Bhopal: A ‘motivational’ video appealing to students to drop the idea of committing suicide that went viral on Sunday did not go down well with the psychologists and psychiatrists in the city. The video was made in an attempt to check suicides on eve of declaration of the results of the examinations of Class 10 and Class 12 conducted by the MP Board.
However, the psychiatrists and psychologists told Free Press that such videos were of no use and should be immediately banned, because instead of giving any positive message they caused negativity. In one such video message, a zoozoo playing character of student was seen walking anxiously inside a locked room before the results with a noose tied from the ceiling. After 30 seconds the zoozoo put his neck in the noose and was almost to hang self when the mobile rings and another zoozoo tells him, “Brother you have cleared the exams.”
Hearing the news, the zoozoo begins to swing from the noose tied to hang self. The video was promulgated with a caption it happened after the MP Board declared the result of class X and XII board on May14. A psychologist professor at Bhopal School of social sciences Vinay Mishra however severely criticised the content of video. Talking to Free Press, the Prof said “The video is not worth propagating at all because it shows suicide as an option if the results were bad.”
We should not feel demotivated, if we score poor marks or fails in any of the examination because there are many options and alternative in life, he added. Psychiatrist Dr Satyakant Trivedi said, “The government should ban such messages and videos on social media sites because it is propagating self-harming messages.”
It may be that the intention of the video maker was good but it has also send the idea of committing suicide, added Trivedi. However, the board rolled out a new policy ‘best of five’ to counter the increase in suicide by the students last year after the declaration of results.
As per the new policy the student of class tenth will be declared passed even if he failed in any one of the subjects. If one goes by the records of last year class tenth board result, over 20 per cent students were benefitted by the policy.
