Isolation and painful despair in conjunction with depression must have reached their intolerable threshold, when 22 year old Anil Kumar Meena, a medical student of AIIMS, took the adverse decision to hang himself from a ceiling fan in his hostel room recently. He, the son of a farmer, was the native of Baran district in Rajasthan. Anil had secured the second position in entrance exams in the Scheduled Tribes list and had been pursuing MBBS at AIIMS. But he failed in the first year exams as well as internal examinations. He ended his life because he was disturbed over his academic attainment as well as found problems following lectures in English due to his tribal background. He was reportedly depressed and had even developed some psychiatric problems.
We can’t even imagine what he would have gone through before tying that deadly knot around his neck. How much he would have wanted to talk to someone who could listen to him, who could understand him. How much he would have missed a person who would not laugh at his bad English, in whom he could confide his feelings and a person who would have taken him and his problems seriously. How much he would have wanted his family to be with him. How much he would have regretted on being a Tribal and not having the chance of studying in English medium schools. I think, all this is incomprehensible for us.
This has not been an only incident, when a student has killed himself due to the pressure of studies or performance. Often such precarious incidents keep on happening when students have to end their lives just because they find either the syllabi too tough to cope up with or have adjustment problems when they leave their native places and move to a newer and unknown land which possess altogether a different culture or life style than theirs. This mostly happens with students belonging to minority group, whether they may be students from ethnic groups, tribal regions or students with disabilities. They tend to develop complexes of all kinds. They might resort to extreme ways. Either they can fall prey to drugs or alcoholism or can be overpowered by suicidal thinking which often pops out of hopelessness about being unable to overcome difficult life problems. A depressed soul which is stuck in tunnel vision is unable to apply problem solving skills alone and is vulnerable to the fatal oversimplification of life’s hazards. The relief from suffering seems to come only in lap of death.
It is high time that the educational authorities and government start knowing the importance the importance of having counselors in educational institutions. The trend here is that the counselors remain functional only during the induction programmes of undergraduate courses or till the school level. Our educational system does not consider the importance of having counselors and mentoring programmes at higher education level.
Need for Counselors in Higher Education
Counseling psychologists assist in maintaining psychological health of an individual. They facilitate personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span with a focus on emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns. Counseling encompasses a broad range of practices that help people to improve their well-being, reduce distress and maladjustment, resolve crises, and increase their ability to live highly functional lives. The severity of psychological and academic problems among college students disrupts the balance they need to accomplish academic success. Counselors are trained in a manner that they hold kaleidoscopes with ample lenses that embrace the multiplicity of issues.
Campus Counselors or Counselors in a university environment help students to discuss all kinds of questions or problems that they have. They can play an instrumental role in providing an enjoyable and less stressful life to the students. They are always there for the students for unbiased and non judgmental conversations. A campus counselor may be useful to the students and even to the staff in many ways.
Counseling faculty in Universities can promote, support and contribute to the academic mission of the higher education. Counseling faculty may assist students to reach their academic goals through educational, career and personal counseling. They may provide professional-level consultation and academic advising. The counseling faculty thus may become instrumental in promoting a quality workplace and an environment which values and appreciates each student and each employee as a human being and as a fully-functioning member of the university. A counselor has the capability to promote value and celebrate the diversity and individual differences with which each person enriches the world.
Students might benefit from visiting a counselor for:
•Coping up with stress Students enrolled in the courses of higher education may sometimes find it difficult to cope with the stress of the syllabus, unknown fears about their future and life to come outside the university as young professionals. Sometimes, just saying the words out loud will helps in find a solution, or helps a person to realize that the “problem” isn’t as overwhelming as you first felt.
•Coping up with homesickness A student might have to travel an unfamiliar city or area, away from family and friends. He may experience a severe sense of loneliness and one can easily develop depression. Homesickness is a common occurrence amongst hostelers and if it does not fade it can interfere with a student’s health and studies. At this juncture, aid of a counselor can be taken who could help them in learning adjustment techniques in various environments.
•Coping with depression There can be feeling of hopelessness, lack of motivation, fatigue, changes in appetite, physical pain, constant sense of anxiety, and disinterest in studies and activities. Depression in students is sparked by factors like homesickness, sleep deprivation, anxiety about sexual orientation, and uncertainty about money or even problems with social and romantic relationships. Poor eating and exercise habits are also known to induce and intensify the symptoms of depression. Proper counseling of students not only controls these symptoms but also prevents the development of alcohol and drug abuse among students. Even suicidal thoughts among students can be alleviated with talk therapy offered by a counselor.
•Coping up with sleeplessness Students pursuing higher education might develop the condition of sleeplessness while studying whole nights during examinations. 7 to 8 hours of sleep is necessary for the students otherwise even a minuscule may seem impossible to resolve, which would end up increasing their stress levels. Counselors can recommend tips to overcome sleeplessness.
•Coping up with fears and phobias Some of the students might suffer from phobia of exams and may decide to drop a semester or a year without realizing the importance of timely finishing up of the courses. Counselors can prepare them mentally and remove irrational phobias.
•For the students with disabilities Counselors can play a pivotal rule in removing attitudinal barriers faced by the students with disabilities by sensitizing the staff, the non disabled students and the administrators. Counselor can remove inferiority complexes of the students with disabilities and can help them to adjust in the university environment.
In short a counselor focuses in the direction of development of the traditional skills in human relations and student development. The goals of counseling in higher education are:
1. Promote, support and contribute to the academic mission of institution.
2. Teach students how to make decisions, set goals and engage in success-achieving behaviours.
3. Teach students to integrate work, education and leisure by developing meaningful life goals, ethical behavior and examined personal values.
4. Promote positive mental health practices through education, intervention, counseling, consultation and referral.
5. Intervene with students having trouble in achieving their educational goals.
6. Provide emergency psychological functions including: suicide prevention, behavioral management, mental health assessment, consultation and medical or emergency services referral.
7. Promote a quality workplace and campus environment which values and appreciates each employee and each student as an individual.
8. Serve as faculty advisers to students.
9. Provide consultation to faculty and staff.
It is commendable on the part of Delhi University that they have considered this aspect. They have established an Equal Opportunity Cell which addresses the problems of diverse groups of students hailing from different backgrounds. As far as professional colleges are concerned, UCMS i.e. University College of Medical Sciences & GTB Hospital, Delhi University has an Enabling Unit, EOC which also has provision of a Counselor for Students with Disabilities. All this shows a kind of affirmative action taken for these students. The Medical Education Unit here in UCMS, also has a Mentoring Programme which started in the year 2009. But, as far as I know, such measures are conspicuous by their absence in most of the other professional colleges and institutions. Why can’t other colleges, institutions or universities consider having programmes and counselors like these?
Though these steps may seem to be small but all such measures can help students in their academic and non academic fields. There can be an improvement in the overall learning and teaching processes. Peer support, counselors and support of teaching staff can do wonders in enhancing the personality and boosting the self confidence in students especially those who feel left out of the mainstream. Their hidden potential can be brought to the surface level.
* Article published in IndianAge Magazine Vol 4 issue 3 April 2012
