Gaurav Gogoi raises concern over student suicides after IIT Delhi student’s death

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has raised concerns over the rising incidence of student suicides in higher educational institutions, saying the recent death of an IIT Delhi student has exposed a wider systemic crisis of student distress in India.

In a post on X, Gogoi said the recent death at IIT Delhi should prompt institutions and authorities to examine the structural factors contributing to student distress.

Citing media reports, he claimed that it was the eighth student suicide at IIT Delhi in the past 30 months, including two students from the Scheduled Caste community.

Gogoi also cited National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, saying 14,488 student suicides were recorded in 2024, of which 2,032 were attributed to examination failure.

He referred to observations by the Supreme Court, which has described the increasing incidence of student suicides as a “suicide epidemic” and highlighted multiple factors contributing to student distress, including academic pressure, caste discrimination, financial difficulties, sexual harassment, examination failure and ragging.

Gogoi further referred to the National Task Force constituted by the Supreme Court, which, he said, had warned that student suicides were only the “tip of the iceberg” of a much larger crisis.

 

According to Gogoi, the task force had also criticised educational institutions for treating suicide as an individual issue instead of addressing structural shortcomings within the institutions.

He said existing interventions to address student distress remained largely generic and reactive, with inadequate accountability and weak implementation.

“Even after years of reports, UGC regulations, government strategies, and SC guidelines, we continue to lose our students,” Gogoi said, questioning how many more lives would be lost before the crisis was addressed comprehensively.

The issue has gained renewed attention following the death of a 31-year-old MSc Physics student at IIT Delhi on August 22. The incident triggered protests on the campus, with students demanding an independent inquiry and greater institutional accountability.