Out of 22 colleges located in the west zone of the Vijayawada Police Commissionerate, 18 sent a representative to attend a meeting convened on Wednesday by the Vijayawada Police to discuss the recent spate of student suicides in the city. Not one of these 18 college managements have on-campus counsellors for their students, complaint boxes, stress relief programmes or any recreational activity on their premises. They do not have libraries and anti-ragging measures either.
All the same, speakers agreed that many educational institutes, particularly junior colleges, are mounting relentless stress on their students: a12-hour academic schedule every day, weekly examinations, merciless separation of performers and non-performers, plenty of restrictions and inadequate absence of recreational facilities.
“Colleges are being run like correctional homes,” said one police officer who attended the meeting.
In the two suicides reported in Vijayawada last week, the common factor was that their depression went unnoticed by peers, parents and faculty alike.
The regional inspection officer (RIO) of the Board of Intermediate Education M. Raja Rao said lack of supervision on boarders was observed in many colleges where suicides have taken place.
“Had there been an atmosphere of tracing the psychological well-being of students, we would have far fewer suicides that what we have now,” Mr. Rao said.
A majority of the institutions, including universities, are not following the Neerada Committee’s recommendations, said SFI city unit president N. Koti. It has been found also that many colleges are flouting even the few prescribed norms, Patamata circle inspector K. Damodar said. “I think it’s high time that college managements to appointed counsellors, improved supervision in hostels, and introduced stress-relieving activities like yoga, meditation and sports into their schedule,” said Police Commissioner D. Gautam Sawang.
