Why Are Students Ending Their Lives? What Needs To Be Done To Help Them?

By Srinivas G. Roopi

Hyderabad: Srilakshmi, a student of intermediate second year from Vaira in Khammam committed suicide on Saturday. Another student in Kothagudem attempted to commit suicide, but was rescued. The number of students taking their own lives is rising at an alarming pace in Telangana and Andha Pradesh.

Of late, students' suicides has become a daily occurence. Some seem to have committed suicide due to academic pressure, others due to financial problems, while some failed in love. Strangely enough, only a few of them failed in studies. The traditional understanding that students commit suicide if they fail in studies no longer holds good. A recent suicide incident of 17-year-old Jayasheela despite scoring good marks indicates there is more to it than meets the eye as far as students' suicides is concerned.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 8,032 student suicides were reported in 2014, out of which only 30 per cent were on account of failure in exams. In the majority of cases, there are other causes that trigger student suicides. This year's statistics puts the number of students' suicides at 32 in both the Telugu states together.

What are the major causes of student suicides?

1. Forced Career Choice

In Indian society, generally students succumb to very high levels of pressure, exerted on them by their elders in their family, as also teachers in terms of their career choices and studies. Several such cases have been reported in which the primary reason which seems to have driven students to suicide was forced career choice. Some students mentioned it clearly in their suicide notes.

Psychologists say that “Parents, across all income groups, are petrified about letting their child do anything less than engineering or other conventional courses. Awareness about new subjects may be there, but acceptability is missing. Arts is still considered a poor cousin of science subjects, even though it offers plenty of interesting and even well-paying career options. Just a little out-of-the-box thinking is needed. We need to allow our children to dream.”

2. Poor Education System

In the pressure to secure seats in top-notch institutions and the ever high cut-offs, many students give up and are forced to resort to something as desperate as suicide.

In this context, psychiatrist Dr. Sanjay asks, “Why do we expose our children to such nonsense, with examinations becoming a do-or-die situation where students need a minimum percentage to get into a halfway decent college?” He also points out that students are made to learn what they might never need in their lives.

3. Not Speaking Up

In a majority of student suicide cases, the causes are unknown. Could this be because the victims were not comfortable expressing their concerns even for one last time? Why did they choose to suffer in silence?

Many students in recent times committed suicide, just because they anticipated to not perform well in an exam they were preparing for. Would it not have helped if they could freely discuss this with their parents or if they had sought some professional help?

What Needs To Be Done?

With 16 students committing suicide in Telangana and an equal number in AP since January 2017, the governments of both the Telugu states have expressed a serious concern and have vowed to contain the menace. Telangana Education Minister Kadiyam Srihari and AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced that steps will be taken to check the suicide menace in colleges. But the governments are not completely reliable. We can't leave our children's lives to the mercy of a government mechanism.

It is imperative on the part of parents and teachers to start making an effort to understand the caliber and the abilities of their children. To simply pressurize them and blame them for their poor performance in academics is only going to add to their miseries. This will make them suffer in silence and force them to feel lonely. Loneliness and stress combined together can slowly lead them into a vortex of depression.

As for students, it is important for them to understand that suicide is not a solution. Life is more precious than anything else and facing the challenges life throws at us only makes us stronger. Suicide only devastates the entire family and affects other lives. Students should seek help. There are counsellors, psychologists and even special friends who are more than willing to help them cope with their stress and depression.