With the latest suicide of Aritree Adhikari, a class nine student of Viqarunnisa School over humiliation of her parents by the school authority for Aritree’s mistake, the number of self-immolation in recent times has increased alarmingly.
In the last few months, five students of Dhaka University committed suicide and at the start of the year, five medical students took their own lives.
In such a situation, there is a unanimous call for society to be more tolerant to prevent suicides. According to World Health Organization (WHO), 800,000 people commit suicide every year and among the 15-29 year olds, the second biggest cause of death is suicide. Every 40 second, someone is taking their own life somewhere on earth.
It’s found that in the developed nations, 95 per cent suicides take place from a failed aspiration to develop a successful career in modeling. In 2016, a survey showed that 79 per cent suicides take place in middle and low income nations.
Survey also reveals that people commit suicide due to psychological, social, cultural and other reasons. Sometimes, a sense of terror drives people to choose immolation.
Professor of National Health Institute, Dr Md Tajul Islam, told Bangla Tribune, “There are two types of suicides, driven by emotion and premeditated; teenagers usually take their lives driven by emotion.”
The student of Viqarunnisa School was possibly under huge pressure to perform well in the exam and, therefore, resorted to unfair means, said Tajul Islam, adding, “When she was humiliated in front of her parents, the embarrassment was too much for a child to take.”
President of Brighter Tomorrow Foundation, Sipra Zaman, said, “Suicides increase when oppression within the family sphere rises.”
Aritree would not have committed suicide if there was a proper psychological guideline and the teachers had proper training about child psychology, she added.
If this is happening in a well-known school then the situation in remote areas will be even more worrying, she added.
Society has to be more tolerant, considerate and understanding, said Tajul Islam.
