41 per cent shows sign of depression, 30 % think about harming themselves
Jamshedpur, July 13 : Jeevan, a city-based suicide prevention centre, has released its survey on student�s suicidal tendencies expressing concern over rising stress and depression level among students.
The survey revealed that about 30 per cent of the total number of students thinks about harming themselves at some point or the other. The report was released on Friday at Jeevan�s Bistupur office.
The stress and depression audit was conducted by more than 30 volunteers of Jeevan. It covered 2,500 teenaged students between class nine and 12 of 10 elite cradles in city between January and June 2018.
� The survey has revealed some figures which are alarming. Though we have been conducting workshops and putting our helpline numbers in front of most of the campuses and conducting workshops but stress level of students such a large percentage of students have this tendency,� said Jeoraj Jain, director Jeevan.
According to survey eight per cent of the students are under severe depression and one percent under extreme depression, 41 per cent show signs of moderate depression, 35 per cent have mild depression while only 15 percent students are normal.
�The survey indicates that the teenagers of today are under a lot of stress which is leading to depression. Parents are occupied with their works or with electronic gadgets like laptop and smartphone. There is a need to spread awareness about how to identify signs of depression and simple techniques to de-stress oneself,� said Gurpreet Kaur, a functionary of Jeevan.
Another official of Jeevan said the need of the hour is to create a stress free environment for the students to learn and grow. Simultaneously the teachers and parents are also required to be empowered through training so that they are able to recognize the signals being sent by the students in stress and take appropriate follow up actions to help them to recover.
�Creating awareness among students and teachers on what is stress, why stress, what will happen if not controlled, and how to identify and deal with a stressed person. Most of the educational institutions in Jamshedpur are coming forward to organise an awareness campaign for their students, teachers and parents,� he said.
“I think we need to change our perceptive about education. The students are taught only about bookish knowledge and not about the values and moral lessons. Example engineering students are taught much about engines, motion and conservation of fuel but nothing about the person driving the engine. Similarly, everyone talks about self-respect, self-control but nothing is taught about knowing the self,”
said the director.