Arnold Tanaka Tarwireyi and Blessing Siyakurima

Midlands State University

In 2018 a finance student was found hanging in one of the hostels at a local university.

Two months later, a first-year statistics student was crushed by a train in a case of suspected suicide.

At the same time, a student from a tertiary institution in the Midlands took his own life after finding his girlfriend being intimate with another man.

Deaths related to suicide kept on occurring each time and it is a disturbing trend.

The spike in suicides has left people scrambling for answers.

Among a myriad of reasons said to be driving suicides in tertiary institutions are depression, high stress levels, guilt about a mistake made, family issues, failure and general lack of belonging.

Most cases of suicide in universities are related to depression, which is state of long-term lowering of enjoyment of life or inability to visualise a brighter future.

Depression emanates from issues to do with the heart and mind, loss of a loved one, and perceived failure.

What usually evoke this in tertiary institutions is that students fail to manage stress, leading to depression that gives the opportunity to suicide.

It is not a single event that prompts one to think about taking their own life, rather it is a series of events, not being handled well by individuals.

Specifically, matters of the heart are complex and can take a huge toll on a student’s mental faculties.

The burden of a lot of school-related work can have detrimental effects on a student.

Academic pressure can cause suicide if one fails to handle it properly.

It might come as stress over perceived failure or just failure. This then causes one to avert the failures through suicide.

Some cases of suicide are related to financial problems. From one dimension, it can be due to competition from peers that might cause one to lack a sense of belonging, promoting suicide as an escape.

When one does not get support through times of difficulty, they may be isolated from the world, forcing them to withdraw from life and hence ending it all.

Worth considering is the nexus between suicide and stigmatisation on campuses.

Blackmailing and cyber bullying contribute to stigmatisation.

In 2019 a University of Zimbabwe female student committed suicide after a video of her having sexual encounter went viral.

The pain of losing a loved one can also trigger suicide.

This can be one’s parent or a guardian.

Their role in a student’s life is very fundamental to the extent that losing them leaves students in state of despair and hopelessness.

The death of a parent means that they might fail to continue with their studies due to lack of financial support.

It might also be due to the stress of living without them that can prompt suicidal thoughts.

Generally, most of the reasons that prompt suicide are somehow connected to the tertiary institutions.

What will become out of these institutions in the future?

Will they be a safe place to learn or will they be a death trap?

Bryane Tarowa

Chinhoyi University of Technology

People are taking this pandemic of Covid -19 lightly yet it’s deadly.

The second lockdown came into force on January 5, 2021 after cases doubled last month because of festive season gatherings and traffic from neighbouring South Africa.

South Africa is experiencing a severe second wave of the virus. Zimbabwe is recording more deaths during this second lockdown.

In some cities and towns people are putting on masks for fear of being arrested yet it’s for their own benefit to obey the rules.

Covid-19 has a serious impact especially on economic and education sectors.

We are witnessing closures of borders and schools.

Only examination classes were allowed to write their examinations.

As a result of the challenges students faced, some could not perform well because of missed online lectures.

Students on attachment were also affected by the pandemic because companies were closed and students could not complete their internships.

During the first lockdown university and college students attended in phases, but the second lockdown rules are more restrictive as all students are at home until further notice.

It is imperative that we all stay at home, avoiding unnecessary movements, sanitise our hands, put on face masks wherever venturing and maintaining social distancing because the Coronavirus-19 is real, and it kills.

Keselia Ndlovu

Midlands State University

More youths suffer from increased levels of uncertainty which varies differently with the gender due to the different challenges faced in their lives. This causes insecurities.

Insecurities are brought about by a traumatic experience, a feeling of not belonging to any social circle, driven social interactions and external realities.

At tertiary institutions, body-shaming has become a norm with the offenders being ignorant of the impact on the victim.

An example can be of an oversize person who gets reminded that he/she is obese, as if they don’t always feel the heat when they look in the mirror.

If one doesn’t fall under any of these categories – relationships, good grades, trendy clothes – reality kicks in and turns them into insecure beings.

The experience is personal because the inner-self identifies “outcast” without anyone having to specifically pointing out.

A girl’s security is threatened when she feels that she is not good enough or that she is unloved and undesirable, creating any inner conflict where she compares herself with other women.

Social media plays a crucial role because people become obsessed and feel pressured to look perfect.

Men, on the other hand have insecurities, among them being denial in sharing the insecurities, because of the belief that they should tough out emotions.

Admission of  these insecurities is deemed a weakness.

Men take insults seriously. These linger with them for a lot longer because these could be very “sensitive insecurities.”

Fear of missing out (FOMO) has destroyed many individuals.

Young people avoid being left out by following the crowd.

It is very common to come across females who inject themselves so that they acquire an enhanced butt or get light skin, and males who take steroids for muscles.

These artificial body or beauty enhancement measures are taken after one compares themselves with others and notices their shortfalls or insecurities.

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