In 2021, India recorded 13,089 student suicides — the highest figure the NCRB has ever published. That is 35 students per day. One student every 40 minutes. The number for 2022 was 13,044. The number for 2023, released in late 2024, showed no meaningful decline. This is a public health emergency dressed in statistics — and it is receiving roughly the political attention that the number 35 receives when it is not attached to a name.
The Kota Phenomenon
Kota, a city in Rajasthan, hosts India's most concentrated coaching industry. An estimated 1.5–2 lakh students live in Kota's hostels and paying-guest accommodations each year, preparing for JEE (engineering) and NEET (medical) entrance examinations. The city has become synonymous with both aspiration and despair.
In 2023, 26 students died by suicide in Kota. The local administration installed "anti-suicide nets" in hostel buildings — a physical intervention that addresses the method of despair without touching its cause. The cause is a system that funnels hundreds of thousands of young people toward a handful of seats (approximately 16,000 at IITs; 100,000 MBBS seats for 2.4 million NEET applicants) and constructs the entire identity of the students around whether they reach those seats.
What the Data Shows
NCRB categorises student suicides by cause. The leading reported reasons are: "failure in examination," "family problems," "illness," and "other." "Failure in examination" is particularly significant — it encompasses not just students who failed, but students who perceived their performance as below expectation. In a system where a difference of five marks can determine whether you enter a government medical college or spend another year preparing (and another ₹5–10 lakh in coaching fees), the psychological stakes of each examination are not metaphorically heavy. They are literally life-and-death.
The Policy Gap
The National Education Policy 2020 articulated a vision of reduced examination pressure, multiple assessment pathways, and holistic development. The implementation — particularly the reforms to board examinations and entrance testing — has been delayed, partial, and in the case of CUET (the Common University Entrance Test), has created new examination pressure on top of existing board exam pressure.
Mental health support infrastructure in Indian schools and colleges is negligible. The University Grants Commission has issued advisory guidelines on student mental health. Advisories are not resources. Resources are what schools and colleges — particularly in tier 2 and tier 3 cities — do not have.
Thirty-five students per day. Every number in this article is a person. India needs to decide whether it is going to govern for the numbers or for the people the numbers represent.