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Trying to understand student deaths and protests in India
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− Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Trying to understand student deaths and protests in India Anti-government protests in India were partly triggered by students who died by suicide after they were ordered to retest for a medical exam.
+ Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics From a mother’s grief to a nation’s fury: How an exam leak became a political storm Akanksha's parents gave their all for her education.
− Why?
+ The pressure from Indian society to succeed was too high.
− Asia Trying to understand student deaths and protests in India July 31, 20264:28 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered Diaa Hadid Trying to understand students deaths and protests in India Listen · 4:52 4:52 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5911927/nx-s1-9871390" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Anti-government protests in India were partly triggered by students who died by suicide after they were ordered to retest for a medical exam.
+ Students blame the government.
− Why?
+ Asia From a mother's grief to a nation's fury: How an exam leak became a political storm Updated August 2, 202612:56 PM ET Originally published July 31, 20264:28 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By
Diaa Hadid
,
Omkar Khandekar
Neelum Chaturvedi holding a picture of her 18-year-old daughter Akanksha, who took her own life in May, soon after authorities cancelled the results of a high-pressure medical exam Akanksha had taken, saying the results had been leaked.
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SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
This month, India was rocked by some of its biggest anti-government protests in years.
+ Diaa Hadid/NPR hide caption
NAGPUR, India — Neelum Chaturvedi says her daughter's English handwriting was beautiful. She shows off a note in curly ballpoint. It begins: "Mummy, Pappa." It's the suicide note that her 18-year-old daughter Akanksha wrote before she took her life in May. "I could never find fault in her," her mother says.
− (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
+ Chaturvedi hugs a framed picture of her smiling daughter, garlanded with plastic flowers. Now and then, she lifts the framed picture and strokes the flowers away from Akanksha's face, like they're untidy bangs.
− UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
+ Akanksha's suicide was one of around a dozen by Indian students that were covered by Indian media, and became one trigger for protests that have shaken the government of the Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi, who has ruled for over a decade.
− UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
PFEIFFER: The unrest was partly triggered by news that several students took their own lives after being ordered to retake a medical school entrance exam.
+ Asia India's 'cockroach' movement ousts minister, but can Modi calm youth?
− NPR's Diaa Hadid went to the city of Nagpur to meet one family left behind.
+ The Indian Express newspaper reported that the deaths came after the country's education ministry cancelled the results of a medical college entry exam that some 2 million students had taken, saying the questions had been leaked.
− And this story does touch on young people dying by suicide.
+ Students were then ordered to retake the high-pressure test, in which they competed for some 30,000 general admission places.
− DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Neelum Chaturvedi says her daughter's English handwriting was beautiful.
NEELUM CHATURVEDI: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: She shows us a note written in curly ballpoint.
+ Notes on the wall of 18-year-old student Akanksha Chaturvedi, relating to her high-pressure medical exams.
− It begins, mummy and daddy.
+ Diaa Hadid/NPR hide caption
Akanksha's note echoed that found by other families after their children died.
− It's the note her daughter Akanksha wrote before she took her life in May.
+ "Mummy, papa, you sincerely believed that your daughter will study and become a doctor.
− Chaturvedi says, even this final note from her 18-year-old daughter shows how clever she was.
+ But I don't have the courage," she wrote – referring to retaking the exam.
− She says, "I could never find fault in her."
CHATURVEDI: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: She hugs a frame picture of Akanksha.
+ "Sorry," Akanksha wrote.
− It's garlanded with plastic flowers.
+ "I have ruined everything."
Sadly, there have long been thousands of suicides a year among students in India.
− She lifts the frame picture and strokes the flowers away from her daughter's face like untidy bangs.
+ But some argue that high pressure exams are contributing to an increase. The Hindu newspaper reported that student suicides increased from 8,068 in 2014 to 14,488 in 2024. Around a fifth died after they failed to clear exams, the paper reported.
− Like millions of families across India, Akanksha's parents sacrificed everything for their daughter's education.
+ Critics say the crisis begins with a complex education system in the country that does not treat its more than 200 million students equally.
− When she was a baby, they left their village, moved to the city of Nagpur, where the schools are better.
+ The federal government's spending on education has declined to 2.5 percent of its budget, The Indian Express reports. Enrolment in public schools is declining as parents turn to the private sector, but the poorest are stuck.
