Student suicides in India

Recently the press has been giving a lot of coverage to student suicides in India... which is giving many people the impression that student suicides are a new problem... (this is mainly because of the movie 3 Idiots IMO)... but student suicides have been a plague in Indian academia for a VERY long time.... In 2006... there were an average of 16 STUDENT suicides EVERY-BLOODY-DAY (if Times of India sources are to be believed)...

We all know the cause... do you have any ideas about the solution? Do you think that all of the attention that the media is giving to student suicides is a good thing or a bad thing?

I dunno what you guys think.... but I found it sad that a bloody Bollywood movie was the thing what was necessary for people to wake up to the fact that so many students are killing themselves everyday in India.... I feel angry when I see people who believe that this is a new problem... who have no idea how many unnamed and unknown students had ended their lives before the press started covering each and every student suicide in Mumbai...

Note: Forgive me if I come across as insensitive in these posts..


It's true what you said Kyo, but did feel 3 Idiots had a small part to play here. If you watched 3 Idiots, you'll realise that the people committing/attempting suicide are given a lot of sympathy ... let's say suicide isn't exactly frowned upon in that film... Sure a movie couldn't be the only cause, but I did feel it had a part to play, albeit small. (But I'm not of opinion that banning those scenes or the movie will help)

Sure there were suicides before as well. But if its a Bollywood movie we need to open our eyes, so be it.

On the sole topic of suicides, I feel some of the children were just spoilt. What I feel they just wanted sympathy for themselves..

Do you remember when you were small, and you had a fight with your mom or dad.. then you'd go and cry somewhere.. and think 'maybe if i die they'd feel sorry and repent fighting with me'
No? Maybe just me then.
These suicides are an extreme version of the same thing.

The girl who was 9 years old and committed suicide because she wasn't allowed to attend dance class.. I think that was stupid.
Think back to when you were 9, did you even know what suicide was? I didn't.
Frankly I believe this girl got everything she wanted, even fame (she was in a dance reality show when was younger). Her parents stopped her dance class because her grades were dropping and she was spending too much time not studying, and I feel that's a perfectly acceptable reason.

On one hand,it's true that suiciding is an escapist attitude. I mean,if a problem arises that seem to have no ready solution,what do you do,kill yourself? Does that really solve the problem in the first place? Moreover it only makes your near and dear ones miserable. I can sympathize with the victims but also I believe this is not the right way to go about things. Some people also 'fake' suicide attempts as a tool for emotional blackmail to generate attention and sympathy,something which they couldn't have achieved otherwise. This is just so wrong!

But on the other hand,the society has as much to do with the rapid growth of student suicides as their flawed mentality.First is our 'memorize-vomit' education system which is totally 'grade' centered. But you guys probably know about this already. Another major problem of teenagers is issues with love lives (cheating,suspicions,rejection resulting in depression,social frowning,parental pressures etc etc). But again,before taking rash decisions,try consulting with someone! You can't hope to keep your pride intact and suicide at the same time!!

As for a solution...there is no ready made one. As a lot of factors conspire to drive someone beyond his/her limits,a lot of things need to change first.But it's the general attitude towards life that needs to be changed first and foremost. Life is not 'use and throw',it isn't the proverbial 'bed of roses'..you need to relish it despite the hardships,otherwise you're not gonna get anywhere. As I've said before,I can only sympathize with suicide victims,but I can't justify them.

When I said '... because of the movie 3 Idiots ...' I was only talking about how the media has picked up the whole idea of covering suicides after that movie...

I dont think that the movie is the cause of the suicides themselves... but come to think of it... it MIGHT have been a catalyst in some rare cases...

I am not talking about those few and far between cases of 9 year olds killing themselves... and even though that is also sad... my concern is directed at those thousands of students who end their lives due to academic pressures...

Killing yourself over ANYTHING is never the right choice... for an "outsider" it will always seem like a stupid thing to do... but the thing is... when a person is emotionally unbalanced enough to consider suicide... things are not that clear to them... simply put... they are not thinking straight...

There need to be helplines for this sort of thing... so that people can talk to someone who might be able to dissuade them... or persuade them to seek help with therapists or something... this is something which will help any and all people who are suicidal for whatever reason....

While there are many reasons for suicide which are personal (such as failing relationships, monetary pressures, etc.)... the problem of suicides brought about by purely academic pressures has reached pandemic proportions... and even though 'normal' people might consider these suicides as unjustified... or... stupid... the fact is that it is a problem and that we as a society need to deal with it... and while we cannot deal with the 'personal' reasons for suicide on such a broad scale... we CAN come up with ways to reduce the academic pressure we are applying on our youth...

