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Different lessons
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Counselling sessions, rallies and awareness campaigns will mark World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10 in Jamshedpur, a city where suicide makes up a staggering 21 per cent of all unnatural deaths in a year against a national average of 5 per cent.
And with an increasing number of suicides by minors being reported, some well-known schools in the steel city have decided to step in to do their bit to curb the killer menace.
The schools will observe the day by organising programmes where children will be told to love life and communicate with parents.
ADLS Sunshine School, Dayanand Public School, Kerala Public School, DBMS Kadma High School and RMS High School will be the ones organising counselling sessions, rallies and awareness programmes for students and parents. The guardians will be given tips on good parenting and told to lessen the communication gap between generations.
“The objective behind this programme is to define the role of the school in preventing such silent life-taking activities by teenagers today. As an educationist, I feel the school has to make a healthy contribution in promoting awareness and make children realise that life is precious not only for them but also for the parents who spend sleepless nights when they are born and save every penny for their development and progress,” said Indrani Singh, principal of ADLS Sunshine School.
If ADLS Sunshine will organise debates and sessions on suicide, Dayanand Public School too has planned a counselling session where parents and their wards will sit together to share their problems and learn from the process.
“It is very important for parents to understand their children and vice-versa. As a small initiative, we will try to break the ice for students of Classes IX and X because they are at an age where they confront myriad problems,” said Swarna Mishra, principal of Dayanand Public School.
Jeevan, the suicide prevention centre in the city will conduct a panel discussion at Kerala Public School, Kadma on the social menace in the city. Tagore Academy too, will organise a workshop for parents on September 22 to discuss issues concerning suicides in the city.
“The problem with parents is that they don’t want to acknowledge that their child too can commit suicide. They think it can happen to others and not them, but that is not the case. It is a good sign that schools are taking steps to generate awareness. I hope that more and more schools will take initiatives like this,” said M. Ram, director of Jeevan.
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