INDIA'S EDUCATION ( A CULTURAL GENOCIDE)

Chapter 7 Schools kill

In 2016 the number of suicides in India was 230,314. Suicide was the most common cause of death in both the age groups of 15–29 years and 15–39 years.

About 800,000 people die by suicide worldwide every year, of these 135,000 (17%) are residents of India, a nation with 17.5% of the world population. Between 1987 and 2007, the suicide rate increased from 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000, with higher suicide rates in the southern and eastern states of India. In 2012, Tamil Nadu (12.5% of all suicides), Maharashtra (11.9%), and West Bengal (11.0%) had the highest proportion of suicides. Among large population states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala had the highest suicide rates per 100,000 people in 2012. The male to female suicide ratio has been about 2:1.

Estimates for the number of suicides in India vary. For example, a study published in The Lancet projected 187,000 suicides in India in 2010, while official data by the Government of India claims 134,600 suicides in the same year.

According to WHO data, the age-standardized suicide rate in India is 16.4 per 100,000 for women (6th highest in the world) and 25.8 for men (ranking 22nd). In 2012, 89% of the suicide victims were literate, higher than the national average literacy rate of 74%.

According to 2015 data from the National Crime Records Bureau, 8,934 students are committing suicide every year. That's one student every hour. Despite being one of the most advanced states in India, Maharashtra has the highest number of student suicides with 1230 of the 8930 suicides occurring here (14%) and Tamil Nadu has the second highest with 955 of the 8934 suicides (10%).

Every hour one student commits suicide in India, with about 28 such suicides reported every day, according to data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The NCRB data shows that 10,159 students died by suicide in 2018, an increase from 9,905 in 2017, and 9,478 in 2016.

Conversations with counselors revealed that young people find it difficult to cope with failure in examinations and careers and neither families nor other social institutions offer adequate support or solace. Professional help is difficult to find because India endures an 87% shortage of mental-health professionals. The situation is exacerbated by low public spending on mental health — India spends less than Bangladesh on mental health services.

India does not spend enough on mental health. Currently, it spends 0.06% of its health budget on mental health, which is less than Bangladesh (0.44%). Most developed nations spend above 4% of their budgets on mental-health research, infrastructure, frameworks, and talent pool, according to a 2011 World Health Organisation (WHO) report the remedy lies in raising awareness about mental health in schools and colleges, said experts. "Mental health and wellness should be added to school curriculum. Only when children know about these disorders in their formative years will they be able to seek help," said Satyakant Trivedi, a psychiatrist, in an India Today article.

Enfold's Saldanha had similar solutions, although she emphasized the need for better parenting during emotional crises. "There should be sexuality and life skills education in schools and colleges," she said. "Additionally, since parents play a major role, there should be parenting classes when people get their marriages registered."

Universities in India still lack counseling centers, where trained counselors and psychologists can assist students at the onset of emotional and mental problems so they do not spiral into full-fledged clinical depression and lead to suicide. India, as we said, faces an 87% shortage of mental-health professionals. There are 3,800 psychiatrists, 898 clinical psychologists, 850 psychiatric social workers, and 1,500 psychiatric nurses nationwide, according to a reply by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the Lok Sabha in December 2015.

This means there were three psychiatrists per million people, according to data from WHO, 95% fewer than the Commonwealth norm of 5.6 psychiatrists per 100,000 people. By this estimate, India is short of 66,200 psychiatrists. According to a 2012 Lancet report, suicide rates in India are highest in the 15-29 age group — the youth population. The report says that among men, 40% of suicides were by individuals aged 15-29, while for women it was almost 60%.