It is deeply worrying that an increasing number of students are suffering from mental health issues, which of late also saw a concurrent rise in suicides in Bangladesh. As a study by the non-profit Aachol Foundation found, at least 101 students at tertiary level died by suicide last year, while the number was 79 in 2020. This is in stark contrast to the 11 tertiary-level students who died by suicide in 2018, and 19 who died in 2017. Suicide is generally underreported, so the actual number could be higher. Although we still don't have the overall national suicide data of the past year, it is undeniable that the pandemic, with its multidimensional effects on life, has worsened people's mental health condition.

The government currently spends only 0.44 percent of the national budget on mental health. Worse, there are reportedly only 0.073 psychiatrists per 100,000 people in the country. It didn't also help that the Mental Health Act, 2018, which replaced the archaic Lunacy Act, failed to provide for the establishment of more area-specific mental healthcare centres. This means that most practitioners are still concentrated in major urban areas. Although private hospitals do provide relatively good services, they are often accessible to higher-income segments of the population only. 

Given the dire state of mental health services, and the stigma attached to mental health even in educated households, it's no surprise that the effects of the pandemic have further worsened the situation, leading to higher rates of suicide. Students, in particular, have been badly affected by the drastic shift in their educational systems and the soul-deep uncertainty over their future. Most affected among them were male students—two out of three victims of suicide were male in 2021—which again shows how men in our culture are discouraged from displaying emotions of sadness and distress. So while women may eventually seek professional help for their mental health issues, men often cannot. 

There is clearly an urgent need to invest more resources in getting our mental healthcare up to the mark, just as we need to prepare well for the ongoing surge in Covid cases. More expert practitioners need to be employed in the public sector so that help is more accessible for everyone. For struggling students, this means more targeted measures—not just by psychiatrists, but teachers, parents and academic administrators as well. There is also a need for awareness programmes to help people learn about mental health illnesses and eliminate the stigma surrounding them. Mental health issues may not be as visible as physical ailments, but their consequences are just as dangerous.