Himalayauk himalaya Gaurav Uttarakhand
The state capital has reported seven student suicides in less than two months this year, prompting experts to demand a dedicated system to counsel stressed students besides preventing the education hub from turning into a “suicide hub”.
The latest case has been that of a hotel management student who hanged himself to death on February 23 in Jamunwala village in Premnagar area after scoring poor marks in semester exam.
According to police record, 11 suicide cases have been reported in Dehradun this year (1 in January and 10 in February), of which seven suicides have been committed by youngsters studying in different institutes of the state capital.
Attributing this trend to mushrooming of professional colleges and schools after Doon was made the interim capital of Uttarakhand in 2000, experts said there was an urgent need to ensure presence of mental health experts and counselors on all college/school campuses and disseminate helpline numbers for students.
On February 21, an MCA student committed suicide in Premnagar area while a female paramedical student committed suicide in Patel Nagar area on February 14.
“While some have taken initiatives, all the colleges and schools need to come forward to carry out screening of mental health of students to identify any signs of depression, ideation towards harming self or even any other psychotic disorder for timely intervention.”
“Students are very vulnerable and don’t have problem-solving skills which leads them into taking the extreme step in the absence of proper (psychological) support system,” Dehradun-based clinical psychologist Veena Krishnan told.
