Student Suicides: The Destruction of Iran’s Future Hope, Officials’ Silence

One of the issues that has challenged education, training, and families over the past four years is the successive suicides of students aged 11 to 18. In 2015, 13 students ended their lives through various means, leaving their families bereaved.

Based on statistics from the Legal Medicine Organization, the rate of suicide in Iran has increased in recent years. Comparing statistics from 2012 to 2011 shows that the suicide rate increased by 11 percent in that one year. Of course, the latest statistics released by the Legal Medicine Organization regarding suspected suicide deaths relate to the first four months of 2012, and no new data is currently available in this regard.

Multiple reasons are cited for suicide. Romantic failure, financial problems, or academic failure are all factors that can place a person on the brink of ending their life.

Although according to Hassan Mousavi Chelak, head of the Iranian Association of Social Workers, all of these have two key components: depression and mental disorders: “These two factors are more prevalent in those who attempt suicide. Suicide occurs under the influence of individual factors, family factors, and social factors. Statistics on sadness show that Iranians are sad. For this reason, we have no plans for happiness. The index of happiness and vitality is not very high.>>”

Based on research conducted and considering social, economic, and political evidence, mental disorders in Iran are high. According to some statistics, 34 percent of people in Tehran have at least one mental disorder. In any case, the increasing trend of suicide among Iranians, which all statistics attest to, necessitates seeking factors and solutions to address this social problem.

As has been clarified in examining the factors behind many suicides, poverty by itself does not directly lead to social deviance in general and suicide in particular. Rather, what plays the primary and fundamental role is the sense of poverty that arises from comparing oneself with others. What torments a person’s mind and spirit in school or among friends is class conflict and economic inequality, which are abundantly evident in schools. Many school officials and administrators also overlook this conflict and inequality in their interactions with students.

In reality, schools are only advised to consider individual differences among students, while today—given the expansion of economic inequalities and cultural differences—social differences should also be considered in the field of education and training. Otherwise, a sense of poverty develops among students whose families face economic difficulties, harming the child’s mind and spirit, and potentially leading to behaviors that result in suicide.

On the other hand, some sociologists believe that today, extreme individualism and social alienation threaten children and adolescents more, meaning that children and adolescents are caught between tradition and modernity, and are somewhat suffering from depression, anxiety, and individualism.

The following table shows student suicides in 2015 that were published in official news agencies:

There are students who attempt suicide, and fortunately, their attempts are unsuccessful. However, at the same time, statistics on these attempts are not recorded anywhere, and no one follows up on them.

“Mohammad Ali Elsti, sociologist, says: We are experiencing a period in which the life of the new generation has deviated greatly from the natural path. The path that previous generations took was, of course, under worse conditions in terms of welfare and technology, but they followed a natural path. This natural path has been denied to our children and adolescents today.

Through criticism, humans develop the readiness to accept changes in external factors. When a human cannot criticize, he cannot create change in the external world. Therefore, he tries to create change in his imagination. Inclination toward many addictive and hallucinogenic substances is one of the consequences of a society where criticism is not fostered. Another consequence of such a society is suicide. When an individual cannot convey his protest to external factors, it is very likely that this pressure leads to suicide. Schools and families not only fail to foster teamwork and criticism but also suppress them.>>”

However, a society that has narrowed the arena for its people in every way, a society that has bent under the weight of staggering embezzlements by officials, a society that opposes the presence of men and women together, a society that has ignored internal integrity and purity and has imposed and approved two months of imprisonment for girls and women without headscarves, a society that publicly executes criminals before everyone’s eyes—such a society has actually created fertile ground for injustice, violence, stress, anxiety, and depression. It teaches them how to kill themselves and others.

Finally, it must be understood that currently Iranian society, and specifically Iranian student society, faces psychological, mental, financial, and motivational challenges. The lack of social affection and families’ deep struggles for survival have first dimmed hope for the future in families and then in society, and particularly among students. These very factors have led to the suicide and painful end of many young students’ lives.