Student Suicide in the Hong Kong Context - Research Proposal Example

Student suicide in the Hong Kong Context

Introduction

The number of suicide cases in Hong Kong schools has increased rapidly which has caused an alarm to the teachers, government and parents to access the situation and come up with a solution to the problem. Researchers in youth, health and education field are being engaged to carry out a study to identify the main causes and draw the solution. In a single academic year, there was a report of about twenty-two students who committed suicide and among them, there was an eleven-year-old kid. In the recent cases, there has been a record of four death cases in five days. Thus, the suicide cases are increasing daily and rapidly. Between the years 2010 and 2014, there was an average of 23 deaths as a result of suicide from the Hong Kong University. Among the students who had killed themselves, there were 12 who were in the Hong Kong high schools and there were ten from the universities. Despite these cases, there have been efforts by the schools, parents and the government to mitigate them and help the students in all ways (Nock et al, 2012).

Causes of suicide among students

The education system in Hong Kong is known to exert a lot of pressure to the students and thus is blamed largely on the suicide incidences and thus requires to change as a way of mitigating these cases. The most reported deaths are at the time of the exam days as the students fear failure as the education system is very complicated (Sweeting, 2004).

The internet has contributed largely to the behavior of suicide among youth. The internet connects the students to many things, and most of them are negative. The influence they get here can cause students to be engaged in activities which will result in suicide according to one Professor Less Sing of psychiatry the University of China (Sweeting, 2004).

Lack of emotional support from parents and guardians according to Dr. Lee is a cause of the rise of the suicide cases among students. The family is described as a buffer against stress for teenagers, students and children. When both parents are at work, they have no time to spend with their children (Pajares, 2005). They concentrate more on providing and never caring about their emotions and how they are growing up. The student, therefore, have no one to talk to about their life, their experiences, and frustration and therefore ends up opting to commit suicide.

There are parents known to be over-protective and do not give their children a breathing space. They therefore rarely experience the hardship of life, and when they come across a difficulty, they will not be able to withhold it and most probably will end up committing suicide. Psychology states that most students who show impulsive behaviors do not have the resilience skills.

Solution to the suicide cases

The bureau of education gave an announcement of the made measures which would result in a reduction of the death cases of students. The methods included the establishment of students counseling supports in the schools. These will help support the students at all stages as it during their school years they go through physical, emotional and psychology changes. At these moments, students’ feel lots of pressure from life and I they do not get help and support, they may end up committing suicide. Therefore, these support systems will help them ease the pressure and handle all the difficulties in life.

The other way would be holding seminars for parents and teachers to educate them on methods to identify problems affecting students and deal with them. Educators and parents are the persons who spend the most time with students, and they are the only ones who identify a student who is going through a tough phase and help them solve the problem before they result to suicide. The school should form its committee meant to come up with a committee and come up with solutions to the problems affecting students of that specific school and come up with recommendations for each problem.

Research methods and finds

To carry out a study on the reason why most students commit suicide in Hong Kong schools, different methods were applied to identify them. The first method was the observation on students’ behaviors. It was done by both the teachers and parents while they were at home. Students going through a rough time tend to be unhappy and in a foul mood all the time. They are always alone and sad and thus easy to identify them as they are never in the company of the rest of the people. It is, therefore, the duty of the teacher and the parents to pay close attention to teenagers and children and f they identify the changes, try as much as possible to help the students or involve the psychologists to avoid a suicide case.

Survey is the other method, where a certain number of students is chosen and expose to some hardships in school and at home to see their reactions. There are those students who are resilient and will try to find ways to overcome the problem while others give up quickly. When the weakness and strengths are identified from the chosen sample, it is the duty of the teachers and the parents to exploit it and help all the students to overcome their fears in life and education and encourage them to face each situation and fight without giving up and opting to death. In 2015, there was a survey carried out by 10,000 students in Hong Kong between the years 2014 October and April 2015 where the result showed that a quarter of the number opted for suicide whenever they came across a hardship, and about two percent would commit suicide if they had the chance.

The other method to look into the case is the use of questioners addressed to the students. With these, it is easy to identify the challenges students come across and require experts to help them face these situations without going for suicide as their solution.

Depression cases

Most students in Hong Kong ends up depressed due to lack of mental health support. Some parents have unrealistic expectations for their children and cause them to be under pressure resulting to stressing them out. When a parent concentrates too much on the academic achievement of the child and forgets the mental well-being of their children, and even at home they do not have the time to relax, it becomes a source of stress, and when they cannot handle it anymore, they will opt to kill themselves.

At school, the staff has no time to understand the students due to the demanding administrative duties and teaching. About the latest review of a child fatality, it showed that most of the students expressed their thoughts to carry out suicide in different ways before that carried out the act. Nevertheless, neither the teachers nor the parents identified the signals and be able to help them and stop the action.

The suicide cases alarm called for the government to provide psychologists team to assist the students in Hong Kong who were depressed after the claims arose. One of the psychologists stated that the current education curriculum was too harsh for the students and in case they got something more attractive, they would enjoy the process of learning, have some hope to hold and look forward to (Lee et al, 2015).

The effect of the university students was due to the change of the system of education to four years in university and six years in secondary. It meant that students would start their tertiary education one year earlier as the previous education system was university three years and subsequent seven years. It meant they would be exposed to harder studies while still young and not matured enough neither prepared to face the challenges they would come across in the university. The situation would, therefore, prove to be too stressful pushing some of the students to commit suicide.

The psychologists in the University of China handed about 725 counseling cases in the years 2014 and 2015. The cases were mostly on study issues which disturbed most of the students; personal growth where students had no knowledge of what to do; emotional turmoil where students feel to talk about what is happening in their life or at times have no one to talk to; mental illness resulting from depressing cases the students pass through and family problems. Experts on these cases have asked for early intervention to be done and approaches to treatment be used to the student to avoid suicide cases (Lee et al., 2015).

According to Lee et al, 2015 one of the psychologists, Joyce Chow also the chairwoman of the center of suicide prevention said that through her experience, the most causes of suicide among students are academic pressure, family issues and emotional problems (Pajares, 2005). Her suggestion was that parents should show concern for the feelings of their children and keep up with their school activities as well. It would help boost the self-esteem of a child and have someone to talk to in case they have a problem which will solve the depression cases. Schools should make time for students, parents and teachers meeting to ensure they interact and build healthy relationships among themselves (Headley, 1984).

Headley, 1984 argues that non-governmental organizations in Hong Kong has as well be involved in providing social workers in several secondary schools to help the students fight with depression and assist them in their social, academic and emotional support. Despite all these efforts by everyone, it is upon the student to appreciate the help offered to them and avoid suicide cases (Headley, 1984).

Lessons learnt

It takes the whole community to ensure the welfare of the child whether in school or not. When the community teaches the child the moral ways and sets a good example, the child will follow it and not commit any vices such as suicide. The government should establish rights for children and enforce them for the welfare of children. For instance, the education system should be evaluated by the government to ensure that the students will not be put under too much pressure to a point of committing suicide. It is the duty of the government to offer help to schools where possible, for instance, hiring psychologists and placing them in each school. It will ensure that the students have someone to talk to anytime they feel uneasy talking to teachers and parents. Parents’ role in the students’ life should be done. When a parent is involved, the child has the confident to face everything as they have someone to consult. In this way, they will not go for suicide as the option. Therefore, reducing suicide cases among children lies on the parents, teachers, and government duty, not only on Hong Kong but the entire world.