2024-03-28
ID:  
Password:  
 
Personal Development & Interpersonal Relationships
個人成長與人際關係


Properly instil life education to prevent student suicides
做好生命教育 防範學生輕生


Since the new school year started in September, there have been 11 secondary school student suicides in just half academic year, nearly double the figure of the last whole school year. The number of university student suicides even rose for four consecutive consecutive(adj)	連續的 years. Some put the blame on the weak resilience of the young generation while others point their fingers at "society's faults" such as academic pressure and living environment. There are many reasons that caused students to take their own lives, but the most important thing to do in this moment is to stop students from doing this again, not to let such malpractice continue. To tackle the problem, schools and families have to properly conduct life education and nurture nurture (v) 培養 respect for the value of life in students.



News of suicides should not be played up to avoid copycats. But as the number of student suicides soars with already 11 secondary school students and 8 tertiary students having taken their own lives in the new school year, society cannot keep a low profile low profile	低調 . The problem must be addressed and a solution found by pooling resources.



In the year before the SARS outbreak, several tragic family suicides happened, shocking the society. As a result people pooled their resources and launched the Life Angel Education Scheme to foster care for relatives, friends, classmates and colleagues, unleashing positive energy that helped many people cherish cherish (v)	珍惜 life in adversity adversity (n) 逆境 .



Prevention better than aftermath counseling



Currently, when there is a suicide case in a school, there are usually contingency measures contingency measures 應急措施 including professional counselling professional counselling 專業輔導 for teachers and students to help everyone calm down. Such remedial work remedial work 善後工作 must be done, but what is more important is to do a good job in prevention - to help students let go of the idea of committing suicide and know how to help themselves as well as to ask for help when the thought comes to mind.



The Education Bureau will be holding an emergency meeting with education groups and professionals for a solution. For the time being, the most important thing is to stop the trend and raise the crisis alertness of all schools to prevent the next student suicide case from happening again. Students should be positively taught to understand the wrong act of committing suicide. Those with emotional problems should be identified and counselled in time. That will help creating mass immunity immunity (n) 	免疫力 to stop the spread of the malpractice.



In addition to dealing with urgent items, the root of the problem must be found out and long-term measures implemented to help students face adversity positively as well as respect and treasure life instead of treating symptoms during a crisis only to have them come back after all the effort.



To prevent university and secondary school students from killing themselves, life education must be properly done in secondary schools. Then, students will be able to maintain a positive attitude when facing all sorts of setbacks in life and not easily give up hopes, both in secondary school and university afterwards.



Properly set up emotional support network



Life cannot be perfect. Sometimes there will be big setbacks. To treat committing suicide as an escape or revengeful revengeful (adj) 報復的 protest will not only deprive oneself of a chance to improve but it will also cause serious mental damage to families, relatives and friends. It is a very selfish act. What the person who killed himself had gone through may deserve sympathy but the act of taking one's own life absolutely does not.



Unfortunately, the current life education in some schools is not taken seriously or simply straight teaching from books. If schools keep talking about the multiple values of life on the one hand but they continue to pressure students for marks and trophies on the other hand, it will be difficult for some emotionally disturbed students to feel the special value of life and take a positive attitude. Actually, nurturing students with positive life attitude is a greater achievement in education than nurturing high achievers.



Life education cannot be instilled through old-fashioned teaching. It requires professional skills and sincerity sincerity (n)	真誠 in communicating with students. That means every party, including the schools, teachers, students, social workers and parents, has to pitch in. Many people passed their troubled growth period safely only because they did not want to make their beloved relatives, friends, teachers and classmates sad and thus gave up the thought of committing suicide in times when they questioned the value of life. No matter it is in families and schools, an emotional support network must be properly set.

 

Terms of Use | Private Statement | Disclaimer | Contact Us
Copyright @ 2024 Sing Tao Publishing Limited. All rights reserved