reach here.
On the complaint mechanism, Rajeev Kumar said that students can talk to the teacher, counselor or warden. He does not consider the route of formal complaint useful.
On this he was asked that if a student gets help only if he finds a good teacher, then what will happen to those students who do not find such a person. Rajeev Kumar said that there are many ways to express one's views in the institute.
'Everywhere there are students who come first'
According to clinical psychologist Dr. Aruna Bruta, the pressure to be at the forefront can begin long before admission to college.
He said that when parents give too much importance to good performance since childhood and taunt the child for getting low marks, the child starts feeling pressure from a young age.
Dr Bruta gave the example of a student. The student used to come to her school earlier. After reaching the prestigious institute, he felt that there were students before, behind and around him who had come earlier. She was not able to understand how she would remain at the forefront now.
According to Dr. Bruta, "In such a situation, the student may also forget that his desire to always come first was his own in the beginning or he was so influenced by the expectations of the family that he started considering it as his wish."
When asked why a student struggling with academics might be reluctant to seek help, Dr. Bruta said that parents and teachers should first understand how the student is feeling and what he or she can do.
On the impact of discrimination, he said that it can create a feeling of insecurity and inferiority in the student. He also said that it is not right to consider discrimination limited to only hidden or mild forms, sometimes it also comes out openly.
His opinion was that students should also have the opportunity to talk to a mental health expert regularly.
He emphasized that merely creating a post for counseling is not enough. According to him, to understand a student's point, a conversation of half an hour to an hour and several repeated meetings may be required. Therefore, it is important to have adequate trained people in the institutions.
After all, whose responsibility is it to help?
In the conversation with 'The Lens', the three guests were not unanimous on the extent of caste discrimination in institutions like IITs or how effective a way it is to file a complaint.
Dr. Pranav raised questions that if a student does not get confidence from his classmates, teacher or counselor, then to whom will he express his problems.
Professor Rajeev Kumar said that teacher advisors, wardens and counseling services are available in the institutions and students should also come forward to talk.
While Dr Bruta stressed that there should be enough trained experts to listen to the students and parents and teachers also have to pay attention to their behaviour.
Amidst these different answers, the same question that started the conversation remains.
When a student is struggling with academics, expectations, financial hardships, or experiences of discrimination, is there an avenue where they can express themselves without fear and where they are heard before the crisis worsens?
