Recent news on
the murder of a principal at an engineering college in TamilNadu by his
students has stirred up the fear on new direction which the student
community is dabbling with. Though the clashes amongst student groups have been
happening for over decades on various grounds, no apathy for murdering teachers
raises concern on the moral grounds the students have taken, if they have any.
Considering the fact on the increase in number of crimes committed by young
people makes us look at the behavioral aspects that are set in motion at tender
and adolescent age.
Some of the
shocking statistics from National Crime Records Bureau shows that the number of
murders committed or crimes amounting to murder by juveniles have increased
from 1022 in 2002 to 1581 in 2011. An excerpt from NDTV indicates that murders
committed by minors have gone up by 87 per cent during 2002 - 2012. There was
an incident of a school boy being kidnapped for ransom by his fellow mate at
school in TamilNadu and murdered subsequently as the ransom didn’t work out. Another
grueling incident is the repeated stab of the 4-year old child by a 16 year lad
in Delhi as the child’s mother refused to pay his advances. Also during April
2013, 14 year boy stabbed his neighbor over a 50 rupee tiff and allegedly
killed other two people who came for the rescue. In one of the engineering
college where my wife had attended to as a lecturer said that a student had stabbed
girl with a compass for her refusal to accept love. All these perplexing incidents are not new
and its raising shackles only reflect the intolerant, irresistible, incompetent,
impatient and incorrigible attitude of our young generation.
Not only the
murders and kidnaps stand up, the suicides committed by students are also on
the rise. A study conducted during 2012 by one of the world’s leading medical
journal, The Lancet, shows that suicide rates are highest among the 15-29 age
group in India. These statistics is a harbinger of a dreadful mental health
condition of us and our society. Today, not surprisingly toddlers are one of
the major visitors to psychiatric clinics. Bangalore-based National Institute
of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), a pioneer research body in mental
health says that one out of five patients seeking psychiatric and counseling
help is a toddler. Greater good to the clinic and to the society is the visit
of a one-year old, what should we say a kid or a child or a guy who would even
be aware of his visit.
Globalization,
Urbanization, Nuclearization and Digitization can be claimed to have played a
reasonable role in the breakdown of our society which raises question on the adequate attention given to young lads by parents and families. Working parents, nuclear
families, income disparities, devious neighborhood and emotional breakdown have
increasingly pushed many of the young people to the brim of their psychological
and physiological tolerance. Peer pressure, grouping tendency, parental anxiety
and other life style changes are just adding to the burning pan. While some of
the reports indicate that the hapless guys from lower income group had resorted
to drug pedaling, addiction, theft and harsh conduct, the young people from
well-to-do family struggle with the digital toys devoid of parental guidance
and emotional support. Eric
Berne in his “Transactional Analysis” says that emotional deprivation can have
an irreversible effect on people. The suicide of a 21-year-old Chartered
Accountant student in front of his parents by laying on a railway in Ghaziabad
is a testament to the serious parental problems that exerted big psychological push for the
youngster to resort to this extreme step.
Should we
consider the resultant situation as a fall out of structural failure of our
society? Are we giving greater thought to the mental healthiness of our
society? Do we all have responsibility for diffusing this threat? As far as I understand
the root of this problem starts at the infant and adolescent age that are in
need of support and guidance. The palpable solution may have to start first at home
as charity begins at home. We also know that this is a very fast paced world
with couples themselves finding difficult to take time for each other. Working
and single moms are striving harder each day to earn for the sustenance of
their family. While we keep accumulating wealth for future generation, we
should not let that generation rot in their deprivation of someone who they
could always look up for anything. Nevertheless, we may have to understand the
emotional needs of our children at every walk of their life and provide
guidance psychological support and mental strength to face challenges and problems. If needed, it is always better to seek external help from
their teachers, families, friends and professionals.
Educational institutions will have a
greater role in combing behavioral attitude of their students. They have to
provide guidance to students on academic, future educational plans, financial
and other emotional tendencies developed within them. A recent news report
mentioned that the U.S. Department of Education has awarded $12.3 million to 35
schools districts in 17 states across the country to establish or expand
counseling programs. The purpose of this counseling at schools is to help
students with the behavioral problems and improve on their mental health. These
programmes seek the help of qualified mental-health professionals for an expert
intervention along with the continued input and support from parents and
teachers. Schools may take cue from other developed countries on their effort
on the mental health policies and structure it for their local needs. Some of
the engineering colleges are also making it mandatory to establish in-house counseling
and guidance cells for students. This may address to certain extent on
psychological state of the student. I am not too sure on the idea of using
faculty as counselors who may bring in their idiosyncrasies rather to prefer a
health professional to do this job.
