REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
- By Ramanuj Dutta Choudhury
Guwahati, Mar 2: The majority of cases of suicide by adolescents take place during the examination season, which has become a major cause of concern. According to psychologists, parents have a big role to play in dealing with this ever- growing social problem, which ended the lives of many brilliant students at a young age.
When The Assam Tribune contacted Dr Mythili Hazarika, head of the Clinical Psychology Department of Gauhati Medical College, she admitted that suicide by adolescents has become a cause of serious concern and parents as well as teachers would have to play a major role in dealing with the is- sue. She revealed that according to a study, more than 56 per cent of suicides by adolescents take place during the period from March to July when different examinations are on and the main reason is that some students fail to cope with the pressure of studies and expectations from the parents added to the pressure on them.
Dr Hazarika pointed out that the students are under stress during the examination season and the parents should be very careful while dealing with them. The parents should not discuss studies with the children during the examination time. A section of parents have the habit of thinking that if their children do not do well in the examinations, they (parents) will be termed as unsuccessful parents by society. That is why, a section of parents become very anxious during the examination of their children and that rubs into the young minds and adds to their stress. A few students cannot cope with that stress and in the process, we are losing young lives, she added.
Dr Hazarika pointed out that the rat race for marks created examination phobia among a section of students, which is very disturbing. Moreover, some parents are forcing their children to take up subjects, with which they are not comfortable. It in turn increases the examination phobia. She suggested that schools should carry out aptitude tests in classes VII or VIII to identify which student is comfortable with which subjects and suggest the same to the parents.
On categories of students, Dr Hazarika pointed out that children can be broadly classified into three categories. The first category is “easy students” the second is “slow to work” and the third is "difficult". The teachers should identify the “difficult students” and inform the parents. The parents should take special care of such students and if required, take them to psychologists. But in most cases, the parents are in denial mode and such students are brought to psychologists at a late stage. Unfortunately, in Assam, there is stigma attached to visits to psychologists, she added.
Senior psychologists had suggested the introduction of classes on stress release and students should be taught to identify their own emotions along with emotions of others. As it may not be possible for all the schools to appoint psychologists, teachers should be trained to deal with the emotional problems of students and to identify inappropriate behaviour of students and inform the parents so corrective measures can be taken, Dr Hazarika said.