SC orders sweeping reforms to curb student suicides, tightens rules for universities

Placing binding directions for universities and colleges at the heart of its intervention, the Supreme Court on Thursday (January 15) ordered sweeping measures to address student suicides, holding higher educational institutions (HEIs) accountable for student safety, mental well-being and institutional failure.

The directions were issued after the court examined an interim report submitted by a National Task Force (NTF) constituted last year to study the causes behind rising student suicides. The apex court cited findings from the NTF survey, which showed that among the surveyed HEIs, around 65% did not provide access to any MHSPs (mental health service providers), and 73% lacked the presence of full-time MHSPs.

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In its report, the NTF also cited SRS (Sample Registration System) data, which says that in the 15 to 29 age group, “suicides are either the second highest cause of death in the case of men or the highest cause of death in the case of women”. It also cited National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data that over 13,000 student suicides were reported in 2022 alone.

Institutions face tighter scrutiny

Taking these findings into account, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan directed all higher educational institutions to mandatorily report every suicide or unnatural death of a student to the police.

“All HEIs (higher education institutions) must report any incident of suicide or unnatural death of a student, regardless of the location of its occurrence (i.e., on campus, hostels, PG accommodations, or otherwise outside the institutional premises), to the police authorities as soon as they come to know about the incident,” the bench said in its order. “This should cover all students, irrespective of whether they are studying in the classroom, distance or online mode of learning,” it added.

Institutions have also been ordered to submit annual reports of such deaths to the University Grants Commission (UGC) or other relevant regulatory bodies.

The court also said that “every residential HEI must have access to qualified medical help round the clock, if not on campus, then within a one-km radius to provide emergency medical health support to students”.

Timely scholarship disbursal ordered

The court further directed that all pending scholarship disbursements be cleared within four months and categorically barred institutions from penalising students for administrative delays.

“The backlog of any and all pending scholarship disbursements must be cleared within a period of four months by the relevant Central and State government authorities. If there exists any reason behind the non-disbursal of the same, a notice with reasons must be sent to the relevant HEI along with the student recipient, within a period of two months. It must be ensured that the disbursement of all future scholarships is done with clear timelines, without any delay by the relevant central and state government authorities. Disbursal dates and schedules must also be made known to the student recipient,” the bench said.

“Even in cases of unavoidable administrative delay, HEIs must not, as a policy, make the student recipients accountable for paying or clearing their fees. No student should be prevented from appearing in an examination, removed from hostels, barred from attending classes, or have their marksheets and degrees withheld because of delays in disbursal of scholarships. Any such institutional policy may be viewed strictly,” it added.

Faculty hiring deadline set

The court also said that all vacant faculty positions (both teaching and non-teaching) “be filled within a period of four months, with priority given to posts reserved for candidates from marginalised and underrepresented communities including those posts reserved for PwDs”, and that the “appointment and filling of vacancies of the post of vice chancellor, registrars, and other key institutional/administrative positions, must also be made within a period of four months”.

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“Moreover, it must be ensured as a matter of practice that these positions are filled within a period of one month from the date on which the vacancy arises, in order to ensure the smooth functioning of HEIs…All HEIs must report on an annual basis to the central and relevant state governments, as to how many reserved posts are vacant, how many are filled, reasons for non-filling, time taken, etc., so that periodic accountability is ensured,” the court said.

The court also ordered strict compliance with existing regulations on ragging, discrimination, sexual harassment and grievance redressal, including the proper functioning of anti-ragging committees, equal opportunity cells, internal complaints committees and student grievance redressal mechanisms.

Institutions can’t evade blame

The Union and state governments have been directed to ensure that the court’s directions are immediately communicated to all higher educational institutions and implemented without delay.

Noting that there was a tendency among HEIs to “shift the blame” and “individualise” suicides by blaming personal factors, the court held that higher educational institutions cannot shirk responsibility.

“There is hardly any introspection into the institutionally normalised ‘stressors’ which may have had any contributory effect. However, irrespective of upon whom the culpability may lie from a strict penal perspective, all that we are trying to convey is that HEIs cannot shirk away from their fundamental duty to ensure that their institutions as a whole are safe, equitable, inclusive and conducive spaces of learning,” the court said.

The NTF noted “extremely rigid attendance policies, overburdening and unplanned phasing/scheduling of the academic curriculum, exam assessment methodologies, faculty shortage, vacant teaching posts, excessive reliance on inexperienced guest faculty, non-transparent or non-existent placement processes” as stressors.

NTF mandate expanded

Apart from directing HEIs and governments, the bench broadened the scope of the NTF to frame detailed standard operating procedures for campus “well-being audits”, faculty sensitisation and mental health services, with the aim of evolving a unified national framework for suicide prevention and student welfare.

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“What we wish to achieve through the aforesaid and also hope from the NTF is that they suggest a model ‘Universal Design Framework’ or a model ‘Suicide Prevention and Postvention Protocol’ or a model ‘Student well-being Protocol’ which cohesively and comprehensively incorporates the aforementioned model SOPs, the existing guidelines on ragging, promotion of equity, sexual harassment, etc., and any other relevant measures which they may consider necessary, into one single guiding document,” the court said.

The court also took exception to the fact that only 3.5% of 60,383 HEIs had responded to the NTF’s survey. “We are deeply disappointed with the apathetic attitude of most HEIs, which serves as a reminder of the deep-rooted complexities and formidable barriers that hinder the implementation of any national-level initiative aimed at strengthening student mental health support systems within HEIs,” it said.

(Suicides can be prevented. For help please call Suicide Prevention Helplines: Neha Suicide Prevention Centre – 044-24640050; Aasara helpline for suicide prevention, emotional support & trauma help — +91-9820466726; Kiran, Mental health rehabilitation — 1800-599-0019, Disha 0471- 2552056, Maithri 0484 2540530, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)