Society and government has a significant
part in combating this menace. Society need to learn not to outcast people with
disorders and see if any medical support can be offered from their contacts and knowledge. Government on its part
should provide adequate infrastructure in terms of health professionals and
medical facilities as well as devise policies that will enhance the importance
of mental health of this young generation. NGO or associations involved in this
type of social cause can also be included for their assistance on improving
awareness and aiding schools and colleges with necessary tools. Motivation and
deprivation are two major potent sources for people to do anything. Let us hope
we use the necessary tools and awareness to tune ourselves, our family and our
neighborhood for the positive intent of structuring our society to deal with
growing offshoots of behavioral violence within our family and our community.
P.S.
References have been taken from articles of news dailies such as Times of
India, Hindustan Times and The Hindu.
Firstly, Psychological Threat has been there ever since the society has been formed. We must have read news in the past where a wife/husband killed their spouse in a fit of anger...such behavior is also Psychological Issue but most of us see it merely as an incident.....its just the perception what we carry and what is given to us by our surroundings...In short Psychological Threat is present in our day to day life....the way we relax our body by sleeping or just lazing around, our mental being also needs relaxation from all that we feel & think.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, In the above mentioned incident about a student killing his professor......in reality don't we , so called normal being, feel the same when a teacher or any elder who keeps bossing around. We do feel the urge to hurt him if not kill him...but we don't just because we feel its not apt and then just build jokes around them or give names to people we don't like....even that's a kinda psychological problem naming people.
Thirdly, Parenting kids wasn't easy back then and even now, every kid's (siblings) have different experience with their parents...kids learn what they see and hear and if they start relating themselves with others then definitely problem arises, for eg: if a kid feels he is Super-man or a Spider-man then obviously its dangerous as you never know when they might climb up any building and dive down thinking that they can fly too or produce webs to swing around.
Back then parents punished kids to get principles & values in them, nowadays, parents are bribing their kids into doing or not doing things.....there are many books available on parenting....but many forget to understand that parenting is not a mission to be accomplished with some strategies....Just allow the kids to perceive things by themselves, let them explore things, be open and broad minded with kids....answer your kids innocent questions honestly...for eg: how do you know the baby is boy or girl? ans their queries honestly.....when we are not being honest they would go to some other source and today's generation has GOOGLE which can give any crap answers which might be dangerous.
Ya its true, home is where everything starts, I would say home is where every solution lies, spending quality time not quantity time, don't bribe to imbibe behaviors, supervision is good intrusion is not, share your problems (professional or financial) if you want them to share theirs, discussions regarding trivial to serious house issues with them, make them see what real world is; like take them with you when u visit somebody who is hospitalized, find their behavior changes and talk to them not scold them.....these are some factors which might work on some not all.......every individual is unique so we need to customize our parenting styles accordingly....Every parent should aim to build their children to be good & healthy human rather than a gold medalist or as someone else.....
Psychological factors should not be seen as a problem, issue, threat, or menace its just we who we are.....we should understand some people have control some don't on their behavior, help out such people they might be around you or you also in that case....don't sympathize, empathize with them.
Thanks and sorry about late response as i didn't notice your comment at that time.
DeleteTo your first point, I never mentioned psychological threat is a new phenomenon. It has been existing ever since and only point of contention is on the level it is penetrating into kids of lower age and to the extent they are going. I do understand the regular tiff between husband and wife and eventually progression into crime every now and then. That is not my intention to highlight those in my prose.
To your second point, of course, we do. Should we claim the life of that person to avenge ourselves is the moot question? I am highlighting the extent to which we are going. Making fun and ignoring it after a while is fine which we have been doing.
To your third point on children, it’s about the way parenting is seen by parents. Taking kid to a consultant at that tender age is not gonna sustain. We may need to spend some quality time with children and get along with him to get along. I am quoting statistics to know if this could be a likely trend.
Many of the thoughts are suggesting ways from my view to look after ourselves and our own. It differs from individual to individual. But I view many of your thoughts are aligned with the write-up. I am addressing that (Extent to which we take liberty to do whatever we want to) as a threat as we don’t see unless it has grown beyond redressal. We have been fire fighters and highlighting this as a threat may usher in proactive/thoughtful measures. Everyone needs some sort of support and i hope you are also doing/receiving the same.