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Ending lives the easy way
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Life has become cheap for the children who have turned strangers to the caring sensitivity of their parents, leading to an alarming rise in adolescent suicide. And every year after the SSLC examinations there is a wave of suicide mania in Kerala, notes LEELA MENON.
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KERALA, THE suicide capital of India, witnesses a wave of suicide mania sweeping over the adolescent scene in the post-SSLC scenario every year. It was no different this year with the suicide trend gripping even the new teens. Both the suicide prevention centre, `Maithri' and the adolescent helpline, Childline' reported a flood calls prior to the announcement of the result and in the aftermath of the announcement. Strangely, the calls were not exclusively from children but also from desperate parents, neighbours, friends, and even from teachers. Which testifies to the anxiety, expectations and frustrations that mark the educational scenario in Kerala.
School children are under great stress because of the overwhelming pressures imposed both by parents and teachers. Schools also compete in forcing children study, to ensure cent per cent result. It is in this accelerating suicide context that `Maithri' was set up in Kochi, to give counselling to would-be suicides. Sensitive the desperate urgency for counselling in the wake of SSLC results, `Maithri' remained open for 24 hours from May 25 to May 29, to soothe the bruised, breaking adolescent hearts. According to Naseema, Director of `Maithri', they received 286 calls during this period alone, out of which 272 were from students. Boys, obviously more anxious than girls about their results, accounted for165 calls, while calls from girls were 107. Fourteen calls were from parents, relatives, friends and teachers. "Even friends and relatives ring up, worried about the reaction of parents to the results. Sometimes teachers, anxious about impact of failure on students, also ring up", Naseema said. Before the announcement of the results kids rang up expressing their anxiety and fear of parental reaction. Quite a few worried about their future, the difficulty in admissions etc. The shame of failure also haunted many. According to her only four callers expressed specific suicide intent while the rest sought relief from tension and release from their anxiety and apprehension. Five failed children called, while 12 calls were about admissions and three from children whose results were withheld.
`Childline' which functions from Rajagiri College and is on line for 24 hours, if one rings 1098, also received a spate of calls from kids. Over 200 calls reached `Childline' before the announcement of the results, many expressing anxiety and fear, despite faring well in examinations. It highlighted the intense expectations that surround the results. "We soothe them, pointing out their excellent performance in the past. To the losers we say that there is still another day", says Chackochan, one of the `Childline' team. There were 155 calls from failed students, out of which 16 actually threatened to commit suicide. "Most of the calls were from girls, who appeared to react more intensely to failure," Chackochan said.
The theme of all adolescent anxiety was the reaction of parents. Children are alsorunning away from home after examinations. Recently one boy had arrived in Kochi from Chennai and had reached Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, who handed him over to `Childline'. "On an average at least seven or eight kids run away in a month from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and even from Mumbai and reach us. Also from Kerala. We restore them to parents", Chackochan said.
Adolescent suicide is on the increase in Kerala, especially among children below the age of 14. The figures of the Crime Record Bureau show that while 90 kids killed themselves in 1990, the figure in 1999 was 132. More girls, 72 to be specific, than boys committed suicide in 1999. The figure for boys was 64. The statistics show a 1.35 increase in adolescent suicide in Kerala. Obviously suicide has become an easy option for the Malayali, including children. Just the other day one adolescent committed suicide because he was prevented from watching the World Cup.Llife has become cheap for the children, who are becoming strangers to the caring sensitivity of parents.
Suicide town
Suicides among adolescents are rather scary, but figures tell sad stories. In urban and rural areas the reasons for suicides vary. Take the case of this little boy in Noornad, the village which tops the suicide charts. He simply jumped into the well because his mother refused to buy him a new pair of slippers. This incident happened a few years ago.
Basically an agricultural village, pesticides are available in plenty and also illicit brew- a heady combination to abet suicide. The attitude of the villagers adds to themalady. The casual way they refer to suicides give it a `normal ` colour. Recently there was an attempt to thwart attempts through a phone helpline. But how many poor teenagers have access to phones is anybody's guess.
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