News
Undergrad tragedies prompt calls for responsible reporting
View(s):By Wasantha Ramanayake
A Peradeniya University student who took his own life recently, became the second person to commit suicide in a month, following such a death in March and academic work pressure as a result of the coronavirus disease pandemic and on-line learning was a major cause, undergrads said.
They claimed that on-line education burdened them with a heavy workload. It could have been less so with on-campus learning with peer-interactions, lab, and tutorial classes, and field visits.
Dr.Kapila Ranasinghe
The funeral of the 23-year-old Anjana Kulatunga, a psychology undergraduate of the faculty of arts, of the Peradeniya University, was held in Yakkala on Friday. His body had been found near the banks of Mahaweli river in Kandy last Thursday. He had been missing since last Sunday.
Anjana was an intern at weekends at Gampaha hospital, while doing his final semester studies, according to his friends.
A university undergraduate who was also a school friend of the student, said the academic work stress was one big reason for the death. “We all are crushed by that,” he said adding that the post-pandemic academic stress has taken a toll on most students.
The post-pandemic academic workload is not the only worry they have. The economic collapse, too, has its claws dug deep into their campus lives.
“Most male students who are lodging outside can only afford to have one proper meal. We skip our breakfast to go to lectures, and then have a snack for lunch, and have a proper dinner,” he said, adding that students can not afford high food costs.
“Even a snack like a bun and a cup of tea, cost us triple the amount we used to pay,” he lamented, adding that his Mahapola scholarship grant of Rs. 5,050 which he should receive monthly as a merit student, was given only twice since last November.
Anjana Kulatunga
“After April, I only got it last month,” he noted, highlighting the travails of university student life. Students from low-income families who get the Mahapola scholarship grant of Rs. 5,000, too, face a similar challenge, he said.
Two suicides and one attempted suicide of three male engineering students from the faculty of engineering, also had been overwhelmed by the pressures of academic work. Additionally, they had both the mid-semester and the semester-end examinations at the end of each semester.
A fourth year civil-engineering student from Kurunegala took his own life in March during the semester exams, followed by an attempted-suicide by another third year male computer engineering student from Anuradhapura of the same faculty, an engineering student of the same batch said.
“He had attempted to take his own life just before the beginning of three semester examinations. He was highly depressed,” his batch mate revealed.
A 23-year old from Avissawella committed suicide by jumping into the river Mahaweli at the end of August. This happened during the semester examinations.
“After this incident, some of the academic staff volunteered to take the matter seriously and encouraged students to seek counselling,” the batch mate said.
At Jaffna University, two students committed suicide in August, the media has reported. One had committed suicide due to the heavy workload, while the other had done so in connection with a ragging incident. A senior professor at the university also claimed his own life because of frustrations about a promotion, it was reported.
Although data is not available to say whether suicides are increasing, it would definitely increase if people who are depressed by the economic collapse would not get the psychological support they needed, warned the newly inducted president of the college of psychiatrists, Dr. Kapila Ranasinghe.
He noted that there are not enough psychiatrists and mental health workers.
However, he cautioned that media publicity of suicide incidents highlighting the methods used, could lead to “copycat suicides,” as depressed people with suicidal intentions may try to imitate the methods.
“The art faculty student might have copied the method the engineering student had earlier tried,” he said.
He pointed to how a popular South Indian romantic movie scene of a suicide created a wave of suicides using the same method across India, which was later copied by young people in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Ranasinghe warned that the media should not overstep ethical boundaries, sensationalising and highlighting methods of suicide. Instead, they should promote mental health awareness.
He emphasised that psychological counselling and creating of public awareness are vital in the prevention of suicides.
He was highly critical of a section of the media that promotes rituals of individuals, certain religious beliefs, and ceremonies as a cure for mental disorders.
“Religious ceremonies and rituals would not be scientifically proven to cure mental diseases and people who claim they could do so are only stealing money, exploiting the crisis and increasing the suffering of poor patients,” charged Dr. Ranasinghe.
He explained that the role of the media should be to discuss mental health issues scientifically, thus, promoting awareness. “This is how many developed countries have successfully lowered their suicide rates,” he noted.
Dr. Ranasinghe insisted that mental health literacy lags behind and pointed to the need to teach it in schools.
Private education institution lecturer, Mr Nalith Fernando who volunteers as a counsellor at NGO Sumithrayo said there had been more callers during the last few months.
“Almost all the callers say they want to commit suicide. However, only a few said that they feel-like committing suicide.’’
Sumithrayo chairperson Ms. Suranjani Wickremanayake said statistics of attempted suicides are also vital, however, are difficult to get.
It is also reported that the number of suicidal attempts remain high in the country, higher than that in some Gulf and South American countries.
According to the latest WHO report on mental health, deaths by suicide in Sri Lanka was the highest in South East Asia region in 2019. The report says hospital admissions due to self-poisoning also increased from 69,181 in 2009 to 81,292 in 2019.
Deaths from suicide in Sri Lanka in 2016 was at the second highest level in the region behind India. The annual global total of suicide cases is around 703,000 which equals to one person taking his/her own life every 40 seconds. The report also points out that for every suicide, there is a likelihood of 20 other people attempting to take their own lives and impact of a suicide is felt far beyond the life lost and being felt and grieved by many others.
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!