− CHATURVEDI: (Speaking Hindi).
+ Even if children finish school with top marks, they must clear exams for university admissions or to attain a highly sought-after government job.
− HADID: Akanksha graduated with top grades, decided she'd try be a doctor.
+ Asia India's Gen Z 'Cockroach People's Party' started as satire but is serious about change But just about the only way to clear those exams is to pay for tuition at coaching centers, says Maheshwer Peri, who runs a company that helps students select careers, and who has emerged as a prominent critic of the government's education policies.
− It's one of the few professions that offer economic mobility in India, but competition is fierce.
+ His company's own analysis of public data found that some 95 students of every 100 who cleared exams came through a coaching center.
− Around 2 million students take the nationwide exam that's key to admission in a medical college.
+ The coaching centers train students on how to answer the questions quickly, and which subjects to focus on.
Such coaching is "a huge industry," says Pradip Saha, an author who writes on education.
− They vie for about 30,000 general spots in government colleges.
+ The number of students are "in the tens of millions," but the industry is unregulated, so there's no precise data on enrollments, or how many students clear the exam they sign up to study for. The successful students are a tiny minority, owing to the number of students taking the test and the very few jobs or university placements they apply for. But centers typically emblazon on banners the names and faces of students who passed their exams with high scores.
− So Akanksha's father, Krishna Kumar, borrowed from relatives and banks to cover two years of tuition for his daughter at a coaching center.
+ There's also no data on how much debt Indian families incur to put their children through coaching.
− Like countless centers across India, it promises to help students clear the exam.
+ And yet, Saha says, some coaching centers have tie-ins with companies that offer loans, which is a likely conflict of interest when "parents will pay anything to these coaching centers," because clearing an exam for a prestigious university or job "is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity."
A close-up of a photograph of Akanksha Chaturvedi, who was 18 when she took her own life in May.
− And like countless other parents, Kumar says he worked day and night to pay off his debts, but he fell behind.
+ hide caption
Akanksha's parents say when she was a baby, they moved 300 miles from their village to the central Indian city of Nagpur, where there's better government schools.
− KRISHNA KUMAR: (Speaking Hindi).
+ Their daughter did well, and landed high grades. Akanksha then told her parents she wanted to try to become a doctor — a rare profession that offers economic mobility in India.
− HADID: So he sold his only asset, his land in his ancestral village.
KUMAR: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: Kumar says, Akanksha felt their financial distress.
+ Akanksha enrolled in a two-year tuition course through a franchise known as Physics Wallah, which cost her family around $910.
− She'd tell him, Papa, please don't worry, I'll pay it all back.
+ They paid about $10 upfront, a spokesperson told NPR, and they took a loan for the remaining amount through a tie-in loan company.
− KUMAR: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: To meet that promise, Akanksha studied relentlessly, slept very little, often forgot to eat, never took a day off.
In her tiny bedroom, there's a note taped to the wall.
+ World, reordering The 'cockroach' in the machine: How Gen Z is rattling South Asia's elites Akanksha's father Krishna Kumar says no matter how much he worked as a cook, he couldn't meet the repayments.
− It reads, May 3, practice makes a woman perfect.
+ He isn't paid much, and has to stay home when his arm inexplicably stiffens.
− That's when Akanksha took the medical school entry exam.
+ On a recent day, Kumar cradled his stiff left arm in his lap and said, "the bank people were harassing me," so he sold his only asset: his land in his ancestral village.
− Her parents say, Akanksha thought she'd done really well, enough to enter a prestigious university.
Then on May 12, the Education Ministry announced it was canceling exam results after they discovered the questions had been leaked.
+ "I sold it, telling myself, how can a laborer afford to train kids to be a doctor?"
Kumar says he borrowed more money from his brother-in-law to stay afloat.
− All 2 million students had to retake the test.
+ He says Akanksha worried about their debts.
− For days, Akanksha stayed in her room.
+ She'd assuage him: "Don't worry papa, I'm going to pay it all back."
She also worried about her father's health.
− Then...
KUMAR: (Crying).
HADID: She took her own life.
+ Her parents say she kept track of his doctor's appointments, his medicines, and his medical files.
− Her father says, an exam leak killed her.
KUMAR: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: Akanksha was among at least a dozen other students who died by suicide after being ordered to retake the exam.
