New Delhi, January 1: With reports of 49 students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) committing suicides between 2013-17 coming into the limelight, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sent a notice to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and sought a reply within six weeks. Among the 49 students, half of them were Dalits and tribal students.

The notice released on Tuesday states, “All, except seven, were suicides by hanging, and the bodies were discovered either by classmates or members of the school staff. The contents of the report cannot be ignored or overlooked as this reported pattern of suicides by so many students in JNVs might still increase, if not checked in time with appropriate measures.” Unnao Gangrape: NHRC Sends Notice to UP Govt After Reports of Harassment of Victim.

The commission also expressed its concern on the proportion of suicides from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. In the notice, the NHRC wants to know whether appropriate and trained staff were present on the campuses to whom the students could talk to. Other than that, the rights commission also wants the information whether emergency assistance through telephone counselling and suicide hotline services were available to the students.

The statement said, “If trained counsellors are available, behavioural changes, suicidal tendencies and depression among the students can be spotted in time, and with the guidance and counselling of counsellors, suicides can be controlled.”

According to the reports, there are 635 JNVs with 2.8 lakh students. Till March 31, 2017, a total of 2.53 lakh students in the age group of nine to 19 were enrolled across roughly 600 JNVs, and during the same period, 14 students committed suicide.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 01, 2019 05:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).