SC issues pan-India guidelines to deal with suicides in educational institutions

Highlighting the “legislative and regulatory vacuum” and lack of a unified, enforceable framework for suicide prevention of students in educational institutions, coaching centres, and rise in suicides and mental health issues among students, the Supreme Court on Friday issued 15-point pan-India binding guidelines to deal with the problem.

A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta said these measures should remain in force, until such time as appropriate legislation or regulatory frameworks were enacted by the competent authority.

Taking cues from the “Ummeed” draft guidelines, the “Manodarpan” initiative, and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, the top court directed all educational institutions to adopt and implement a uniform mental health policy. It directed all coaching hubs, including Jaipur, Kota, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai, to implement heightened mental health protection and preventive measures.

The guidelines would apply to all educational institutions, including public and private schools, colleges, universities, training centres, coaching institutes, residential academies and hostels, irrespective of their affiliation, it said.

“This policy shall be reviewed and updated annually and made publicly accessible on institutional websites and notice boards of the institutes,” it said, directing states and union territories to notify, as far as practicable, rules within two months mandating registration, student protection norms, and grievance redressal mechanisms for all private coaching centres.

Directing the Centre to file a compliance affidavit within 90 days detailing the steps taken to implement the guidelines and the monitoring systems put in place, the Bench posted the matter for hearing on October 27.

The order came on a petition filed by the father of a 17-year-old NEET aspirant who died on July 14, 2023 under suspicious circumstances after falling from her hostel terrace in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He challenged the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order refusing to transfer the probe to the CBI. Citing grave lapses on the part of the local police, the top court quashed the February 14, 2024 order of the high court and transferred the probe into her unnatural death to the CBI.

The Bench said all educational institutions with 100 or more enrolled students should either appoint or engage at least one qualified counsellor, psychologist, or social worker with demonstrable training in child and adolescent mental health. “Institutions with fewer students shall establish formal referral linkages with external mental health professionals,” it said.

“All residential-based institutions shall install tamper-proof ceiling fans or equivalent safety devices, and shall restrict access to rooftops, balconies, and other high-risk areas, in order to deter impulsive acts of self-harm, it said.

The top court directed all educational institutions, particularly coaching institutes or centres, to refrain from segregating students’ batches on the basis of academic performance, public shaming, or assignment of academic targets disproportionate to their capacities.

”All educational institutions shall establish robust, confidential, and accessible mechanisms for the reporting, redressal, and prevention of incidents involving sexual assault, harassment, ragging, and bullying on the basis of caste, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or ethnicity,” it ordered.

Stressing on the need for zero tolerance to retaliatory actions against complainants or whistle-blowers, it said, in all such cases, immediate referral to trained mental health professionals must be ensured, and the student’s safety, physical and psychological, should be prioritised.

“Failure to take timely or adequate action in such cases, especially where such neglect contributes to a student’s self-harm or suicide, shall be treated as institutional culpability, making the administration liable to regulatory and legal consequences,” the top court said.

In a separate case, the top court had taken cognisance of suicides in educational institutions and directed setting up of a National Task Force on mental health concerns of students and prevention of suicides in higher educational institutions.