New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- Back to back suicides in two elite engineering colleges led to grief, searching questions all around on student pressures - and the move by IIT Bombay and BIT Mesra to move towards removing ceiling fans in hostel rooms as a possible preventive.

This follows the Kota playbook of three years ago when 25 students preparing for competitive exams ended their lives, prompting administration in the coaching hub mandating hostels across the city to install "anti-suicide spring-loaded ceiling fans" and fit "anti-suicide net" in balconies and lobbies.

Then, as now, the concern was that managements and administrations could be missing the wood for the trees, going in for cosmetic measures rather than delving into root causes.

Removing ceiling fans could only do so much to prevent students from harming themselves, said experts, stressing on the need for sustained counselling and overhauling the competitive nature of the Indian education system.

A nationwide survey conducted by a Supreme Court-appointed panel underscores the magnitude of the problem. According to the findings, accessed by news agency, about 15 per cent students in higher education institutions have experienced a period in the previous six months when they felt overwhelmed or distressed, while nine per cent reported experiencing suicidal thoughts.

The survey findings are expected to be part of the final report of the National Task Force (NTF), which is expected to be submitted by October 31.

The environment of institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology does not allow for emotional expression, said clinical psychologist Shweta Sharma.

Some 60 to 70 per cent of her patients are those from the IITs and Indian Institutes of Management. They are very good with their high IQ and high performance but "they are also the ones struggling the most with relationship and social things".

"There is a special need to focus on mental wellness. Having this fan or that fan is not the issue, you are actually working on the physical aspect of the problem, mental health support is still missing in higher educational institutions," Sharma told news agency.

The students to counsellor ratio is never adequate, Sharma said.

Discussion on what leads a young man or woman -- caught in a competitive trap of first studying for years to enter an IIT and then struggling to cope once inside - took on added urgency after IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakode was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room on September 18.

The process of replacing ceiling fans with wall-mounted ones had started in July after a student took the extreme step, sources said. According to official data, 45 student suicides have been reported across 23 IITs between 2020-21 and 2024-25, 28 of them involved students from SC, ST and OBC communities.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.