Indian Health Ministry Reports 16,000 Student Suicides In The Past Three Years
A representative of India’s Health Ministry has reported that over 16,000 school and college students in India have committed suicide in the last three years and announced plans to deal with the problem by reforming the national health care system.
According to the ministry, there were 5,857 student suicides in 2006, 5,138 in 2005 and 5,610 in 2004. While some private schools have started providing counselors to address the problem, government-run schools have been slow to follow suit.
Cherian Verghese, a specialist with the Indian branch of the World Health Organization, said: "The mental health system needs an overhaul. Our schools might be giving good education but we need education in life skills. From counseling to increasing the number of mental health workers, the strategy should be holistic. Students are a vulnerable group. Age, competition and relations in the family are all contributing to the growing cases of suicide among school goers”.
"There is a gamut of problems; India lacks the required number of psychiatrists as well. The social taboo around mental health also fuels the problem. A country which houses a huge number of youngsters must not take mental health lightly," Verghese added.
Potential factors that have limited greater access to counseling include social stigma surrounding mental illness, the high doctor-patient ratio, and societal pressures. Despite India’s burgeoning population, there are only 3,500 psychiatrists for a population of more than a billion people.
The health ministry is planning to modernize psychiatric hospitals, expand community mental health services, and introduce counseling in schools.
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