+ She promised to be her father's doctor when she graduated.
− Her note echoed those of other students who died.
+ "It was her dream," he says, "and it was the dream of her poor parents."
To meet that promise, Akanksha studied relentlessly, slept very little, and often forgot to eat.
− She wrote, I don't have the courage to retake the test.
+ Her mother walked to the only bedroom in their narrow walkup, which they gave to Akanksha, so she could study in privacy.
− I'm sorry I ruined everything.
+ A note was still taped to the wall: MAY 3. Practice Makes a Woman Perfect!
− As news of the deaths emerged, anger brewed among other students.
+ That was the day of the medical school entry exams.
− In June, they gathered in New Delhi to demand the education minister's resignation.
+ "She was very happy after the exams," her mother said.
− By late July, their numbers swelled to tens of thousands.
+ She told her parents that she thought she'd done well enough to enter a medical college.
− Protests spread to more than a dozen cities.
+ Then on May 12, the education ministry announced it was canceling the exam results.
− (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #2: Resign do, resign do.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #2: Resign do, resign do.
HADID: After ignoring the students for weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised the perpetrators would be brought to justice quickly.
+ For days after the exam results were cancelled, she stayed in her room.
− When that didn't end the protests, the education minister resigned, and the government agreed to pay compensation to families who lost their children.
+ She wasn't her chirpy self.
− Akanksha's parents say no official has been in contact so far to discuss compensation.
+ And then, she died.
− Her mother says, why would they speak to us?
+ "My daughter is dead," Kumar says.
− We're little people, vermin.
+ "She killed herself over an exam leak."
Protesters celebrate after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned following nationwide protests as part of the Cockroach Janta Party's protest movement in Mumbai, India, Sunday, July 26, 2026. Rafiq Maqbool/AP hide caption
Akanksha's death, alongside other students, was partly a trigger for the protests that emerged in early June. Another trigger was a comment by India's chief justice, Surya Kant, who described unemployed youth as "cockroaches."
The justice said he was misquoted, but the comment drew widespread outrage in a country where some 67% of graduates were unemployed in 2023, and few ever find salaried work. Then 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke, formed the satirical, online "Cockroach Janata Party," or CJP, a play on the ruling party, the BJP. It quickly amassed millions of followers.
− CHATURVEDI: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: And now they worry about their son, 14-year-old Raj.
+ Dipke declared a sit-in in New Delhi, demanding the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, which hundreds of students joined.
− They say they once hoped Raj would follow his sister's example - study hard, aim for a good job.
+ Protests picked up pace after police carted away a respected educator, Sonum Wangchuk, who was on a solidarity hunger strike.
− Now they're stuck.
+ It picked up pace again after security forces attacked tens of thousands of protesters attempting to march to parliament on Monday, July 20.
− The only way out of poverty is for Raj to go through the same system that took their daughter.
+ Protests erupted in more than a dozen cities across India.
After ignoring the students for weeks, prime minister Narendra Modi promised the perpetrators of the exam leak would be brought to justice quickly.
− Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Nagpur.
+ When that didn't end the protests, education minister Pradhan resigned on July 25, and the government agreed to pay compensation to families who lost their children.
− (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2026 NPR.
+ The government also announced a committee to propose exam reforms.
− All rights reserved.
+ However, political scientist Šumit Ganguly, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, told NPR that he doubts whether it would lead to any changes.
− Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
+ Ganguly said: "Lots of people stand to benefit from the vast bureaucracy that administers these things, [so] why would they want drastic change?"
That includes the government itself, which earns an 18% tax on payments to coaching centers.
Akanksha's mother said no official had been in touch to discuss compensation, claiming they hadn't even offered their condolences.
− Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary.
+ "We are little people, insects," she said.
− Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio.
+ "Why would the government come to ask about an insect?"
Contradicting those claims, a BJP municipal official, Yogesh Pachpor, said he tried meeting the family "two or three times, but they didn't respond to us."
A spokeswoman for coaching center where Akanksha studied said they only found out about her suicide after NPR sent questions to the center.
− Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication.
+ She said the company would look for ways to support the family.
In the meantime, Akanksha's mother was mourning her daughter, while struggling with the reality of daily life.
− The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
+ "We can't even light a cooking fire," she said.
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+ "I don't know how we are going to carry on."
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