When worked-up children do the ‘vanishing act’

Terminology such as “stress factor, yoga, meditation and planning” are common and seem to be an unending rhetoric in academic circles, from Class X to B. Tech.

With each passing year, the number of motivational speakers and psychologists is steadily on the rise, addressing lakhs of students with so-called “power-loaded” verbose to boost their morale during examinations, drawing quotes of the great personalities and referring to anecdotes from mythology. It is just one side of the coin.

But, there is a serious change of mindset among the students, who are taking to adventurous ideas in order to get rid of the stress which grips them with the intensity of a virus. An alarming number of students now find recourse in “going missing” to beat stress. It’s not an exaggeration when it comes to Chittoor district.

According to the police records in Chittoor, Madanapalle, Palamaner, Puttur and Sri City sub-divisions, 497 missing cases were registered during the last three years (2017-19), all involving students in the age group of 10-18. The number included 422 girls.

However, the positive side is close to 99.9% of the missing students were traced by the cops, while the missing period of the students ranges from just one day to one year. Senior police officials attribute this escapades to the “crushing levels of stress” coming from teachers and parents as well.

One worst side of the stress was that in 2019, two girls, with only a couple of weeks left for the Class X examination, went missing from a western mandal. The police found themselves simply dumb after knowing the reason for their three-day escapade. A parent threatened to commit suicide, if his daughter failed to get 10 GPA. The stress was so severe that the girl just wanted to have some escape. She just left for a temple in neighbouring Karnataka, along with her classmate, to pray to the deity there to prevent her mother’s emotional blackmail.

“After involuntarily leaving home, the girls just shudder to return, and debilitating nervousness grips them,” a cop said.

In another case, a Class X girl from Madanapalle division went missing early in January this year for the reason that she had lost hope of passing the Mathematics examination. After travelling in various buses, she finally reached a relative’s home two days later.

Stress blamed

A sub-inspector of police said that a majority of the missing cases originated from stress in the classrooms, and at home works and with poor marks. Other major causes which drive students to “go missing” are when they

are denied mobile phones, motorbikes and other luxuries by the parents. “Fortunately, the girls could be easily traced as they spend the missing period at houses of their friends,” he said.

The subject of stress faced by students took a serious turn in Chittoor district with about half a dozen suicides in acts of jumping from the hostel and college buildings and hanging. It is observed that suicides among students becomes a burning topic only a few days before and after the examinations and results. Many cases that follow in later months go unregistered and reportedly pass on as natural deaths, the police said.

Healthy diet

Responding to this oppressing scenario, D.G. Rama Murthy, a noted motivational speaker and head constable, said the recently introduced new menu for midday meal scheme in government schools with good nutritional values, would definitely contribute in bringing down the negative thoughts among students, and the results could be seen at the earliest.

“Coming to corporate institutions, the villain is total absence of games and sports and tyrannising study hours. Parents should completely stay away from pressurising children for ranks and marks. The alumni of all institutions, with successful records and careers, could enliven the campuses by encouraging students with positive thoughts,” he said.