Attn: Church, Parents, Teachers….Stop Pressure on Kids *Arunachal sets up Buddhist center

We were shocked to read of two budding Christian girl students, who had reportedly ‘fared badly’ in the SSC exam and committed suicide because of it. It is an eye-opener to the Church, Parents, Teachers…. as it is a symptom of a serious malaise – our children desperately need our attention. It is important to assure your children that academic results are not the only thing that matters. There is need to counsel children and take the mental pressure or fear of failure off them. And certainly no beating kids please. It does bring out the worse in them in the future. Read a news report on the two girls – Leanne Pereira and Salita Pinto.

Mumbai, June 13, 2012: In two separate incidents, SSC students in Mumbai committed suicide on Wednesday. The girl students hanged themselves to death, police said. While one of the students had failed, the other took the extreme step as she had scored low marks. The SSC board results were declared on Wednesday.
 
In the first incident, 15-year-old Leanne Pereira, a student of St Lawrence School and a resident of Vile Parle (East), ended her life after finding out she had failed the board exams. An officer of Vile Parle police said, “Leanne had checked her results on the Internet in the afternoon and hanged herself around 7.30pm, when there was nobody in the house. No suicide note was found.”
 
In the second incident, Salita Pinto, 16, a resident of Tony Compound in Sahar Village hanged herself to death after she scored lower marks than expected in the SSC exams. Jaiprakash Giram, senior inspector of Sahar police station, said, “Salita took the extreme step after her mother had left the house around 10pm.”
 
The police have registered a case of accidental death in both the incidents and a further probe is underway.

– hindustan times

Arunachal Pradesh sets up Buddhist center

Arunachal Pradesh, June 13, 2012: The institute fills the vacuum in imparting education on Buddhism.

Arunachal Pradesh, where around 13 percent of the population follows Buddhism, has got its first full-fledged Buddhist center.

The Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies in West Kameng district is now a full-fledged central institute, according to its founder Tsona Gontse Rinpoche.

The institute fills the vacuum in imparting education on Buddhism, he said.

Rinpoche, who conceived the center in 2000, said it got the federal government’s approval in May, 2010.

The project cost was estimated at 90 million rupees.

“It began with a central government grant of just 9.7 million rupees and has since grown into a full-fledged institute,” Rinpoche said.

He said “I had pursued the Centre to establish such an institute considering the large number of Buddhist population residing in the Northeast.”

He pointed out that with only 25 faculty members and limited infrastructures, the institute has so far produced two batches (18 each) of Shastri (equivalent to BA in Buddhist Philosophy) degree holders.

The institute also teaches arts and crafts for self-sufficiency and sustainable development and preservation of ethnic identity to foster national integrity, he said.

Rinpoche, recognized as the 13th reincarnation of Buddhist eminent spiritual guru in 1971 by the 14th Dalai Lama, is a monk-turned-politician and social worker.

The Buddhist population of the state resides in the region’s Tawang, West Kameng, remote regions which are close to Tibet and near the Myanmar border.

Tibetan Buddhism is practised in the first two regions while Therevada Buddhism reigns supreme in the lives of people living near the Myanmarese border.

Rimpoche earnestly believes that the institute will soon turn into a deemed university.

– outlookindia