Pressure To Perform, Extreme Competition Burdens Students' Mental Health: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday said the "relentless pressure" to perform in a purely score-based education system and the "extreme competition" for limited seats in premier educational institutions put a "terrifying burden" on students' mental health.

Observation Made By The Bench

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan was aware of the increasing number of student suicides on college campuses and in higher education institutions when it stated that it was time to create comprehensive guidelines to counter the root causes leading to such students' suicides.

"Universities have to recognize their role not only as centres of learning but as institutions looking after the welfare and holistic development of their students," said the bench.

The court further stated, "The failure to do so would be to fail the very cause of education - to uplift, empower, and change lives." The bench directed a National Task Force (NTF) to address the issue of mental health among students and to avoid such incidents of suicides and stated the responsibility of the colleges was not only to secure academic excellence of the students but also their mental well-being.

Equally, the bench wanted them to not only wield authority and control over students but also counsel them in periods of crisis. The judiciary observed that the country had lost countless students -- young people who had an abundance of talent and could have become established professionals.

"Yet, because of the lack of proper institutional support, they were compelled to take the drastic measure of committing suicide. These tragic events not only point to systemic failures but also reflect a gross lack of institutional empathy and accountability on the part of educational institutions," it added.

When academic environments did not handle discrimination, harassment, and mental health issues properly, the court explained, they helped create a culture of neglect with devastating results.

Relying on certain cases of student suicides, the bench held that they were not isolated, sporadic events but were few among the countless which had occurred over some time due to a plethora of reasons such as ragging, academic pressure, caste discrimination, sexual harassment, etc.

As per the 210th report of the Law Commission of India, suicide was recognized as one of the most important causes of the untimely and unnatural end of human life. The bench observed that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report for 2021 puts into perspective the stark reality of more than 13,000 students having lost their lives by suicide in the nation, which is nearly double the already alarming figure from a decade ago.

As per the NCRB report titled student suicides comprised 7.6 percent of total suicides in India during 2022, with 1.2 percent of total suicides being due to professional or career issues while 1.2 percent due to examination failure.

News reports are claimed to have depicted caste-based discrimination as rampant and ubiquitous, even in elite educational institutions, adding to the feeling of alienation among students belonging to marginalised groups. "Caste-based discrimination in universities is a clear contravention of Article 15 of the Constitution, which prohibits discrimination based on caste, inter alia," it added.

The bench stated, "The constant pressure to excel in an education system that is purely score-based, along with the cutthroat competition for scarce seats in top educational institutions, imposes a ghastly load on the mental well-being of the students." The court stated the universities acted like a parent when a student traveled away from home and came to study on their campuses.

"According to the concept of 'loco parentis' when a student belonging to adolescence age or childhood is admitted to school by the parents, it is also the responsibility of the school authorities to act as parents in protecting the interest and well-being of the students," ruled the bench.

Former top court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat would be the NTF chairperson, and NTF would also consist of Dr Alok Sarin, consultant psychiatrist at Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi, as one of its members.

The bench asserted that the NTF has been constituted with people from various disciplines to have an interdisciplinary approach in addressing the issue of the commission of suicides in higher education institutions.

The bench instructed the Centre to pay Rs 20 lakh to the registry within two weeks as an expense for the NTF's preliminary operations. The instructions came on an appeal by the parents of two late students against a January 2024 order of the Delhi High Court that declined to order the police to register an FIR about the suicide by the two students.

It instructed Delhi Police to file an FIR on the grievances of the family members of two students who had committed suicide during their studies at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, in 2023.