School students account for largest share of reported student suicides in Bangladesh

School students accounted for nearly half of all reported student suicide cases in Bangladesh in 2025, with their number significantly higher than that of university students, according to a media surveillance report by Aachol Foundation.

The findings were presented on Wednesday (September 9) at a seminar titled “Student Suicide: A Growing Crisis” organised by the private organisation at the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in Segunbagicha, Dhaka.

According to the foundation's survey, 403 students died by suicide in cases reported in the media in 2025. Of them, 190 were school students, accounting for 47.4% of the total. College students accounted for 92 cases, or 22.8%, while 77 university students died by suicide, representing 19.1% of the reported cases. The survey also identified 44 madrasa students, or 10.9% of the total.

The figures show that the number of reported suicide cases among school students was more than twice that among university students in 2025.

Reported cases declined from previous years

Aachol Foundation's media surveillance identified 532 reported student suicide cases in 2022 and 513 in 2023. The number fell to 310 in 2024 before rising to 403 in 2025. The foundation's data, however, are based on cases reported in news media and do not represent official national mortality statistics.

Aachol Foundation said its figures were compiled through monitoring and collecting reports of student suicide cases published by the media. As a result, the figures may not capture every case in the country. Cases that were not reported by news organisations may be absent from the dataset, meaning the actual number of student suicides could be higher or otherwise differ from the figures identified by the foundation.

The distinction is important because the survey represents reported cases identified through media surveillance, rather than a government-maintained national database of student deaths by suicide. The findings nevertheless show that among the reported cases recorded by the foundation in 2025, school students constituted the largest group, followed by college, university and madrasa students.