Close on the heels of the tragic student suicide at Narayana, an inter student attempts suicide in Sri Chaitanya Junior College in Vijaywada. The reason that has come to light is the severe thrashing that the child received from his lecturers. The distraught boy jumped off the college building. He was rushed to hospital immediately by his friends. The life of the child is critical with severe injuries. It brings us to the why behind the multiple recent student suicide cases.
A show cause notice was served to Narayana Gollege at Gudavalli after the suicide case. The investigation is on. Multiple guidelines and more have been framed by education committees but remain unheeded.
Chakrapani Committee – The Chakrapani Committee which was constituted to set guidelines for ethical education seems ominously silent on the issue of corporal punishment. In an age where corporal punishment is taboo and student suicide is on the rise, the guidelines do not help. Severe mental and physical harassment led to the Narayana suicide and now the Chaitanya case. As per the committee monitoring groups at college and district level have been set up. This too doesn’t help. Assignments, completion, ranks, marks and competition are taking a toll on youth. Youth coupled with unethical teaching practices are goading students towards taking extreme steps.
The student suicide case numbers are on the rise and call for action has become immediate.
