You notice the student who drifts through the day like a ghost: skipping the cafeteria rush, avoiding group chats, scrolling alone at 2 a.m. From a distance, it looks like solitude. Up close, it is often a quiet signal that something is breaking inside.

The cost of ignoring those signals is stark. A recent multi-state survey shows that one in ten Indian students reported suicidal thoughts in the past year; more than five per cent attempted suicide, according to NCRB 2024 data. These are not just statistics; they are alarms.

Even our vocabulary shapes how we respond. To say someone “committed suicide" frames it as a crime. To say someone “died by suicide" reframes it as a human crisis. The difference matters. Prevention begins in language, which means blame must be replaced with empathy.

For students, empathy is not a lofty concept. It is survival. The rise in student suicides is not about isolated tragedies but about a neglected system. Each number represents silence: the stress that never found words, the loneliness that went unnoticed, the deadlines that grew heavier than grief. In a country where success is measured in ranks and placements, admitting struggle feels like betrayal.

And yet, campuses are slowly learning. Professors offering deadline extensions without judgement, administrators........

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