Few days back I was just watching a video describing "Student Suicides". Without watching the video, I recalled in my mind, how people can share such videos on such public sites but then I watched the video and found something very interesting in it.
Here is the video for you all, and a small write up regarding reasons for "Student suicides" and how we can help them to avoid.
Student Suicide: The Last Option
India has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and recent studies suggest about 40 percent are adolescents. At least 125 people aged 29 years or below are committing suicide every day and 51 per cent of the total suicide victims are graduates, college students or younger.
In several cases, students commit suicide after failing exams, according to local newspaper reports. In Mumbai alone, 25 students have taken their lives since beginning of the year, leaving parents, teachers and officials struggling to understand the reason behind the deaths.
High marks, college admissions
Mr Mahesh Poddar is one such grieving parent as his daughter, Mini, committed suicide in 2001 when she was 15 years old. She was distraught about college admissions and had just missed out on getting into the college of her choice.
Union human resource minister Kapil Sibal said that the sudden spike in suicides among students is a result of the growing parental pressures on the child to beat his peers, said TOI.
In many cases, the trigger appears to be academic pressure, said a report in CNN.
India's education system is based on rote learning, or memorisation, with a strong emphasis on scoring high marks. Authorities are organising counselling sessions, said Mr. Sanjay Kumar, education secretary of Maharashtra state, in which Mumbai is located.
The suicides were a wake-up call for educators, said Mrs Sangeeta Srivastava, principal of Sardar Vallabhai Patel Vidyala, a government school in North Mumbai. Though none of the recent suicide cases in the city involved students from her school, she is worried.
Recently, a student from her school ran away from home before exams. She said: "As teachers, we have a lot of effect on the students, even more than parents have."
What we can do?
Improvement in studies
Analyze the cause of student's failure in examination. Most of the students fail in the examination because they do not study effectively. If the rate of failure is reduced then automatically the rate of suicide also comes down. The students, parents and the teachers should induce a proper methodology of studying. The students also should be aware that if they do not study effectively, they fail in the examination. If they fail in the examination they are unable to bear such a failure in life because they become answerable to their parents and society. If the students are well-aware of the future consequences then they shall take an initiative step to study effectively. The board should take some initiative step at the same time to reduce the rate of failures.
Induce the right values and ethics
The students today are not seriously taught the importance of ethics and values in life. The students become materialistic too early because they only view the splendors and riches of life and are lured. They should obviously know the techniques that is introduced in the market and should be updated with all the latest information from all sources. But they should not forget the values and ethics of life. Usually if the parents are not particular about the values then the children cannot realize the importance. The parents may only realize the importance when the children undertake a drastic step in life. Most of them are today not aware about the importance of human life. If you are not born with our own wish then how do we have the right to take away our own life? This concept should be inculcated in the minds of children. The children can learn such values only when they are taught the importance of spirituality.
Introduction of holy texts as a subject in school
The scripts of holy texts teach the people about the wisdom of life. Many people misinterpret that the holy texts deviate the children from the real life but on the contrary the Geeta teaches the people the game of life. The children learn to solve life's problems when they are introduced with the subjects like Geeta. Although they may not understand the meaning at such a tender age but the parents become aware after viewing the books. The children can understand the language of the holy texts when they grow up. The teachers should properly explain how the holy texts play an important role in day-to-day life.
Conducting workshops about solving problems
The school or the board should take special initiative to arrange programs in school to teach the lesson about solving problems. The workshops should demonstrate that how the students should tackle the life's problems easily and the tactics to solve life's problems. They should also explain how to deal with failures in life very easily. The students must be benefited by the workshops.
Special counseling for failed students
The teachers or school counselors can specially call the students who have flunked in the examination and provide counseling individually with personal care. This session can be conducted after the unit tests or preliminary tests are conducted. These sessions cannot be conducted after final examination because the students are not available in schools. The counselors or the teachers can counsel the students in such a way that even if they fail later on they must be able to manage their failure.
Role of the parents
The parents should be co-operative to their children after they fail in the examination. Some students commit suicide due to the fear of parents. The parents should never take any severe step after the child has already failed. They cannot change the destiny of the students after the child has already failed. The parents should be made aware that they should be stricter with their children before the period of examinations. Let the parents prevent the rate of failures instead of punishing them when they fail in the examination. If the parents can punish so severely after the children fail then let them question themselves that if they have taken any step to prevent failures? If the child is depressed due to failure in exam, then they should console them to relieve them out of depression. The child really needs you if he or she is depressed with the failure. You must teach the children to become bold and face the problems in a better way.
The students should be thoughtful
The students should console themselves before feeling depressed. If they have already failed in the examination they have not failed the game of life. They shall come across several exams and several tests of life in the future. They should also realize that the door to opportunities are open in the future and make use of it. They should realize that failures are the stepping stones for success in life and believe themselves.
Sources:
1. http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/138518-How-prevent-suicide-rates-students-who-fail.aspx
2. http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20100205-196894.html
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