ABASH PARIDA
Gregor Samsa is a travelling salesman. He has a sales target given by his boss, which is the only criterion to get Samsa monthly salary. He is very fearsome for his career. He is considered as a burdensome being by his parents and sister. He labels himself as a stupid and curses his fate for this strenuous career. He never gets eight hours of sleep. One morning, waking from a troubled dream, Samsa finds himself transformed into a large filthy insect. His transformation into a bug is unknown. Afterwards, Samsa tries his best to cope with his new condition and he never gives up the hope of life. This is the brief frame work of a novel named Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
The main character Samsa has not committed suicide. He struggles to reconcile his humanity with his sudden metamorphosis. Social alienation, struggle to get back his human identity, even the questions of his existence have not disturbed his mind and aim. It implies that suicide is never a panacea for our problems.
Death by suicide in context with students is an emerging social issue in India. A study reveals that globally 88% adolescents die by committing suicide. They are from low and middle income countries like India. For the young people aged between 15–29 years irrespective of gender, suicide stands as the fourth leading cause of death. The other top three causes are road injury, tuberculosis and interpersonal violence. We should understand that suicide is a global health issue. And it becomes a threat to economy and productivity when suicide takes the productivity tenure of a social capital mostly the students or job holders. Further to this, suicide brings crestfallen sorrow to the family affected when a young life ends.
In India one student die by committing suicide in every 42 minutes or more than 34 students per day as claimed by NCRB- 2020 report. Student suicide has increased from 7.4% to 8.2% in just one year from 2019 to 2020.
Suicide is defined as the intentional killing of oneself. It is pathological. There are many key studies on the suicide. All the studies maintain that suicide depends on individual psychology, its physical environment and nature of individual’s relation to society. It is to note here that every year, more than 1, 50,000 people commit suicide in India as per police recorded data. If we want to be more specific in number then, as per latest NCRB report it is reported that as many as 12,500 students committed suicides during 2020. But if we categorically analyse, it is to say here that, student suicide consists 8.2% of total suicides in India.
Odisha has reported 3.6% share of total suicides deaths in India. As per NCRB (Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India 2020) data,Odisha has seen 21% increase in overall suicides in 2020 over 2019. Students’ suicide is becoming regular phenomenon and also causes violence in many States. Recently, Tamilnadu and Odisha have seen protests and violence due to students’ suicide. Recently, 10th as well as 12th Board results have come out in Odisha. Failure in examination, academic pressure and peer pressure has compelled a few students to commit suicide. A few students’ suicides were of a different kind. A girl student from BJB College committed suicide in her hostel, speculating that she took such cruel step to end her life due to ragging. In another similar incident a medical student is alleged to die due to peer pressure in Balangir.
A student ended his life after his 12th results. A report by Odisha police says that as many as 1,400 students ended their lives by committing suicide in 2020. In last five years i.e from 2016 to 2020 , a total of 3,100 students died in suicide and it is surprising to reveal that as many as 1,800 were female students. Theories of suicides and its related statistics reveal that male are very prone to commit suicide but in Odisha, female students are committing more suicides than male. We know that Odisha is becoming one of the best hotspots for education globally. Another data further depicts that Odisha shares approximately 2.7% of the country’s higher educational institutions. Ironically, it is reported that in ragging case pool, Odisha is having a 7.5% share. The cases of ragging have increased since the educational institutions have adopted the physical mode of education. It is reported that the ragging cases are twice in number in 2021 in comparison to 2020. A statistical data by UGC’s www.antiragging.in as well as the AmanSatyaKachroo Trust reveal that , a total of 511 cases were registered across the country in 2021 compared to 219 registered in 2020. Whereas the cases reported in 2019 and 2018 were 1,070 and 1,016 respectively. Further to this, the UGC says that out of 511 cases as many as 181 of the total cases of ragging reported in 2021 were from medical colleges alone. It is not the ragging but the family pressure and failure in examinations are the leading causes of student suicide in India. Other causes are illness, fall in social reputation and ideological causes or hero worshipping.
There are many key researches on suicide by Durkheim Emilo Morselli and Thomas Masaryck. A classic study on suicide by Durkheim says that the tendency to suicide depends not on individual psychology or features of physical environment but on the nature of the individual’s relation to society. Suicide must be considered as an individual action representing the failure of social solidarity and reflections of weak social bonds.
On a recent development, WHO has also a serious concern on attempted or para-suicide cases. These attempted suicides are different from successful suicides. The basic distinction between the two is a matter of possibility. In a recent report it is established that behind every suicide there are many more people who attempt suicide. A prior suicide attempt is the single most important risk factor for suicide in the general population.
Now the role of education institution is very vital in imparting strong bonds,self-confidence and to look after the mental health. Further to this, psychological counselling session to students must be included in syllabus. A collective responsibility is need of the hour now. Teachers, family, CSOs and media should help the students to ease the academic distress.
(Dr Parida is an Assistant Professor in Sociology, email id: abash.parida@gmail.com, M: 8456879522).