In less than 24 hours of the results of Intermediate public examination being announced, at least six students died by suicide, leaving their families mourning.
The series of suicides have led to questions regarding the mental well-being and the pressure that students go through during and after examinations, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
The desire to score the highest is driven by peer, family and societal pressures and raises expectations. Failure to meet these expectations is one of the major causes of youngsters taking the extreme step of ending their life.
Senior child psychologist Dr Jawaharlal Nehru P told The New Indian Express: "Any suicide involves two stages — incident and mental stage. It is not an instantaneous step, but the culmination of the a combination of various factors that youngsters experience, which leads to a suicidal ideation and the action. One must understand that children in the 14-16 age group undergo many physiological changes while they are still in school, where the environment is different than that in the college. As a student transitions to college life, they lose old friends, their actions are limited to studies and the college environment is also different from that of the school. All these factors affect a student who is very likely to experience a trauma, which they do not share with anyone and gradually isolate themselves. As they are not exposed to CASH — caring and sharing in college life — they become more reserved and prone to psychological distress".
Dr Nehru added that parents and teachers must stop inducing guilt in students if they do not perform well in exams, and must explain the necessity of learning rather than scoring marks.
“The primary concern of most of the students who fail in an exam is how they will explain it to their parents. This shows that a lack of emotional standard from the parents pushes the children towards depression and isolation. An open communication with their children and regular interaction with teachers for supporting their children in studies can bring a tangible change in the grim scenario,” the psychologist said.
Tele-Manas, a helpline, gets a number of distress calls from students and parents experiencing anxiety related to the results.
One of the counsellors at Tele-Manas said, "We have been receiving many distress calls since yesterday. Most of them are from students while a few parents are also calling us seeking help for their children. Whenever a student calls, they are under extreme pressure and stress and they have no safe place to express themselves. Our counselling calls give them the scope to open up, where we make them feel safe and encourage them towards being more positive and hopeful as one result is not worth the life of an individual. More importantly, family members and close ones also need to be more supportive of those who perform poorly in any examination".
K Rebecca Maria from 1-Life, a suicide prevention organisation, said that they had started receiving calls from students for help and a few of them were extremely stressed due to the bad results. She also explained that expectations from parents were one of the prime reasons for youngsters deciding to take steps for self-harm.
“Any individual takes the step of suicide when they see no hope. As the students experience negativity, which pushes them into depression and loneliness and eventually leads to suicide, creating a positive atmosphere around them becomes crucial in such sensitive times. At the same time, we cannot overlook the cut-throat competition, hefty expenses and investment in education which burdens the parents, as well as the unrealistic success scenario that the society tries to impose on students and their parents, collectively contribute to students' suicide. What is more important for parents is to invest wisely and also encourage their children to follow their dreams, which can take off the burden that the children face," Maria said.
Experts underline self-care in the form of mindfulness, exercise, yoga, meditation, journal writing, developing hobbies as some of the ways for one's emotional and mental well-being. They also stressed the role of support from the family and society for a healthy environment for children.
24/7 Suicide Prevetion Helplines:
Tele-Manas - 14416
1Life - 9152987821
AASRA - 9820466726
Vandrevala Foundation - 9999666555
