Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke speaks while holding a photo of 23-year-old NEET aspirant Ria, who allegedly died by suicide in Dehradun, during a hunger strike demanding action over alleged irregularities in examinations and seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on July 05, 2026.
| Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP
With the protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party and different student groups demanding Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over NEET paper leaks and student suicides capturing the nation’s attention, data paints a stark picture. The numbers emphasise the need to take the pressures faced by Indian students seriously.
More than a dozen students died by suicide in the weeks following the cancellation. This triggered activist Sonam Wangchuk’s fast and student protests in Delhi, demanding accountability. The protests reflected the anger over repeated cases of paper leaks and other systemic failures affecting students.
Sharp increase in student suicides
The number of student suicides increased by about 80% from 8,068 in 2014 to 14,488 in 2024, the latest year for which the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has been published.
This means, on an average, 40 students died by suicide in India every day in 2024. Over 1.23 lakh students ended their lives between 2014 and 2024.
The Ministry of Education stated in Parliament that suicides among students are driven by various causes working mostly in conjunction and at times in isolation. These mainly include academic stress, besides other factors like family reasons, mental health issues, financial distress and interpersonal conflicts.
One-fifth of deaths due to failure in examination
The ADSI reports capture “failure in examination” as a distinct category of reason for suicides. When taken together, suicides for which “failure in examination” was the primary reason accounted for 21%, or more than one-fifth, of the total number of student suicides between 2014 and 2024.
Over 2,000 students died every year because of failure in examination, with 2021 being the only exception. Cumulatively, over 25,000 students died by suicide due to failure in examination between 2014 and 2024, of which 55% were under 18 years and another 42% between 18 and 30 years of age.
A State-wise look at the data shows that Maharashtra alone recorded more than 17,000 cases of student suicides between 2014 and 2024. Other States which saw high numbers of student suicides include Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
Several of these States have also recorded more than a thousand cases of suicide due to failure in examination. Maharashtra in particular recorded over 4,200 such cases between 2014 and 2024 — roughly translating to 382 students dying each year in the State due to failure in examination.
While suicides due to examination failure accounted for about 21% of all student suicides nationally, the share was considerably higher in States like Jharkhand, Tripura, Karnataka, Bihar and Gujarat.
The Ministry of Education told Parliament during the ongoing session that its Manodarpan helpline, launched in July 2020 with the intention of provide psychosocial support to students, has received more than 3.32 lakh calls from different regions as of March 2026.
Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the Tele-MANAS 14416 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.
Published – July 24, 2026 08:00 am IST