Exam failure suicides and policy initiatives in India

Suicide is an important indicator of social, economic and mental health of a society. Similarly suicide due to exam stress and failure reflect the educational structure of the country.

Suicide due to exam failure by young people has been noted more frequently in Asian countries compared to Western countries.

In Asia, academic excellence is held in high esteem and is viewed as a means of ensuring a successful future. Suicides due to exam failure was 12.9% of all suicides in Korea and 5% in Iran.^1,2 A study from Bangladesh found that 25% of students attempted suicide before they were to write entrance exams to university.³ However, a recent study from Sri Lanka did not find a strong correlation between exams and suicides.⁴

India reported 1, 70,924 suicides in 2022, out of which 7.6% were by students and 2248 suicide deaths were attributed to exam failure.⁵

Multiple factors play a role in exam failure suicides. The individual factors are low self-esteem, high expectation, impulsivity, history of physical or sexual abuse, learning and intellectual disability.

Over-anxious and over-ambitious parents, dysfunctional family, criticisms, comparisons with peers and lack of support in the family, alcoholism, violence, psychological and economic problems in the family increases suicidal risk.

A system of education which emphasizes on scoring marks, one-point evaluation, pressure on the teachers from administration and parents to obtain 100% pass percentage and lack of career guidance and counseling in schools are contributing factors.

There is enormous competition to gain admission into colleges and the media hype around the results, the shame associated with failure push adolescents to suicide. Months of pent-up emotions in a highly emotionally wrought state results in suicide due to exam failure.

Every year two major exams, referred to as public or board exams, are conducted—one at the end of the 10th grade and the other at the end of the 12th grade in India.

SNEHA is an NGO working as a suicide prevention centre in Chennai, India. There was a fourfold increase in calls and visits from suicidal students in the month of May when results of the public exams are announced. An exploratory assessment revealed that students who failed in one or two subjects were the ones who died by suicide. Public debates, media articles, press releases were issued and parent association meetings were organized.

This proactive stance by SNEHA and the enormous media support created a tremendous public response. The government was approached and it issued a government order in 2003 by which students who had failed could re-write their exams (supplementary exams) and pursue their studies without losing an academic year.

The Tamil Nadu Government was the first state government in India to introduce the supplementary exam.⁶ After the introduction of the supplementary exams there has been a reduction in exam failure suicides by 70% in Tamil Nadu and 82% in Chennai (Table 1).

Table 1.

Exam failure and suicide in Tamil Nadu and Chennai.

Year	Chennai			Tamil Nadu
	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
2004	20	18	38	245	162	407
2005	30	24	54	159	155	314
2006	15	25	40	99	127	226
2007	32	23	55	115	134	249
2008	18	44	62	140	264	404
2009	12	34	46	107	223	330
2010	14	9	23	116	124	240
2011	24	16	40	118	105	223
2012	2	1	3	114	124	238
2013	20	12	32	162	115	277
2014	7	8	15	134	113	247
2015	4	3	7	177	145	322
2016	8	6	14	142	116	258
2017	24	26	50	97	81	178
2018	4	7	11	102	107	209
2019	20	15	35	115	100	215
2020	5	2	7	49	34	83
2021	4	2	6	61	41	102
2022	4	3	7	49	72	121

(Source: NCRB)

Many states followed suit and have introduced supplementary exams. In 2023, 127,622 students appeared for the supplementary exam and 60,551 (40%) of them passed.⁷ This provision of a second chance to the failed candidates has saved many young lives.

There has been increasing awareness about students’ suicides and many helplines have been initiated. India launched its National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS) on November 21, 2022. One of the actions suggested is that the stress of examinations be reduced by introducing supplementary examinations at all levels.⁸

Exam failure suicides show a decreasing trend and account for only 1% of suicides in 2022 when compared to 2% in the previous decade.⁵

Exam failure suicides has declined but suicides following failures in entrance exams reveal an alarming increase. Millions of students write highly competitive exams to gain admission to professional courses in prestigious colleges where seats are limited in number. This has led to a mushrooming of coaching hubs and “dummy schools”. “Dummy schools” are schools where it is not mandatory to attend school regularly. They tie up with coaching centres and prepare the students for competitive entrance exams. Over 200,000 students arrive in Kota, Rajasthan every year to enroll in over 300 coaching centres and Kota has become a coaching hub. The intense competition, punishing study schedule, parental pressure and lack of recreational and leisure activities probably resulted in 29 suicides in Kota in 2023.⁹

The Government of India has introduced a New Education Policy¹⁰ (NEP) which aims to reform the educational system and make both school and college education more holistic and multidisciplinary with a vision of a progressive, flexible and inclusive education system. It is expected that a grading system of marks and multiple opportunities to write an exam will be introduced.

Unfortunately, whether it is the NEP or the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, both remain largely on paper and few recommendations have been implemented. The federal nature of the Indian democracy means that the Central government is dependent on State governments to provide last mile implementation including staffing and premises. With neither the requisite push from the Centre, nor the requisite pull from the States, the final casualty are students who continue to take their lives over exam failures. The time to act for India is now.

Declaration of interests

Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar is founder and managing trustee of SNEHA. She was a member of the Task force and authored the first draft of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.