Concerned over a spate of student suicides reported in Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court on Friday reminded parents, teachers, schools, the media and the State government of the need to get children out of social isolation. It wanted the government to restrict the study hours for schoolchildren and come up with a policy for appointing child psychologists in every district.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar agreed with the Bar that many private schools concentrated only on academics and made the children study all day without any scope for extra curricular activities or social interaction with peers. This led to an immense pressure on the children to perform well and they consequently fell prey to severe stress and anxiety.
The judge appealed to the print as well as electronic media to show a sense of responsibility while reporting news on children. According to psychologists, sensationalising one suicide in the media might lead to the ‘Werther effect,’ a spike of emulation suicides that take place after a highly publicised suicide, and that was the reason for copycat suicides, he pointed out.
“Therefore, the media should show self-restraint in sensationalising suicides and stop projecting them repeatedly. The print and electronic media should not repeat the images, describe methods in detail and should not have screaming headlines. They must give helpline numbers... The victim’s identity should not be disclosed and privacy should be maintained,” the court wrote.
“All children are in need of care and protection of the State. Children often face pressure in society, particularly from parents, relatives and peers, to score high marks and to perform exceptionally well academically. The introduction of gadgets and Internet in our lives has permanently changed the way we interact with each other and children are no less vulnerable to the vices of the digital world,” the judge said.
Citing the nearly two-year-long lockdown to fight COVID-19 as one of the reasons for children having withdrawn from real world surroundings and getting into the trap of virtual surroundings, Justice Kumar reminded the parents and schools of their duty to have a comprehensive and cognitive check on this aspect and help the children deal with real world pressure.
Stating that challenges faced by the children in the virtual world were very unreal, and therefore, they tended to break down while facing real world situations, the judge said, “Parents and teachers need to be supportive and vigilant while addressing children and be mindful that all the children have returned from home (actually a jungle of social isolation for many nuclear families) to schools after a long gap.”
The judge also wanted to know by August 29 the status of a recommendation made by the High Court’s Juvenile Justice Committee on September 24, 2020, to the State government for establishing seven mobile psychological centres in Dharmapuri, Villupuram, Cudalore, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tiruvarur and Thiruvannamalai.
The details were called for during the hearing of a case related to the suicide of a girl student of a school in Kallakurichi district.
(Those in distress or having suicidal tendencies could seek help and counselling by calling State’s health helpline 104 or Chennai-based Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)
