28 March,2011 06:43 AM IST | | Team Mid Day
It's important to sensitise parents and teachers to problems of students
Even as the SSC and HSC exams have concluded, the fear of results are driving students in the city to take the extreme step.
De-stress: Dr Bharat Desaiu00a0and Pallavi Kasande interact with the MiD
DAY reporters. Pic/Jignesh Mistry
This week the MID DAY team discusses the trend of suicides due to alarming stress levels on the student community. We spoke to counsellors and psychologists about sensitising parents, students, and training teachers.
Why is there a sudden rise in student suicides?
The SSC and HSC examinations have just concluded. With our experience, we can say that students face two types of dilemma. Either 'Can I perform well or not in the examination' or second 'Can I prove myself as per the expectations of my parents'. This leads to questioning one's ability and builds up frustration among students.
Is there a way to 'diagnose' suicidal symptoms?
It is possible to identify such people through their behaviour which are peculiar to those with suicidal tendencies. Such people often speak of feeling worthless or helpless. They speak about death as pleasant and about meeting their dear ones. Some people write it in their dairy. Their frustration causes aggression and leads to suicide.
Is parental pressure or expectations contributing to rise in suicides?
It is not true. Suicides are blamed on parents but what children feel as parental pressure could be their way of motivating the child to perform better. Parents want their children to do the best.
What would you suggest to create awareness in parents and teachers to prevent such situations?
This is really a sad situation and we are preparing guidelines for both parents as well as the teaching fraternity. They need to follow the basic norms of handling these children by understanding the possibility of their stress especially in the examination. We want parents to love children as well as be firm which can actually help in preventing miscommunication and suicides. We are also designing courses for teachers on special skills required to pick up suicidal behaviours.
Are children being taught to deal with stress?
As per the World Health Organisation report in 1993, education does not teach basic life skills like problem-solving, decision-making and coping with stress. Children are only burdened with books and general knowledge. Government has designed a special course to teach life skills that will be compulsory for school teachers. But right now, this course is not enforced properly as it is a correspondence course. Secondly, a teacher handles over 60 students in a class and it is difficult to look into each student's problem.
What should schools do?
We do visit many schools in the city to tackle this issue. Our experience has been strange. Schools are ready to discuss individual cases with teachers but are reluctant to call parents. Parents pay heavy fees, and expect the school to solve students' problems on their own. On the other hand, some schools just blatantly call parents if a student lands in trouble and ask them to take their wards out of the school. They are reluctant to address the issue and want the problem-child out of the school. The basic methods of reducing stress should be taught in schools also.
