Student life is undoubtedly about academics, career growth, growing but at the same time it’s also about having fun, friends and chilling. It is definitely not about giving up on your life. But ironically, we hear news every other day that a student has taken the extreme step, and ended their own life.
According to a report by NCRB, there was a 32.5% jump in student suicides in 2021 as compared to 2017. Not only this, Kota, the education hub of our country has witnessed 7th student suicide in just 3 months of 2024. What’s important to know is that it’s not easy to choose to give up rather to live. Therefore, the main question that arises is why?
Why do students decide to give up on their life? It’s Pressure
Growing up comes with a lot of responsibilities, a lot of duties and along that comes tons of pressure. Pressure of not being able to bring academic validation to yourself, not scoring more than your friends, not being able to get admission in your dream college or placed in your dream university. The pressure, be it mental, peer or it might come from family takes a toll on the students to a large extent that they can’t cope up with it and decide on taking up their life.
Asking for help:
Students nowadays are not ready to ask for help, they don’t even want to show that vulnerable side of them to anybody, as according to them, it’s a symbol of weakness. This is one reason why everything creates so much pressure for them in their minds and they end up losing themselves. Also, they fear asking for help from their own parents, teachers and friends thinking that they will be judged and it would diminish their profile in front of others.
Social Isolation:
In this era of technology, every student is so addicted to their smart phones, no one really socializes or talks to each other. Laptops and mobile phones are their best camaraderie and social isolation have become a reason that people don’t share anything with each other. That has become one reason why the number of self-murders have increased.
Financial Issues:
A lot of students think that this is the age they should be financially independent and so they tend to take that pressure on themselves to get their dream college, grow up and get a job for themselves and their family. This when takes longer than usual, students start thinking that they are worthless and it would be better if they die.
It becomes the responsibility of a parent, a teacher, family, friends and the society as a whole that no student feels that they are worthless or they don’t deserve anything in life. It is the need of the hour that awareness programs get started and the closed ones keep a check on the students in their vicinity that they are not facing any sort of issue regarding these pertinent topics. The future of India is in the hands of the youth and therefore, it is important that the youth flourishes in their field with all the support they can get. While the thoughts might be inevitable, a competent helping hand and an understanding ear can be the deciding factor of whether the thoughts stay incorporeal, or become reality.