Monirul Haque Rony

Every man wants to live on earth. But human life is basically captured in a frame. According to the rules of nature, everyone has to die - today or tomorrow. Because death is certain; the eternal truth of the world. It is very difficult to say who will die when and how. Actually life is very short. So it is wise to enjoy this small life in this colourful world.

But sometimes we lose to life with a blow. Disgust to life is created for various small reasons. And depression is created from this disgust. Suffering from depression, we end this short life. This cruel rule of ending one's own life is called suicide. Lately the trend of suicide has increased at an alarming rate, especially among the young generation.

A large part of them are students. There are not only college and university students but also school students too. Recently, a data released by Aachol Foundation says that 364 students committed suicide in the first eight months of this year. In other words, an average of more than 45 students committed suicide during this period.

53 percent of those who commit suicide are school students. The prevalence of suicide was highest among 13 to 20 year olds, with a percentage of 78.6 percent. Among them, 14 to 16-year-olds committed suicide the most, 160 people in number. In the 13 months from June 2020 to July 2021, 151 student suicides were reported in the media. Whereas, in eight months of this year, it has more than doubled.

Although suicide is undesirable for a nation or a society, the rate at which the number of suicides especially among students is increasing in recent times is truly alarming. The increasing suicide rate indicates that we are becoming increasingly impatient with life in a technology-driven society. This surge in suicides is a grim reflection of our modern decadent society. Frustrated with life, someone choosing to commit suicide is not usually free will. There are various psycho-social reasons behind this.

However, most suicides are psychological. And the mental illness at risk for suicide is depression. According to experts, people with depression are 20 times more likely to die by suicide than people without depression. Besides loneliness, divorce or breakup, death of a beloved one, failure in education or career, financial crisis, debt, unemployment, any conflict, disaster, rape and sexual harassment, rejection in marriage, drug addiction, long-term or incurable physical illness such as cancer, past suicide attempts or tendency to self-harm are also considered predisposing factors of it.

However, the reasons behind the suicide of the students in recent times, according to the observations of the Aachol Foundation, include failure in the examination, study pressure, session jam, love affairs, not getting anything from the family, family quarrels, theft or false accusations etc.

At present, expectations are high among our parents. They put the extra burden of GPA five or good results on the children. Getting a GPA five is the key to success in life, they think. Children therefore strive to fulfil their parents' expectations being first in the class or attaining a GPA five than themselves.

But the reality is that many of them do not achieve the desired results. Then he/she considers this failure to be the biggest failure of his/her life. Suicide seems to be the easiest solution for him/her as a quick solution to get rid of this grief of failure in that time. In my view, very few parents these days want their children to be idealistic and humane. Most of our parents are reluctant to accept that getting a GPA five is not the only key to success. Day by day we are forgetting that it is more important to be a person with ideals and moral sense than good results.

Depression is a major cause of suicide among university students. Not getting the desired job after completing their education, the gloom of unemployment creates a heap of depression in their brains. They once thought that suicide was the only way to get rid of the gloom of depression. And the desired job of most university students is BCS or at least another government job. They cannot think of anything without it. Social status, various government facilities, skyrocketing demand of BCS or government employee grooms from brides at time of marriage have made it a golden deer for the young generation. But is the BCS or government job everything? Why don't we look for another job?

Why don't we become entrepreneurs? Isn't it better to enjoy life by doing other jobs or business than getting a BCS or other government jobs? This insane craze for these is giving us a BCS handicapped generation. Therefore, it is important to change our mentality considering the reality.

If you fail in love, why should you die? No love in the world is selfless and eternal except that of a parent. The so-called lover who talks like 'I can't live without you', 'You are my everything' is living happily ever after. Maybe he/she doesn't have time to think about you. So why give up your life because of failure in love? Who really loves you, can he/she leave you? The world is so hard. There is no room for emotion here. Those who run after the mirage called 'love' and destroy their lives, they live in a fool's paradise! So love your life the most. Give yourself plenty of time.

Educational institutions should be student friendly. It may be considered to appoint at least one permanent 'Mental Counsellor' in every educational institution for the mental health of students.

Parents should be more aware and give enough time to their children. They should be taught not to pass-fail education, but to grow up with humane and ideal people and reality. Religious and moral education should be given at the same time. How to adapt to environmental conditions by being self-reliant rather than dependent, should be taught.

It is the moral responsibility of every parent as a guardian. Bringing up a child with too much love, ignoring reality, is not too much love. Rather, it puts him in danger. As the child should be loved, he/she should also be given worldly lessons about life's ups and downs and setbacks.This world is a land full of happiness and sorrows. It is not a bed of roses. Constantly here we have to fight and live against suffering and various adversities. Thousands of miserable sorrows, misery, hardships, disasters and accidents come up here every moment. You have to live with them. And that living would be worthwhile and appropriate.

The writer is a Social worker & Lecturer Dept. of Social work Savar Govt. College, Savar, Dhaka