Chennai: In the wake of six suicides in a week, the school education department has decided to extend its helping hand for the depressed students in a new education helpline which has been set up to provide all education-related information in a single platform.
School education minister K.A.Sengottaiyan had recently announced that the department will launch a new helpline 14417 to provide career guidance for students and clarify all their doubts.
Within a span of one week, four students in Vellore district, one in Chennai and another in Coimbatore have committed suicide. The death of four teenage girls has created shock waves in education circles prompting the officials to think about bringing a change in the atmosphere prevailing in schools and classrooms.
“Along with providing education related information, the new helpline will provide round the clock psychological help. If a particular student needs medical help we will connect he or her with a psychiatrist as well”, an official from the department said.
The health department is operating a separate 104 medical helpline which offers psychological help for students during the exam times. “This will be an exclusive helpline of school education department. We are yet to finalise the number of psychological counsellors available for the helpline,” he added.
Commenting on the move an educationist said, “The government should take efforts to publicise the helpline number and have to build the confidence among the students that their issues will not be revealed and their identity will be kept as a secret. They also need to think about creating a safe environment in schools by creating awareness among parents, teachers and students”.
The helpline will also provide details of scholarships, exam dates and career guidance. Students can get clarification even on welfare schemes. “The students also can make complaints to the department about the issues in their schools. We are planning to put a system in place at the district level to deal with these complaints”, the official added.
The helpline will be run by GVK-Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI), which operates the “108” ambulance services in the state. The 14417 helpline is expected to be launched this week.
Girl students forced to clean toilets
A fresh controversy erupted after the image and video clippings of girl students who were made to clean toilets in a government school in Thiruvallur district emerged on Tuesday. This incident came to light days after four girl students committed suicide after allegedly scolded by teachers for poor performance.
The video of a weeping girl who cleans the toilets with a piece of cloth was widely circulated in the social media like WhatsApp and also aired by some TV channels. The incident took place at the RM Jain Government Girls higher secondary school where over 1,000 students are studying from classes 6 to 12.
N. Dinesh from Students Federation of India has complained to the district collector about the incident. “The HM of the school has forced the students to clean the toilets. They were also punished if they are not willing to clean the toilets”, he said.
