NEW DELHI: As many as 25 students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNVs) died by suicide in the last five years, and most of them were from SC and ST categories, the Rajya Sabha was informed Wednesday.
While eight students from JNVs, which are central schools for talented students predominantly from rural areas of India, died by suicide in 2023, four were from Scheduled Castes category, the Rajya Sabha was informed Wednesday.
In a written reply, Minister of State for Education Annpurna Devi, said that in 2022, seven students from JNVs died by suicide, of which four were from the Scheduled Tribe category.
In 2019, six students took the extreme step, of which three were SC and two were ST students.
In 2020, two students died by suicide – one from OBC and the second from ST category. In 2021, two students took the extreme step. While one was an OBC student, the other was from the ST category.
The minister also said that as per Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), no incident of suicide by the student has been reported within the school campus.
She added that KVs have a provision to engage counsellors on contractual basis to address mental health issues of students.
There are 1,251 KVs and 653 JNVs functional across the country.
“Majority of the schools in the country fall in the purview of the state/UT governments. To address the issue of suicide, the government takes various preventive measures and provides psychological support to students, teachers and families for mental and emotional well-being to avoid incidences of suicide,” she added.