MP SHANTARAM NAIK DEMANDS REFORMS IN EDUCATION TO MINIMISE SUICIDES

PANJIM: Mr Shantaram Naik, MP, has demanded reforms in education and examination system, as a measure to minimise increasing incidents of student suicide in the country.  Raising the issue during zero hour in the Rajya Sabha, on Thursday, Mr Naik demanded that the 1986 Education Policy should be replaced by a new one and it should address issues pertaining to students suicides.

Mr Naik said that in Goa itself, there were two cases of students committing suicides recently and both the cases were related to education.

South India, according to some figures, has the world’s largest number of suicides. Out of every three cases reported every 15 minutes in India, one is committed by youth in the age group of 15 to 29, according to a study, he said.

Mr Naik further said that some years back, a boy in Kerala who secured 91 per cent marks committed suicide. He had realized that his father had a loss in business and had taken loan for his sister’s studies. The boy did not want to burden his parents with more loans for his further studies and ended his life.

Although there are some key factors which lead to such suicides, one of them is parents insistence on their wards getting high percentage and repeatedly reminding them of that, he said.

Students remain under pressure all the time thinking that he/she may not be able to satisfy parents aspirations and, many of them are worried that failure to get high percentage may compel their parents to seek loan of lakhs of rupees to secure them admission in higher studies, Mr Naik said.

Merciless loot in the name of donation which is going on in the country is one of the prime reasons which leads students to extreme end, he added. Family conflicts, domestic violence, failure of crop in agricultural families etc, are also some of the reasons which lead to such tragedies but, our educational system too, which lays stress on memorisation is equally the culprit, Mr Naik further mentioned.

Television and media publicity to the toppers, although, it is their due, has an effect on the minds of those who lag behind, and undue publicity to suicide cases specially of celebrities does more harm to the society than good, the MP noted.

There are cases where students run out of their house before exams and there are also cases where students who commit suicide for fear of getting low marks, turn out to be rankers when they are no more, Mr Naik said.

He further mentioned to the House that due to modernisation of our society, students fall in love at a tender age and many such relationships have their ups and downs. This has also surfaced as one of the grounds for increasing cases of suicides among students.