The spree of student suicides and gruesome murders by students in Telangana in recent times have jolted people out of their slumber.
The conscience of the society was pricked with the suddenness of these incidents and the shocking calmness with which they were done. The bright future of youngsters is nipped in the bud for reasons that looked silly to the outside world and completely avoidable.
While academic pressures continued to be the prime reason, it was astonishing to note that ragging in the form of cyber bullying continues to haunt students.
Outcry
The suicides of Preeti from Kakatiya Medical College and Rakshita, an engineering student from Warangal, both related to cyber bullying; the gruesome murder of Naveen Nenavath by his close friend due to ‘love jealously’ and the suicide of Sathwik who allegedly hanged himself in his classroom apparently unable to take insults from teachers and caretakers – all within a span of a week led to parental and societal outcry.
Student suicides earlier, were mostly confined during the time of exam results, with the weak-hearted and sensitive taking the extreme step fearing ridicule from society over their academic failure. But with the emergence of corporate colleges, which have basically turned themselves into marks and rank-producing machines, the unnecessary pressures for success increased enormously on young minds, leading to suicides taking an upswing.
Also read: Tearful adieu to Kakatiya Medical College student Dr. Preethi
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics reveal that student suicides in Telangana have increased, with 567 students committing suicide in 2021, including 227 girls. This is the highest number since 2015, when the first figures of a separate Telangana were published by the NCRB.
“The numbers are huge for a small State like Telangana, which is also one of the most educated States,” feels Kota Neelima, a social researcher and director of the Institute of Perception Studies, who is also associated with the Congress party.
In a society that is preoccupied with its race for better lives, the numbers are forgotten despite newspapers reminding us almost every day of such incidents. Only when the final figure is released, one notices the enormity of the situation, but that too gets conveniently ignored.
Fragile social relations
Failures in the system apart, the suicides indicate the fragile social relations in this digital age, a web into which youngsters are sucked in easily. The mobile, which has become a necessary evil, and the unavoidable digital addiction are turning students into emotional pressure cookers with less family time spent as parents are also busy with their careers. Nuclear families and loneliness in the absence of elders are forcing students look for emotional support elsewhere.
The digital platforms provide anonymity initially but later suck students into them where they search for emotional support and love. This comes with the dangers of online harassment and cyber stalking. The inability to counter cyber bullying, particularly by girls, is surely a cause of concern as was seen in the deaths of Preethi and Rakshita.
An innocuous Rakshita could never imagine that her friendly banter on WhatsApp would be uploaded on the web by her own friends, hitting at her self respect. She committed suicide fearing loss of face among her family by the chats.
Preethi too, was equally sensitive and couldn’t take her senior admonishing her in front of her friends. The cyber bullying by her senior Saif further pushed her into a shell forcing her to take her life. It was ragging but in a digital form, which is banned and punishable in educational institutions.
“The dangers of gadgets and youngsters’ failure to understand their limitations is a serious issue. The cyber world has more dangers than youngsters expect and digital education must include this aspect right from the school level,” says C. Veerender, a clinical psychologist.
On the other hand, he says that suicides can be prevented to a large extent. Suicides are not spontaneous and the feelings pop up continuously but they neither know how to deal with nor have the skills to identify such tendencies. “That is why mental health education is a must. Academics don’t take it seriously and it is the government that has to step in, more so in a competitive digital world,” Mr. Veerender argues.
Criminality among youngsters
Another danger is criminality creeping into the minds of young people in the name of love. The barbaric murder of Naveen Nenavath last week by his best friend reflects how dangerous the digital age is. The fact that the killer watched videos, available in abundance in the net, to kill his friend out of ‘love jealousy’. Not only that, he took selfies with the victim’s heart after pulling it out of the body and posted it to his friends without fear or guilt, a shocker for many but not psychologists.
Mr. Veerender says that teenagers don’t understand the difference between love and attraction. The most natural feeling of humans is complicated and shown as a trait of ‘He Man’ in films that have a huge impact on youngsters. It’s all about winning love at any cost with heroism and this dangerous message is passed on coolly.
“Feelings and thoughts are not facts and they have a tendency to change from time to time. Handling sexual desires needs to be inculcated among youngsters or else the negativities of the digital world and the emotional turbulences will lead to more such killings,” says Mr. Veerender, who has been conducting such sessions in colleges through his organisation “You and Me”.
