Sept. 21: Reality has finally caught up with Ankur Bora. Fed on a staple diet of movie violence and gory computer games from the tender age of four, this Class IX student smuggled a razor in his satchel to settle scores with his classmate, who was allegedly having an affair with his ?girlfriend?.

The school has yet to come out in the open about the shocking behaviour of one its students. But Ankur says he only wanted to threaten his classmate and ?not kill him?.

Ankur?s case is not an isolated incident. There are boys who bring knives and other sharp instruments that can be used as weapons for a pre-planned school fight. And these kids are at least two years younger than Ankur.

Amit Kakati and Jayanta Pathak, both students of Class X planned a drinking binge at a bar in the city to drown their sorrows for faring miserably in the examinations. When they were asked to foot the bill, they assaulted the waiter and the manager.

In 2001, the city was rocked by the sensational murder of Purnam Hazarika by his schoolmates Randeep Hazarika and Angruz Barua.

City superintendent of police Hiren Chandra Nath admits that aggressive behaviour among school students in Guwahati is on the rise. ?We have come across cases where young kids assault their parents and display other kinds of violent behaviour to other members of their family. This behaviour comes from over-exposure to sexually-explicit and gory scenes on TV and the Internet.?

Nath said a majority of juvenile violence is not reported to police. ?Whatever case we get, we try to solve through counselling unless it is extremely violent. We try to give a chance to the delinquents to actually rectify themselves.?

The police official suggested that schools should set up counselling centres for their students to talk about their problems.

Endorsing his views, Ashutosh Agarwal, the secretary of Sanskriti Gurukul School said: ?We have a freelance counsellor who interacts with our students every month. Our students, too, feel comfortable talking to a neutral person who is not a teacher or a parent.?

Counselling psychologist Sangeeta Goswami also admitted that the cases of ?personality disorder? are increasing among city students, especially among the teenagers in high schools. The problem is similar to one faced by advanced countries like the US, where schoolchildren are intermittently caught wielding firearms. ?These borderline personality disorders among students need constant vigil and counselling. The guardians are often lenient towards adolescents. This should be stopped. Often these youngsters love rash driving, bunking classes and exhibit a general self-destructive tendency. They need some kind of behaviour modification as early as possible. More importantly, life skills should be taught to them in tune with the changing social scenario.?

The life skills include dealing with relationships, time management, basic manners and etiquette. The alarming rise in juvenile delinquency in city schools has prompted the authorities to take up measures for nipping the problem at its root. Officials of several reputed schools have proposed to make it mandatory for students to attend a counselling cell. ?There is an urgent need of counsellors in schools. They can help the students imbibe the importance of discipline,? said Father Joseph Thelekkat, principal of Don Bosco School.

Other prominent city schools have already set up counselling units for their students. Don Bosco, for example, has involved their teachers in it. ?The class teachers will have to identify the problems of a child and subsequently inform the counsellor. We have trained our teachers to take care of the problematic students. On several occasions, we feel that even parents need counselling to deal with a problem child,? Father Thelekkat said.

The managing trustee of Faculty Higher Secondary School, P.K. Bhuyan, said: ?We have a regular counsellor and we also organise personality enhancement programmes for our students. More often, we find that most of the cases stem out some kind of a family discord.?

(Names of some of the teenagers have been changed)