NASHIK: Growing competition and pressure from the parents are among the factors leading to student suicides, a Planning Commission member said today. Changes in the existing education system and proper counselling can curb the trend of suicides by students, Narendra Jadhav said here.

He was responding to questions on a spate of suicides in Maharashtra, where over two dozen students have taken their lives, mostly in Mumbai and Thane, in the last three weeks.

Addressing a press conference at Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, the former Vice-Chancellor of Pune University said the Centre will soon set up 14 innovation centres to boost quality of higher education. University Grants Commission (UGC) currently performs dual roles of provide grants and handling regulation, he said.

But UGC and other regulatory bodies will be dissolved or absorbed within a year in the proposed National Commission on Higher Education and Research, Jadhav added. According to Jadhav, Prime Minister's Council had written letters to all Chief Ministers asking them to start skill development missions, but half of the states, including Maharashtra, have not yet started the mission. Considering the importance of skill development, the government is thinking to train 50 crore youths, including girls, by 2022, Jadhav said.