The death of 19-year-old IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakode on September 18 has once again brought the issue of student suicides at India’s premier technical institutions into sharp focus. Wakode, a second-year BTech student, was found dead in his hostel room hours after he was caught with a mobile phone during a mid-semester examination, according to the institute. His death triggered protests on campus, with students questioning the institute’s handling of the incident and demanding stronger safeguards for student welfare.
But that prestige comes with expectations that can be difficult to sustain. There is no single, comprehensive government database covering all student suicides across the IIT system over the decades. However, independent compilations point to a persistent problem.
Data Compilation
Data assembled by the Global IIT-IIM Alumni Support Group from government records, RTI responses, institute information and media reports has recorded 171 unnatural student deaths across the IITs over roughly two decades, with suicides accounting for the overwhelming majority. Another compilation by the group had earlier put the number of IIT student suicides at 160 over two decades, including 69 in the most recent five-year period covered. The figures vary according to the period and methodology used, and should therefore be treated as independently compiled rather than official national statistics.
The official numbers, though covering a shorter period, are equally sobering. In July 2023, the Ministry of Education told Parliament that 39 IIT students had died by suicide between 2018 and 2023. During the same period, 98 students across IITs, NITs, central universities, IIMs, IISERs and IIITs were reported to have died by suicide.
The wider national picture is also worrying. NCRB data show that student suicides increased from 8,423 in 2013 to 13,892 in 2023 — a rise of nearly 65 per cent in a decade.
The numbers do not establish a single cause. But they do raise a larger question: what happens when an education system built around extraordinary competition meets young people already carrying enormous expectations? At IIT Bombay, the immediate trigger was an examination-related incident. The institute initially said Wakode had been caught using a mobile phone and had uploaded examination questions on an AI platform. It later apologised for inaccuracies in its communication about the episode.
The administration has since relieved Professor Suryanarayana Doolla of his responsibilities as Dean of Administrative Affairs while he continues as a faculty member. Wakode’s family has made allegations of mental harassment and caste discrimination, while the police investigation is examining the circumstances surrounding his death. Faculty members have also publicly rallied in support of Doolla. The competing claims remain subject to investigation.
Students, meanwhile, have demanded wider institutional reforms, including an independent inquiry and stronger mental-health and grievance-redressal mechanisms.
The episode illustrates the difficult balance institutions have to maintain. Academic integrity cannot be compromised. But disciplinary procedures involving young students also have to take account of their emotional state, particularly when an incident could have serious implications for how they perceive their academic future.
What the experts are saying
The concerns extend far beyond a single examination or campus.
The National Task Force constituted following Supreme Court intervention to examine mental-health concerns and student suicides in higher educational institutions submitted its interim report in June 2026. The report identifies multiple and interconnected factors behind student distress, including academic pressure, caste-based discrimination, financial stress, sexual harassment and examination-related difficulties.
Its findings point to another weakness: the people expected to identify distressed students are not always adequately equipped to do so.
The problem of campus culture was also highlighted by a committee set up by IIT Delhi in 2024 following a series of student suicides. Its findings pointed to post-coaching burnout, relentless academic demands, a grading system that can intensify competition, and concerns surrounding caste and gender discrimination. The committee recommended measures including strengthening faculty-student relationships, reducing pressure on first-year students and reconsidering the excessive importance attached to CGPA.
These findings suggest that student distress cannot simply be reduced to academic failure.
The price of the IIT dream
The competition begins long before a student enters an IIT.
Every year, millions of young people compete through the JEE system for a relatively small number of places. Those who make it through have already survived one of the country’s most demanding academic filters. Yet entering an IIT does not necessarily end the competition; for many students, it merely changes its form.
Grades matter. Internships matter. Research opportunities matter. Placements matter. Peer comparison can become relentless.
The pressure can be compounded by expectations from parents and society. Students who have spent years being told that an IIT degree guarantees a successful career can find it difficult to deal with failure, uncertainty or simply being average in an environment filled with high achievers.
The placement statistics provide another dimension to the story. About 38 per cent of IIT graduates were unplaced in 2024, according to institute data cited in reports. The figure sits uneasily alongside the public image of IITs as virtually automatic gateways to lucrative careers.
For students, therefore, the fear is not necessarily about failing an examination. It can be the fear of falling behind everyone else.
Technology has added another layer. The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is changing the nature of education and employment even as students are expected to keep pace with demanding curricula. Social media further magnifies comparison, success stories and the fear of missing out.
Behind the impressive campuses and high placement packages can lie loneliness, anxiety, isolation and a sense of inadequacy.
Tehelka expose: The problem beyond IITs
Tehelka, in its report published on April 23, 2026, “ Spate of Student Suicides at NIT Kurukshetra,” indicated that the issue is not confined to the IIT system.
In April, concerns over a series of incidents at NIT Kurukshetra prompted the Human Rights Commission to take suo motu cognisance and seek a detailed inquiry into reports concerning student suicides and attempts, student safety and institutional accountability.
Such incidents across elite engineering institutions suggest that the problem needs to be viewed as a systemic higher-education issue rather than a series of unrelated tragedies.
From counselling to campus culture
Several IITs have introduced initiatives intended to improve student interaction and reduce isolation. IIT Kharagpur, for instance, has experimented with evening power blackouts intended to encourage students to step away from electronic devices and interact with one another. IIT Guwahati’s ‘Know Your Neighbour’ initiative seeks to strengthen peer relationships.
Such initiatives may help, but the larger challenge is cultural.
A student who is struggling academically or emotionally should not feel that seeking help amounts to admitting failure. Counselling services need credibility, confidentiality and adequate staffing. Faculty members need training to recognise warning signs. Grievance mechanisms must be accessible and trusted. And institutions must be willing to examine whether their own academic and administrative practices are adding unnecessarily to student distress.
The IIT system has every reason to preserve academic standards. But academic excellence and student well-being are not competing objectives.
The death of Sahil Wakode has once again forced that contradiction into public view. An examination violation can be investigated. A disciplinary process can be followed. But no academic system can afford to lose sight of the person at the centre of the process.
The larger question confronting the IITs is therefore not whether standards should be lowered. It is whether excellence can be pursued without making students feel that their entire worth depends on achieving it.