My point is that we cannot come up with any nationwide policy to help people who are going to kill themselves cause they were dumped by their better halves.... those people need to be helped individually.... but we CAN create new policies that could reduce the academic pressures imposed on students nationwide... and help them ALL in one fell swoop...

But like I've said before..it's not gonna happen overnight. Our educational system is so out of synch with those of the more advanced nations right now,that a complete overhaul of the system is needed. That means politics,red tapes,blame games,arguments,polls etc ultimately leading to half hearted modifications,unrealistic proposals,complications and what not which will do more harm to the system than good.

The problem is that we think about everything in terms of politics i.e whether our vote banks will be safe or not if such and such proposals are implemented. This leads to fear,self doubt,infighting amongst party ranks and the whole thing is finally scrapped...completely ignoring the needs of the majority. We need to think about this in strictly unpolitical terms,otherwise a progressive educational system will always remain a distant dream.

Oh...and I agree with the counselling sessions bit. But often,pressurized students don't talk to their parents about their problems,fearing a backlash..and parents fail to notice the changes in them. This lack of communication is a major worry. If you won't talk about your worries,then no one else can help you with it. Simple as that.

DIE HARD wrote:But like I've said before..it's not gonna happen overnight. Our educational system is so out of synch with those of the more advanced nations right now,that a complete overhaul of the system is needed. That means politics,red tapes,blame games,arguments,polls etc ultimately leading to half hearted modifications,unrealistic proposals,complications and what not which will do more harm to the system than good.

The problem is that we think about everything in terms of politics i.e whether our vote banks will be safe or not if such and such proposals are implemented. This leads to fear,self doubt,infighting amongst party ranks and the whole thing is finally scrapped...completely ignoring the needs of the majority. We need to think about this in strictly unpolitical terms,otherwise a progressive educational system will always remain a distant dream.

I know its not going to happen overnight... just saying that it needs to happen.... of course the sooner it happens the better....

DIE HARD wrote:
Oh...and I agree with the counselling sessions bit. But often,pressurized students don't talk to their parents about their problems,fearing a backlash..and parents fail to notice the changes in them. This lack of communication is a major worry. If you won't talk about your worries,then no one else can help you with it. Simple as that.

Im not talking about them talking to their parents... there are many other people they could talk to.... therapists for example... but that would require setting up of appointments and whatnot... not something that suicidal people are likely to bother with.... the one of the easiest ways to get help would be to call a helpline... and I dont know if there are some suicide helplines in India... but if there are... then people need to be made aware of them... and if there are not... then we need to set some up... another easy way would be to talk to friends and/or any member of the family who they feel more comfortable with... the key is to talk about your problems with any rational person... while there is the feeling of hesitation... it would be a lot easier for such people to work up the courage pick up a phone and call a helpline than to talk to someone face to face... if only they knew about them...

kyo wrote:

and I dont know if there are some suicide helplines in India... but if there are... then people need to be made aware of them... and if there are not... then we need to set some up

Yup, we do have helplines. There's something called as 'Blessings' helpline, which on one of my earlier posts in a different thread I have mentioned. The other one, is 'Prerana' for suicide prevention, depression & counselling- 022-25905959. Its for Mumbai and Thane. I am sure, other major cities also have such helplines- A simple blackle search(check the thread on environmentalist club) will work.
Times of India always has a separate box dedicated for such helplines and it is published one month in advance, almost every week prior to important exams like 10th and 12th boards, or even JEE.

Well thats good to know... but there should be more awareness about these helplines... more advertising I guess...

Suicides today cannot be just attributed to study issues. Moreover, it's due to the increasing pressure. No matter what you think, somehow or other you will be sucked into the rat race. And then comes the truckload of peer pressure and parental pressure. Its a lack of personal strength that makes kids think that they cant face people if they encounter a failure.
So all we can do is make children realise that one has to recognise their strengths first. it's not necessary for everyone to become a doctor or an engineer. Parents need to understand there are other professions then these two. Secondly it has to be drilled in a child's mind that yeah, failure sucks but it's not the end of the world. Suicide is like the most cowardly, loser thing to do. Maybe then, we can expect a remedy.
An unconventional view, but sometimes religion helps too. I remember my mom reading some chalisa since my childhood that suicide is the ultimate sin. It made me despise suicides...

Moving topic to Colleseum