Opinion | Why Empathy Must Become Campus Infrastructure
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........





















Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Tarik Cyril Amar
Mort Laitner
Stefano Lusa
Mark Travers Ph.d
Andrew Silow-Carroll
Ellen Ginsberg Simon