E-Paper
Kill stress genie and watch suicide monster hotfoot it!
An IIT-K research student Abhilash G.J committed suicide on November 6, 2006. A first year MCA student of Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Santosh Kumar committed suicide on September 23, 2006.A final year B Tech student from IET, Puneet Kr Sachan committed suicide on June 10, 2006. Shailesh Sharma ended his life on May 3, 2006. He was doing research at IIT-K.
— An IIT-K research student Abhilash G.J committed suicide on November 6, 2006.
— A first year MCA student of Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Santosh Kumar committed suicide on September 23, 2006.
— A final year B Tech student from IET, Puneet Kr Sachan committed suicide on June 10, 2006.
— Shailesh Sharma ended his life on May 3, 2006. He was doing research at IIT-K.
FROM MAY 2006 to November 2006, over five students of higher learning committed suicide and many more attempted it. Psychologists say that in most of such cases the underlying factor is increasing level of stress, state of underachievement, low self-esteem, inter-personal difficulty and unrealistic expectations and they can be avoided through proper counselling and timely intervention.
However, what is shocking is the fact that most of the institutes of higher learning in the city, like Lucknow University and IET don’t have a full- time student counselor. They don’t even feel the need for one. Amrish Singh, dean student welfare, IET said, “We don’t have psychological counsellors in the college because we never felt the need. From time to time, the faculty members interact with the students and sometimes we try and get professional counsellors in the college. And anyway, if a student intends to commit suicide, he/she would do it irrespective of whether counsellors are available or not.”
On the other hand, institutes like IIM-L have adopted a creative means to handle and lessen the stress faced by the students. Though IIM-L was rocked by the suicide of Bir Kiriya Sikri Handsdah a couple of years back, the incident, had nothing to do with anything on the campus. The reason why suicides rarely happen in IIMs is simple. The teachers are supportive and the students are busy in creative things all the while. Different student committees are busy round the year formulating creative strategies, preparing case studies etc. “Where is the time for anything destructive?” a student remarked immediately after Handsdah’s case.
In November 2005, the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi conducted a workshop to deliberate on these issues in order to come out with specific intervention strategies to manage emotional and mental health of students in the institutions of higher learning. Deans, directors, senior faculty members and counsellors of institutes like IIT, AIIMS, National Institute Mental Health and Neuro Science (NIMHANS), Vidyasagar Institute Mental Health and Neuro Science (VIMHANS) and a few other institutes of higher learning attended the workshop in which a two level intervention strategy was suggested.
At the institutional level, they recommended the establishment of Student Health Care Centres and Stress Management Group that can deal with health related problems of the students and promote their mental and emotional well being.
