As many as 101 students of different universities in Bangladesh took their own lives last year against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a survey.
The social organization Anchal Foundation presented the findings of the survey, “Suicide on the Rise at Universities: Students in Despair”, at a virtual press call on Saturday.
The survey noted that 19 public and private university students committed suicide in 2017 while the figure stood at 11 in 2018. There is no data available for 2019.
Amid the pandemic, the number of students committing suicide jumped to 79 in 2020 and in 2021 it rose to 101.
The survey shows that students aged 22-25 were more prone to committing suicide.
The month-to-month trend of suicide data shows that the rate of suicide was the highest in December at 14.85% with 15 cases. The lowest number of cases was in April with two reported suicides. ‘
The researchers attributed the suicides to depression caused by social, financial and familial pressures amid the ongoing pandemic.
In terms of the causes or factors prompting the suicides, 24.75% of students took their own lives due to relationship issues, 19.8% due to family problems, 15.84% to end mental distress, 10.89% due to study-related issues, 4.95% due to financial issues, 1.98% of students committed suicide after becoming addicted to drugs and 21.78% due to various other reasons.
It is observed that the suicide rate in Bangladesh is higher in winter than in summer.
Suicide rate higher for male students
Of the 101 who committed suicide, 65 were men and 36 were women.
Although the suicide rate is generally higher among female students, this year's coordinated data shows that a large number of the suicides were committed by male students.
Tansen Rose, founder president of Anchal Foundation, said that an analysis of newspapers showed that those who committed suicide did not have the education they needed to adapt to the new situation. They could not cope with unforeseen circumstances in their lives.
For instance, failing to do well in exams, or falling out of romantic relationships have been observed to have a significant impact on the mental well-being of students, he added.
Public university situation worse
The study found that more than 61% of suicides were committed by public university students.
Of the 101 deaths, 62 studied at public universities, 23 at private ones, 12 were students of medicine and four were engineering students.
The highest number of nine cases of suicide were recorded in Dhaka University, while six were reported in Jagannath University and 5 in Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.
In 12 medical colleges or university students’ suicide rate was 11.88%.
On the other hand, 22.77% of reported cases were those of private university students.
According to the data, the suicide rate among third and fourth-year undergrad students is 36.63%.
Prof Kamal Chowdhury, program director of Nasirullah Psychotherapy Unit, Department of Clinical Psychology, Dhaka University, said: “Suicides can be caused by a variety of factors, such as failing a test, family pride, the end of a love affair, loneliness, and so on. I believe that by establishing suicide cells in each district and collaborating with the government and private sectors to prevent this great loss for our country, we can prevent suicides to a large extent.”
In such circumstances, Anchal Foundation made some recommendations to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.
It suggested opening a hotline dedicated to providing mental help, appointing mental health professionals in every upazila and district, and raising awareness to remove the taboo around mental health.
Every year over 700,000 people commit suicide and there are many more who attempt it, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Around 77% of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries, says the UN health agency.