Editorial: Too Young to Die

A 10-year-old committing suicide is an aberration. An aberration which should be so rare that one never gets to hear of such incidents. Unfortunately, the aberration has occurred and made it to the news yesterday. The incident is too shocking to even allow speculations on what could have caused it; a suicide by someone so young can never be really understood, explained or settled. But does that mean that even this casualty is allowed to join the poorly maintained roll of statistics on suicides in Sikkim? That is probably what will happen, and it will be in this detached insensitivity that someone in the future will find the reasons why Sikkim lost so many to suicides. Admittedly, there was much chest beating here when Sikkim topped the nation in suicide rates last year and even politics sought to score some points off it. Shallow commentary followed for some time and some lip service was paid to the problem. And then, like always, nothing. Suicides continue being reported and the civil society, which can play an instrumental role in curbing suicides, continues to remain oblivious to its role. It is unlikely that the civil society will still respond. The death of a ten year old brings to focus suicides by the young in Sikkim [and it is not just the young who are ending their lives here]. For all that one may say about the confusion of growing up and befuddlement of hormonal changes, one does not associate such problems as depression and stress with the teen years. Yet, a disturbing number of Sikkimese teens have ended their lives; and there will be even more who have survived a suicide attempt. The situation is now so dire that it is already too late to work on theories to explain the trend; the situation is now critical and it is urgent to start caring more for the young. Sikkim has already wasted too much time waiting for experts to study the situation and offer explanations and solutions to its suicide challenge. It will be wasting even more time and sacrificing more lives if it waits for the civil society to measure up to the challenge. So, the only option left, like with most other challenges, is for the State Government to initiate a proactive policy intervention. To start with, the Health Department, perhaps in association with the Social Welfare Department, should prepare an effective awareness module to sensitise teachers on recognising and handling psychiatric symptoms triggered by stress, depression and trauma in school-going children. Something similar should also be prepared for the students so that there is peer support available to deter suicidal thoughts among the young in time. It is important that the stigma, still associated with psychiatric help is ended because that, at the end of the day, is the only defence against the rash of suicides in Sikkim. Instead of blindsiding the obvious, the society at large needs to recognise that the younger generation is growing in conditions much different from earlier times. They need special care and understanding. On our part, as teachers, parents and elders, we have to change our approach towards addressing juvenile issues.