'Suicides in educational institutions not higher than society'

New Delhi: Suicide rate in premier educational institutions in India is not higher than the society at large, but the government is determined to prevent recurrence of such incidents, the HRD ministry today said citing studies conducted by the IITs.

Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD) Mahendra Nath Pandey said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha that this a serious matter and the government is determined to prevent such incidents in future.

"As per the studies done by some IITs, the suicide rate in premier educational institutions is not higher than in society at large," Pandey said.

He, however, added that "this is a serious matter and the government is concerned about such incidents when they occur in the educational institutions and is determined to prevent such incidents in future".

In reply to another question, Pandey said the Committee set up under former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanian on New Education Policy has in its report recommended that no university should have more than 100 affiliated colleges and those having more than 100 colleges should be split.