The Supreme Court on Friday issued 15-point pan-India binding guidelines to deal with suicides by students in educational institutions and coaching centres as it highlighted “legislative and regulatory vacuum” and lack of a unified framework for prevention, besides rise in mental health issues among them.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 mechanisms to redress grievances 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. He challenged the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order refusing to transfer the probe to the CBI.Citing grave lapses on 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 reporting, redress 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 the need for zero tolerance to retaliatory actions against complainants or whistle-blowers, it said, in all such cases, immediate referral to trainedmental 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.No segregation, restrict access to rooftopsInstall tamper-proof ceiling fans, restrict access to rooftops, balconies at residential-based institutionsRefrain from segregating students’ batches on basis of academic performance at coaching centresImplement robust mechanisms to prevent incidents involving sexual assault, harassment, ragging, bullyingJ-K medico dies by suicideJaipur: A final-year BDS student from J&K, Sweta Singh, was found hanging in her hostel room in a private medical college in Udaipur, officials said on Friday. In her suicide note, she accused the faculty of mentally harassing students and not conducting exams on time, officials said.
SC lists norms to curb student suicides, protect mental health
