513 students died by suicide last year: Aachol Foundation
Last year, 513 students from schools, colleges, universities and madrasas died by suicide.
Aachol Foundation, a non-profit social organisation specialising in mental health awareness, used data collected from 105 national and local newspapers, and online portals to conduct a survey on cases of death by suicide among students. A similar survey conducted in the past revealed that there were 532 cases of suicide among students in 2022.
Among the total number of students who died by suicide in 2023, 227 were school students, 140 in college level, 98 were going to university and 48 were students at madrasas.
The survey found that just over 60 percent of students -- 309 individuals – who took their own lives were female.
It also found that teenagers are at an increased risk of taking their own lives, with 66.5 percent of those who died by suicide aged between 13 and 19 years old.
Among these teenagers, 65 percent were girls.
In terms of location, the highest number of student suicides were recorded in Dhaka division, at 149.
Among the 98 university students who died by suicide, 19 were students of various public universities.
The institutions that saw the highest number of student suicides were Dhaka University and Chittagong University, with five students from both these universities taking their own lives. The second highest number is from Jahangirnagar University, where three students died by suicide.
The survey showed that 26 cases of death by suicide were from national universities, 14 happened in private universities, seven were from science and technology universities, six from medical colleges, five from nursing institutes, two from polytechnic institutes, three from engineering universities, one case took place in an agricultural university, and 15 were from other institutions.
According to the survey, the leading cause of suicide among students at 32.2 percent was "obhiman" -- a Bangla word which can be roughly translated to "emotional hurt" or "wounded pride". Other leading causes include romantic complications (14.8 percent), mental problems (9.9 percent), family conflicts (6.2 percent), and being victims of domestic abuse (1.4 percent).
Academic pressure was the reason behind the suicide of 4.5 percent of students, with 3.5 percent taking their own lives due to failure in exams, and 1.8 percent doing so after failing to secure desired results in public exams, the survey showed.
Other than these, 2.5 percent of suicide cases were caused by sexual harassment, and 0.8 percent due to humiliation.
Aachol Foundation revealed these insights through a press release sent to the media today.
It made several proposals to reduce the number of suicides among students, including monthly mental health screenings, fostering mentor-mentee relationships for every student, training teachers on mental health related matters, breaking the taboo around mental health discussions, spreading awareness about suicide warning signs, bringing mental healthcare within the scope of insurance, etc.