ICYO

YOUTH INFORMATION

                           No: 2008/23

(E-Newsletter from network of youth organizations in India)

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ICYO - Platform of 356 Youth Organizations in India.       

ICYO - India’s largest network of urban and rural youth.

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Around 6,000 Students Committed Suicide in 2006 in India

 

In 2006, 5,857 students — or 16 a day — committed suicide across India due to exam stress. And these are just the official figures. Shimla superintendent of police (crime), Punita Bhardwaj, said incidents of children committing suicide because of examination stress often did not get reported as traumatized parents wanted to keep the issue under wraps.

 

Anita Naresh, a 16-year-old from Kanpur who swallowed dye last week as she felt she had not done well in her Class X exams, is one of them. Her condition is still critical. A teenager from Chandigarh attempted suicide inside the examination centre but was taken to hospital just in time. Bangalore has witnessed a series of attempted suicides by students denied a hall ticket for a board examination owing to poor attendance.

 

According to Kolkata psychiatrist Debashish Roy, scores of youngsters seek counselling before and after the exam season and have to be put on medication.

 

It’s not just board exams that get stress levels soaring in students. Entrance tests to professional courses that require extra coaching also have the same effect. St Joseph’s Convent, Patna, teacher Shweta Priyadarshini put it best when she said: “Most students face two kinds of pressure: one due to the board examinations and the other due to competitive exams.’’

 

Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, Chennai, class XII student Athreya Mukundsubramanian said he would not have any time to relax after the board examination as he would have to prepare for a series of competitive exams, including the All-India Pre-Medical and Pre-Dental papers and the IITJEE. “I wish I could just fastforward the next two months,’’ his mother, Gayathri, said. “Why on earth can’t the syllabus for entrance tests also be incorporated in the regular college syllabus so that students don’t require additional coaching?’’ Shetty asked.

 

It is the combination of entrance tests and board exams that some students are finding it difficult to handle. “The examination system itself should be hanged!’’ That’s the passionate cry from Amritsar lawyer B K Joshi. His relative, Amritsar Engineering College student Kanika Sharma died after consuming poison when she failed in mathematics.

 

Students have often held their teachers solely responsible for suicide. “I will come back as a ghost and harass my teacher,’’ the suicide note left behind by a student from a prestigious Bangalore school said.

 

Some students have discovered other mechanisms to deal with the pressure, like running away from home or simply refusing to appear for exams. Two boys from a school in Ahmedabad walked out of their class X board exams for fear of failure. Three students, in three separate incidents in Chandigarh, ran away from home for fear of exams. (Anahita Mukherji/ Times of India)

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Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

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Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

Affiliation: 

Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.