By: Bakht Muhammed Achakzai
Two young girls, Tayyiba from Hafizabad and Anmol from Upper Dir, recently ended their lives after immense distress over their exam performance. Tayyiba, 17, consumed acid after failing her intermediate exams. Anmol, only 15, took her life despite scoring 1,010 out of 1,200 marks. Their deaths are not isolated tragedies; they epitomize a silent mental health crisis growing among Pakistani students where exam results decide self-worth, and academic systems suffocate rather than nurture lives.
The Alarming State of Student Suicides
Pakistan records between 15 to 35 suicides every day, roughly one every hour, according to the World Health Organization’s 2021 data. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth aged 15 to 19 globally, with 77% of cases occurring in low- and middle-income countries, including Pakistan. A 2024 Pakistan Today investigation revealed that academic pressure, societal expectations, and financial stress dominate as causes behind student suicides nationwide. Cases span Karachi, Peshawar, and rural regions like Balochistan, where poverty, shame, and lack of psychiatric treatment make the situation even dire. In Hazara Division alone, research found widespread academic stress among university students due to exam fears, unpreparedness, and parental pressure, without adequate mental health support.
The Education System and Parental Expectations
The Pakistan Education Review’s 2024 analysis connects these tragedies to an education system that glorifies grades while neglecting human growth. Rote memorization, unrealistic parental expectations, and the glorification of “top positions” create a toxic environment where students fear failure more than death. Examination-centered systems like MDCAT and ECAT intensify this; failures become lifelong social labels rather than learning experiences. Deep-seated cultural values equate “success” with limited career paths, doctor, engineer, or government job, leaving students crushed under what the system defines as excellence. Teachers, often pressured for high results, unknowingly feed this spiral, while parents mistake pressure for motivation.
The Mental Health Toll in Numbers
A national study indicates that 75% of students experience depression, 88% anxiety, and 84% stress, with medical and university learners reporting the highest rates. Another 23.5% of student suicides in Pakistan are directly linked to academic pressure. The absence of mental health education, coupled with stigma and a lack of counselors, leaves students isolated and hopeless.
A Shared Responsibility: Parents, Teachers, and Policymakers
This crisis cannot be reduced to numbers; it is a moral indictment of how society treats youth. Children internalize perfectionism because they are taught that love, respect, and worth hinge upon grades. When they fall short, shame replaces support. Parents must replace comparison with compassion. Schools must treat mental health with the same seriousness as academics. And the state must take urgent, structured action—by embedding counseling systems into schools, funding awareness programs, and regulating exam systems that rob students of childhood.
The Path Forward: Restoring Education’s Humanity
Guidance and Counseling Cells: Every school and college should have trained counselors providing stress management support before and after exams.
Mental Health Education: Make emotional resilience and coping strategies part of the curriculum from early grades.
Parental Training Programs: Educate families on communication, empathy, and recognizing mental health warning signs.
Reform Evaluation Systems: Replace rote memorization with continuous assessment, creativity, and problem-solving models.
National Awareness Campaigns: Use media and clergy to normalize mental health discussion, dismantling stigma and silence.
A Public Message for Every Parent and Educator
As a writer and a student, I am also the victim of this I would say : When a student takes their life over grades, it is not a personal failure, it is a collective failure of a system that taught them they were only as valuable as their marks. Success should never come at the cost of sanity or life. To save our children, we must redefine education not as a competition, but as cultivation of mind, character, and compassion. As Pakistan continues to lose its brightest minds to misplaced priorities and silent pain, it is time to act — not in sympathy after each tragedy, but in reform before the next.
The writer is a freelance columnist; he can be reached at bakhtmuhammedachakzai@gmail.com
