President Murmu expresses concern over students' suicide; asks institutions to provide stress-free environment

President of India while speaking during the Visitor’s conference being organised at Rashtrapati Bhavan said that this very Saturday a heart-wrenching incident of suicide has taken place at IIT Delhi

President of India Droupadi Murmu has expressed her concern over increasing cases of student suicide inside campuses of higher education institutions. This week an Indian Institute of Delhi student died by suicide.

President of India while speaking during the Visitor’s conference being organised at Rashtrapati Bhavan said that this very Saturday a heart-wrenching incident of suicide has taken place at IIT Delhi in which a 20-year-old student died by suicide. A final-year B.Tech student was found dead in his hostel room. The victim has been identified as Ayush Ashna, 20, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly.

Expressing her concern over such incidents, President said: “Such incidents have also happened in many other educational institutions. This is not limited to a particular institution. This is a matter of concern for the entire education sector.”

In the past few months, several cases of student suicide have been reported from various engineering colleges, particularly at older IITs, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi.
President said that it should be the priority of education institutions, to avoid a stress-free environment for students on the campus or in the hostel or anywhere in the institution.

“Institutions need to counsel students to avoid stress, providing more support should be the priority of educational institutions,” President Murmu said.

President added that many higher education institutions have established their name on the strength of their brilliant students. The National Education Policy 2020 has emphasized learner-centric education.

President said: “Learners should be at the centre of everyone's thoughts and activities.”