Why listening to students’ voices is crucial to tackling the student suicide crisis in India

Sudarshan R Kottai (sudarshan@iitpkd.ac.in) After she became increasingly irregular in class, the teachers deemed a student’s absenteeism, a misdemeanour. after she became increasingly irregular in class.

The parents were notified of her ‘indiscipline’, a label that aligned seamlessly with the teachers’ accusations that she was a ‘bad student’.

As she became increasingly silent and withdrawn, parents consulted a tertiary mental healthcare centre where she was branded ‘abnormal’, in need of psychiatric treatment for depression.