The tragic death of fifth-semester Pharm-D student Awais Sultan at the University of Lahore has brought renewed focus to the severe mental health challenges faced by students across Pakistani universities. On 19 December 2025, Awais fell from the third floor of a campus building, an incident widely reported by the media as a suicide linked to academic pressure and personal struggles.

University students, particularly in Pakistan, grapple with multifaceted stressors: relentless academic demands, familial expectations, financial burdens, and on-campus issues such as inflexible rules and inadequate support. Students are often treated as a business rather than being nurtured in many institutions, where attendance and grades are stressed more than student well-being. Academic success has often been synonymous with personal value and even future stability in the eyes of the family, and financial difficulties can make things harder, particularly for students from lower-income backgrounds who have to depend on loans or part-time employment.

The state of mental health among university students worldwide is alarmingly poor. Suicidal........

© The Friday Times