What are UAE schools doing to prevent suicides among students?

Dubai - Counsellors are at hand to help school students cope with stress

Repeated incidents of suicides among Indian school students in the UAE have prompted some school authorities to introduce more intense counselling and awareness campaigns.
Sharjah teenager commits suicide after tiff with her dad
The most recent incident was of a 10^th grade girl student of a Sharjah School, who jumped from the balcony of her seventh floor apartment in Sharjah this month. Aswathi Ajayakumar allegedly committed suicide in Al Majaz, Sharjah, after an argument with her father.
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Another girl from her class jumped to her death in an incident occurred in 2014. The then eighth grade student, who was residing in Ajman with her parents, was found dead near a high rise residential tower in Al Qasimiya area of Sharjah in October, 2014. According to the school principal, she attended the school on Sunday and returned home by the school bus. As per the police report, the girl, who was a student at the same school from kindergarten, jumped off the building.
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Many parents have raised concern about repeating incidents of student suicides, especially after two girls from the same class ended their lives in similar way in two years.
In India, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has ordered appointments of special counsellors to handle examination-related stress among school students after a number of teenage suicides were reported during examination times.
"The school has thousands of students. We are conducting regular stress-busting campaigns and counselling programmes for them, utilising the expertise of our school teachers. In addition to that, we seek the service of professional counsellors," he said.
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"Two suicides in a span of less than three years have shocked all in the school and the Indian community. We are trying to enhance the suicide and stress prevention awareness not only among the teenage students, but their parents and the community. We have decided to undertake a marathon campaign involving our students as well as students from other Indian schools, where similar incidents happened," Raheem said, adding that members of the Indian Association Sharjah will also be involved in the counseling and awareness campaign.
In March 2014, a 16-year-old student of a leading Indian School in Dubai wrote a suicide note on his chemistry answer paper before committing suicide in Sharjah. "Life is getting bored and illusionary", the boy allegedly wrote on February 25, 2014.  The 'note' gave a clear indication that the boy was stressed. And five days later, on the day of his Maths exam, he took the drastic step.
"This is the second suicide of a girl student in our school and we all are concerned about the recurrence of such cases. We are not aware of exact reasons for the suicide of Aswathi Jayakumar, but such cases are happening more during examination time," Raheem said.
"It seems that adolescent students and their parents need to be given more awareness about stress, especially examination-related stress."
Shamsu Zaman C. T., managing director of Habitat Group of Schools, said a study showed that CBSE students in the Gulf countries get 45 per cent less time than their counterparts in India to cover syllabus, forcing students into pressure to complete syllabus in the limited hours.
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He said some children get stressed during examination. "Some parents have financial stress and working couples are preoccupied with their career. There is less family bonding time. While some families request for fees waiver, many keep their financial position secret. Such families are always under pressure to meet their children's demands," he told Khaleej Times, adding that Habitat School with 12,000 students have counsellors to tackle the problem.
Parents need more counselling than children
Susan Jacob Mammen, parent of a 10^th grade student, said parents need to be given more concentration in counselling than their children. "Repeated cases of girls committing suicide is a serious matter. Teenage students keep asking for many things without knowing their financial position. Parents should never shout at them," she said.
"My daughter likes to go out with her class mates. We allow her, after ensuring that she is safe," said Mammen, adding that stress and suicidal tendency is more rampant among Indian students.
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Father of a seventh grade student at a Sharjah school, A. S. Rajesh Unnithan, welcomed the school's move to increase awareness among students. "Creating an awareness campaign about stress is welcome. My daughter is only in 7^th grade and now I can meet her demands. We are not aware of the reasons for these suicides, but parents are concerned about students' suicidal tendency," he added.
There are medical and psychological reasons'
Dr Ansari K.M., clinical psychologist, Wellness Clinic, Al Ain, who has been receiving teenage students with suicidal tendency, told Khaleej Times that the issue is rampant among students due to stress and other psychological pressure.  "Normally, expatriate students are depressed because of their low-level of serotonin in the brain. When the level of serotonin is less, people get depression and one reason is because they never go out in the sunshine. In European countries, many schools and offices have a light room to activate their serotonin. In the cloudy season, some people get depressed. It is like your mind getting a common cold and it is an integral part of life. When the serotonin level is getting lower, there is suicidal tendency, especially if the children are addicted to Internet, video games or other things mainly due to depression.
"An addiction can cause depression and depression can cause addiction. There is an acute shortage of exposure to sun among children here and parents should let them play outside. The lack of social interaction among students also increase their suicidal tendencies."
Dr Ansari added that examination time gets stressful for students because of parental pressure and peer pressure. "The children are under pressure to do more things in a short time and addiction to social media or any other habits can add to the problem," he noted. There is also concern that the teachers who are giving counselling are not qualified and sometimes housewives are appointed as schoolteachers at a low salary.
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"More and more professionals should be used for student counselling and it should involve the parents as well," Dr Ansari said. 
"We receive many such cases and even parents have to be co-therapists in the treatment of students' suicidal ideation. Such trend can easily be identified. These students show signs of laziness, lack of personal hygiene, low span of attention and concentration, and their sensory memory is very less," Dr Ansari added. "The students suffer from Passion Lack Syndrome."
Dr Mohammed Yousuf, specialist psychiatrist at Aster Group, said student suicides are increasing due to frustration and low tolerance level. In India, the number of students committing suicide during examination times is growing. "Even good students, due to extreme anxiety and depression, forget whatever they have learnt. It makes them nervous during exams," he added.
He suggested that parents should spend more time with children and discuss their problems to help them overcome any possible signs of depression.
sathish@khaleejtimes.com