Mumbai: IIT-Bombay student Sahil Wakode’s death has renewed questions about how educational institutions respond to student distress and highlighted a troubling national trend: while India’s suicide rate marginally declined from 12.3 to 12.2 per lakh population, student suicides rose from 13,891 in 2023 to 14,448 in 2024.While it is easy to blame “exam pressure”, experts cautioned against such a narrow focus. In a recent commentary in The Lancet Regional Health—Southeast Asia, researchers cited National Crime Records Bureau data to underline that exam-related stress isn’t the main cause of suicide among students. For instance, among those below 18, exam failure accounted for 9.6% of suicides in 2024, compared with family problems (27.7%), illness (12%), love affairs (14.9%) and other causes (17.7%). In the 18-29 age group, it accounted for just 1.6% of suicides; family problems (33.2%), illness (12.8%) and love affairs (8.9%) were more prominent. “Reducing student suicide to ‘exam stress’ risks obscuring the complexity of vulnerability and may inadvertently limit the scope of prevention strategies,” the researchers wrote.Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty wants govt to adopt ‘psychological autopsies’ to understand the circumstances preceding suicides. “Psychological autopsies have been conducted across the world, including in the Indian armed forces. The process involves reconstructing the life and circumstances of a person who died by suicide,” said Dr Shetty, who had written to then CM Eknath Shinde in 2023.Psychological autopsies would involve reviewing social media activity, speaking to friends and family, examining phone call patterns, tracking physical and mental health over time, and reviewing classroom attendance and behaviour. “The objective is not merely to understand an individual death but to also identify preventable factors and develop population-level interventions,” said Dr Shetty.Shetty also called for a shift from a moral compass to a mental health compass in dealing with student misconduct. “Humiliating students or their parents can aggravate distress and trigger further conflict at home. The emphasis must be on repair and reform, not on punishing or breaking a child,” he said, advocating counselling and proportionate, compassionate corrective action.Psychiatrist Dr Milan Balakrishnan of Masina Hospital said elite institutions can become an “academic pressure cooker”, where lifelong high achievers find themselves competing with equally accomplished peers. “Their self-esteem has always been linked to academic performance, and other avenues are not so visible to them. Perfectionism is a strong trait which makes them feel failure is unbearable.”Psychiatrist Dr Bharat Shah of Lilavati Hospital said academic achievement remains deeply tied to family aspirations. “Any event that could affect their aspirations can have an impact on them,’’ he said, adding that while suicide is talked about as a social issue, “individual vulnerability” is an important factor too.For students moving to Mumbai from smaller cities, adjusting to a new environment can add to the strain, said psychiatrist Dr Avinash Desousa. “Despite its cosmopolitan character, Mumbai can be isolating for newcomers who lack peer networks, family support or someone to confide in,” he said, adding that friends can provide an important support system during adolescence. He called for regular mental health checkups, accessible counselling and year-round engagement with students, rather than one-off awareness campaigns.
