DE Online Desk
The shocking information was disclosed in a virtual press conference organised by the private organization Anchal Foundation on Saturday.
The predominant factors leading students down the path of suicide were identified as vanity and love.
This revelation brings attention to the complex emotional struggles that young individuals face in their academic journeys.
The press conference, titled ‘Student Suicide in 2023: Now is the Time to Act,’ stressed the need for immediate and comprehensive measures to address this growing crisis.
The statistics indicate a marginal decrease in the overall student suicide rate compared to the previous year, with 532 recorded cases in 2022.
However, the alarming figure of 513 suicides in 2023 demands urgent attention and intervention. The victims belonged to various educational institutions, with 44 percent being school students, 27 percent college students, 19 percent university students, and over 9 percent madrasa students.
Dhaka Division emerged as the epicenter of this distressing trend, with 149 students taking their own lives. Anchal Foundation attributes this to emotional factors such as pride and love relationships, accounting for 47 percent of the suicides.
Besides, a significant 67 percent of the victims were aged between 13 and 19 years, highlighting the vulnerability of young students to mental health challenges.
The data further reveals that 19 of the students who committed suicide in 2023 were from public universities, with Dhaka University and Chittagong University recording the highest numbers. The Anchal Foundation emphasized that pride was the leading cause behind these suicides, accounting for more than 32 percent. Other contributing factors included love affairs (15 percent), mental health problems (10 percent), family quarrels (6 percent), domestic violence (over 1 percent), academic pressure (5 percent), failure in exams (4 percent), sexual harassment (3 percent), and humiliation (1 percent).
Speakers at the conference pointed out that the prevalence of suicide tendencies among young students may be linked to societal attitudes, particularly negative perceptions towards women. Lack of confidence in expressing emotions may further contribute to this alarming trend.
The Anchal Foundation advocates for the inclusion of emotional control skills in educational curricula, starting from school to university levels.
They emphasised the importance of enhancing social skills to prevent students from feeling isolated and recommend the teaching of patience as a crucial life skill.
The rising number of student suicides in 2023 is a distressing reality that demands immediate attention from educators, policymakers, and society as a whole. Efforts to address the root causes, including pride, and to foster emotional resilience and support systems, must be prioritized to prevent further loss of young lives.
