A Culture of Cohesion to Save Young Lives on Campuses

Why in News?

• During 2018-23, 61 students committed suicide - 33 in the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), 24 in the National Institute of Technology (NITs), and 4 in the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) – and the majority of these belonged to SC, ST, OBC and EWS categories.

 

Factors leading to the suicide in campuses

• Marginalisation and deprivation: Caste-based discrimination, academic pressure and many different forms of harassment.
• Impersonal spaces: Campuses have become large and impersonal spaces; there is very little space for emotional vulnerabilities.
• Institutions' reluctance to address the problems:
  • Institutions are in denial mode and they prefer to hush things up.
  • They expect parents to deal with the situation.
  • In some instances, students in emotional distress have been advised to spend time with their families.
• Lack of Communication:
  • There is hardly any free and fair communication between students, their seniors, teachers, and the administration.
  • As a result, the concept of "A Home Away from Home" is almost nonexistent.
  • Classroom interactions are confined to academics.
  • The continuous struggle to stay committed, dedicated, and hard-working, adds to the emotional stress students are already under.
  • Teachers may hardly have the time, inclination, or even expertise to notice and address any disturbing traits among their students.
  • Consequently, students are deprived of much-needed preventive measures.

 

Other contributing factors

• Many sources of distress lie outside the purview of higher education institutions and have their genesis in the larger economic and societal contexts like family circumstances, financial distress, etc.
• Family System:
  • The family support system is dwindling with the rising concept of the nuclear family.
  • Working parents are unable to provide the parenting and mentoring that joint families provide.
  • This has made Individualism prevalent in society.
  • As a result of this, early signs of emotional distress go unnoticed, unrecognised, and unaddressed.

 

Existing Mechanism to Address the Problem

• There are formal mechanisms in place to provide personal, cultural,and psychological counseling to students.
• Most of the IITs, NITs,and other institutions have put in place (or beginning) online and offline mechanisms for students to access personal counseling and therapies confidentially. Apps such as Dost, Saathi, and Mitr have been launched for the purpose.
• Most of these institutions also organise awareness and sensitisation programmes for students.

 

Drawbacks of the existing mechanism

• The onus is on students ‘in need’ to seek help. It is they who must seek an appointment.
• Another drawback is the inability of institutions to respond in a prompt manner.

 

A Study in Contrast

• Universities in the US have dedicated counseling centres with a range of psychological services such as evaluation, counseling, consultation, and therapies for individuals and groups.
  • In contrast, the psychological counseling services in Indian campuses are limited to providing some physical space in a corner of the institution, with a limited number of professionally trained psychologists and psychotherapists.
• Universities in the US are accredited by the International Accreditation of Counseling Services (IACS) and are manned by licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical therapists, mental health workers, and social workers.
  • There are hardly any standards followed in India.

 

What should be done?

• Each of the above issues must be addressed at their source by the government, society, institutions, parents and families.
• Create conditions for forming an assimilative culture of cohesion and promote respect for academic and socio-economic diversity.
• Institutions must deter and curb all forms of discrimination.
• Institutions should be discreet about some sensitive information about a student such as his category.
• There's a need to evolve a code of campus ethics prescribing standards and protocols of what can and cannot be discussed even in informal social settings.
• The first step for the standardisation is by giving equal importance to student’s mental health aspects while processing approval and accreditation of institutions.

 

Conclusion

While counseling and therapies are crucial majors, institutes of learning need to ensure respect for academic and socioeconomic diversity on their campuses. And it should be their commitment to develop a culture of cohesion to save young lives.

 

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Q1) Which measures should be taken to prevent students from committing suicide?

Measures to be taken by higher education institutions to prevent students from committing suicide include setting up dedicated centres with a range of psychological services to detect early signs of emotional distress, curbing any form of discrimination, timely support it is important for society, the government, parents and families to address every issue which might cause emotional distress to a student. 

 

Q2) What are leading factors to the suicide?

Factors leading to suicides include marginalisation, Caste Based Discrimination, Academic pressure, modern family system etc 

 

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Source: The Hindu