TRENDS IN SUICIDE RATES IN PAKISTAN DURING COVID-19: THE UPFRONT ECONOMIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CHALLENGE AFFECTING EDUCATION SECTOR

Abstract

This paper is based on a third-party action research done on the subject of COVID-19 suicide rate in Pakistan during pandemic and then it correlates it with the poverty rate, a main driver of the phenomenon with the school drop out ratio. Suicide tendency before and after a pandemic is usually found ,however, the study relates COVID-19 suicide trend with impasses in education system during a paradigm shift to hybrid mode of learning in Pakistan, which is first of its kind. It is found that most of the cases occurred due to lockdown-mandated recession or work stress or job loss, threatening livelihood and passively rotting away the education system. Xenophobia is the number two cause of suicide cases in the region. The data was extracted from national dailies for the year of 2019-2020 and sources of press reports of Pakistan were considered. Out of the total 29 reported suicide cases in Pakistan , 16 suicide cases have occurred due to COVID-19 economic repercussions. Out of these majority were the male victims. Rest of the cases were reported in Xenophobic cause of the death. It is hoped that the current findings will help protect the underprivileged class by grabbing the attention of the authorities, both national and international, towards governance issue. This, in order words, have hampered the education sector which faces direct threat from the economic crisis. School drop out ratio has increased. Pakistan ranks second highest showing 44 per cent of its population (approximately 22.8 million) aged between 5-16 not attending school (UNICEF Pakistan, 2024) .It was observed that people had no resources to access technology when virtual classroom policy was adopted by each province during pandemic. Hence, access to technology was another factor that created collateral damage highlighting cracks in equity and inclusion in education and technology access. This increased technology dependency have created minds which are socially hampered and lack coping mechanisms whenever a crisis like this happens. Hence, this paper calls authorities to action based on rejuvenating education sector such that ICT is fully integrated with education and mentally sound young persons are produced at the same time.