By P.Vijian, NNN-Bernama
New Delhi : With stiff competition in Indian classrooms, more young students are succumbing to exam pressure and ending up committing suicide.
Within 24 hours on March 8, six students killed themselves in south Delhi and at least eight people died in a week.
Education experts say students unable to cope with the rising ultra competition in schools, family and societal pressure were driving them to suicide, while victims remain helpless.
Depressed over her poor performance, 16-year-old Tania Sitaram allegedly shot herself with her father’s pistol in her house here on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Ankit Raj, 15, hanged himself on the ceiling fan. His family said he could not cope with the pressure of examination the next day.
Gripping sad tales of student suicides are becoming a regular feature in Indian society who place education on a high pedestal and good performances are a family pride.
Besides, to thousands of Indians, 65 per cent of the 1.2 billion populations live in rural areas, relying largely on farmland; a decent education is the only passport towards social and occupational mobility.
Also, to break away from their hereditary poverty jinx and deep-rooted caste structure that had marginalized many.
“With exams round the corner, there is surely a lot to study and there is a lot of stress. Stress-related suicides are alarmingly on the rise among the student community in the highly-competitive society,” a Jaipur-based student counsellor, Dr Vivek Sharma, told Bernama.
“As the student community lives in highly populated and competitive society, there is undue pressure to outsmart each other,” he said.
According to National Crime Record Bureau statistics, 2,496 students committed suicide in 2004, 2,283 in 2005 and 2,378 in 2006.
After road accidents, the second most common cause of deaths among college students in the age group of between 15 and 24 is suicide.
Vivek said student suicides are a global phenomenon and even in the United States and Europe such deaths are prevalent.
“Suicidal problems among students even exist in developed countries. In fact, students there either shoot themselves or beat each other due to the stress element. This is also being replicated here (India),” he added.