By Dr. Rex Casiple
Student suicide was a serious problem in this year of pandemic. In the province of Iloilo, there were around 79 suicide cases from January to September 2020. On October 21, 2020, a 19-year-old Grade 10 student in San Joaquin, Iloilo committed suicide by hanging himself inside the hut meters away from their house. The mother said that the teenage boy was encountering lots of problems including difficulties in answering his modules. Also, he has no electronic equipment like cellphones to use for research.
On August 18, 2020 a 21-year-old boy from Albay took his life after his mother told him to temporarily take a break from school and not enroll due to the pandemic and the lack of money to support his online schooling. On September 11, 2020 a 21-year-old female from Iriga City was found by her parents lifeless in the middle of the night. The parents were aware of their daughter’s struggle with her gadget, signal and internet connection.
On October 6, 2020 a 21-year-old college student from Bohol was found by his father lifeless with nylon tied around his neck. The parents of the victim said that before taking his own life, the victim asked for a laptop for his online class which they couldn’t afford to buy and needed time to look for money for it.
A distraught 16-year-old Grade 11 student in South Cotabato has committed suicide by hanging inside their house. The student told his mother that he was having difficulty studying the learning materials. He also wanted to just return the learning materials to his teacher.
Hence, some schools have provided psychiatric assistance to students that could fall victims to anxiety and depression due to the “sudden and major shift” in academic learning. Many students enrolled in public schools belong to poor families. In line with this, some public schools in the country have provided students with computers or tablets at home.
Student suicide was also a serious problem in the United States. In California, USA, the Teens for Life Program curriculum was developed through a collaborative effort between the teachers, students, and clinical staff. The one-hour curriculum, taught by trained personnel, features information on reducing stigma towards mental disorders and help-seeking behavior; recognizing warning signs of depression and suicide; and seeking help for yourself or a friend in crisis. The common factors of suicidal distress are psychological, environmental, and social. These include mental illness, such as, depression, conduct disorders, and substance abuse; family stress/dysfunction; presence of firearms and other deadly weapons at home; and situational crises, such as, traumatic death of a loved one, physical or sexual abuse, bullying, etc. These factors vary with age, gender, family dynamics and stressful events in life. Most of the suicidal youths showed signs of suicidal thinking, such as, saying of statements of direct or indirect self- killing; posting suicidal notes and plans; had shown suicidal behavior before; making final arrangements, such as, funeral arrangements or writing a last will; changes in behavior, appearance, thoughts, or feelings; among others.
Finally, in the last quarter of the year 2020 the City of Iloilo was alarmed by youngsters arrested for illegal drug cases. The police aired the possibility that drug pushers were taking advantage of the innocence of these teenagers. Furthermore, one of the alleged leaders of a notorious criminal gang operating in Iloilo province was killed in a shootout with arresting lawmen in the central town of Iloilo. The group he belonged was believed to have been involved in many gun-for-hire and robbery cases in the past decade.
In line with these happenings, it seems that youngsters forgot the good values implanted to them by their teachers in schools. Filipinos are well-known to be hospitable, respectful, loving, caring, and religious. These are good Filipino values that we need to preserve through Values Education.
