Parents and teachers are to blame for teen suicides, experts

The number of suicides among teenagers in the first half of this year is higher than the number of suicides recorded over the whole last year. Those responsible are the parents and teachers who don’t offer enough attention to these children. The opinion is shared by representatives of specialized ministries and experts in the field of preventing suicides, Info-Prim Neo reports. Liuba Ceban, head of the Altruism Association, said at a round table on Friday that according to the data of the Ministry of the Interior, there were 18 suicides and 50 attempts among minors last year. In the first 6 months of this year, the figures are already at 16 suicides and 64 attempts. “This year, the number is very high because of several factors, like family problems. We don’t have concrete services, we don’t have a clear reference system”, said Liuba Ceban. She stated that society wasn’t open to discuss this subject, was closed and this made it difficult to prevent suicide cases. So far, there are studies, researches and specialists, because it is a new topic. Viorica Adascalita, psychologist at the National Center for Prevention of Abuse against Minors (CNPAC), said this problem must be solved by parents and pedagogues. “There is a lack of moral education, the values of healthy life aren’t instilled. Self-esteem isn’t encouraged. Personality isn’t developed. The school provides knowledge, but does little in the formation of personality”, said the psychologist. There were always problems with teenagers, must parents must know how to deal with it. “Parents are lost in this regard. Communication is needed to prevent self-aggression”, added Viorica Adascalita. Eugenia Parlicov, senior consultant at the Ministry of Education, admitted there was little progress as regards the psychological service in schools. “Unfortunately, the budget doesn’t allow us to have a specialized unit in all the schools. That’s the truth”, she said. Eugenia Parlicov said the exact number of psychologists in schools wasn’t known because the Ministry staff was smaller than the avalanche of problems it had to deal with. The issue was discussed at the round table of the network “Journalists – friends of children”, organized by the Investigative Journalism Center and the UNICEF Office in Moldova.