The Hon. Aruna Panagoda

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, many points were presented regarding the motion brought by Hon. Lal Premanath to prevent young people from taking their own lives. However, we see today that citizens, without adequate restraint about their own lives, very quickly, over the smallest incident, become agitated and tragically depart from life. Such incidents are being reported frequently.

¶ 02 Even the other day, we learned of a young lady teacher who had taken her life because her husband was not given the opportunity to participate with her in a friend’s wedding ceremony. There are ample stories, news, information, and experiences of this kind in society. If all of us intervene and make an effort to steer this situation in a different direction and change society, we can save those valuable lives that are being lost unnecessarily. This must be done as a social duty, and with that in mind, I wish to state a few matters at this moment. We can obtain ample statistics and information related to this. Generally, each year between 3,000 and 3,500 young lives depart from us due to very small incidents. Sometimes this may be due to examination stress, or due to a situation at the workplace, or a situation arising with a teacher at school. In any such situation, a very valuable number of lives are being lost, and therefore action must be taken to change this condition.

¶ 03 Hon. Presiding Member, in taking steps to change this situation, we must, socially, build character and develop attitudes in our country, and from early childhood, within our education system itself, we must provide guidance and habituation. We believe there must be guidance, training, and interventions to nurture strong character so that citizens can successfully face life’s challenges. Especially, I think short-term solutions are limited. If we sense that someone close to us is facing such a situation, we can refer them for medical treatment or create an opportunity to talk with them. But when a society as a whole is afflicted by such a condition, I think long-term solutions are necessary. For that, I believe directing children from school age toward extracurricular activities is important—sports, music, dance, and similar pursuits—so they learn to endure both victory and defeat and become citizens who can cope. We believe relevant interventions should be made to provide the necessary facilities for this. If that is done, I believe the worsening of this condition can be diverted to some extent by creating the right environment.

¶ 04 Next, we must create an environment for close relationships within the family unit. Today, the workload of parents has become a major obstacle. Children have lost opportunities to spend time with their parents, to converse, and to discuss problems they face. Therefore, as a government, we must act to change this situation. Likewise, the relationship between teachers and students in educational institutions should be made more close and personal. If there is uncertainty about the future within the younger generation, that must be changed and they must be given necessary counseling to make their lives valuable.

¶ 05 Further, regarding electronic and social media—as already noted—rather than pushing society and people’s attitudes in a negative direction, if they instead express ideas that form good attitudes, good feelings, motivation, and character development, it would provide strong support to prevent this situation. Today, very valuable lives are being lost rapidly within a very short period. Therefore, as a society, we must act responsibly. Even when we debate in this Parliament, we must consider the lives of government officials, their families, and children.

¶ 06 We can summon an official and reprimand them here. But how will that official’s children and family face society? We have often seen debates here without thinking about that. Setting aside the harm of turning society toward such negativity, even in this House our focus should be on our social responsibility to think of the other and act accordingly.

¶ 07 Hon. Lal Premanath has presented a very timely motion today. Emphasizing the importance of acting promptly on it, I conclude my brief remarks. Thank you.