The Hon. Dinindu Saman Hennayake - Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, first, I thank Hon. Lal Premanath for bringing this motion to the House.

¶ 02 He has focused on a problem faced by Sri Lankan youth and brought it to the attention of this august Assembly, for which, as the Ministry of Youth Affairs, we must extend our thanks.

¶ 03 As the Hon. Member clarified in this motion, even as we speak, incidents of suicide are being reported somewhere in the world. Every 40 seconds, one suicide occurs. Generally, around 700,000 suicides are reported worldwide each year. Among them, the youth population is significant. Today, globally, more adults die by suicide, but we can identify a trend of suicide among youth as well. This pattern applies to Sri Lanka too. As the Hon. Member said, earlier we were a country ranked number one in the world for suicides. That situation has gradually reduced. However, our rate is still higher than the global average. Even now, out of every 10,000 people, between 13 and 15 die by suicide.

¶ 04 We discussed, within our Government’s policies, the need for interventions to prevent suicides among Sri Lankan youth. We discussed suicides among youth and the steps required to prevent them. An opportunity has now arisen for us to intervene. Therefore, we must take this motion by the Hon. Member into consideration.

¶ 05 I particularly wish to draw attention to the factors influencing suicide, as highlighted when discussing this motion. Based on indicators and data provided by the World Health Organization for youth globally, Sri Lanka’s National Institute of Mental Health has identified several contributing factors. One is psychological stress. We have observed that Sri Lankan youth face considerable mental stress. Especially, the competitiveness within our education system and parents’ excessive expectations about their children’s education have caused severe mental stress among adolescents in the 15 to 19 age group. Recognizing this, our Government introduced new education reforms as part of our work programme. The Opposition repeatedly attacked those reforms. Nevertheless, within the new education reforms, we endeavored to design measures to reduce children’s mental stress, the unnecessary competition in education, and parents’ undue expectations. We are implementing these, and we believe that through these reforms, a significant number of suicides due to mental stress can be reduced.

¶ 06 Next, relationship breakdowns—especially the breakdown of romantic relationships among youth and problems among friends—have had a major impact as determinants of suicide. To help them out of such situations, we need to nurture a new cadre of youth who interact with empathy and work in teams. We have great expectations about the youth emerging in our country today. Over the coming decades, leaders must be created from among these youth. We believe that by creating compassionate youth—who can recognize others’ sorrow and pain and love others—we can reduce suicides significantly. Also, conflicts between parents within families and issues such as cyberbullying have influenced suicides. As the Ministry of Youth Affairs, we are currently identifying the causes of youth suicide and formulating measures to prevent them.

¶ 07 In our policy statement, we proposed developing a Youth App. Through it, youth will be able to access counseling services. We must ensure access to such services confidentially. We believe that within this Youth App, we can provide guidance and programmes relevant to that objective. We also need to create programmes that bring youth together in Sri Lanka. Our National Youth Services Council and National Youth Corps are working on such programmes. Further, we have decided to hold the first National Research Conference on Youth Development this year, within which we hope to discuss, under a special theme, the mental stress affecting youth.

¶ 08 We also believe that literature is a good avenue to shape the mental state of youth. Alongside the “A Book a Month” programme, we look forward to providing appropriate guidance for young creators presenting new works through our Ministry. Notably, a Cabinet Sub-Committee has already been appointed to identify youth problems and implement decisions to resolve them. That sub-committee is already functioning. In such a context, we appreciate the presentation of this motion.

¶ 09 We all have a responsibility to work for the youth of this country. Therefore, we request all Hon. Members, male and female, not to trivialize this matter. Suicide is not something to make light of; it is an issue that requires our serious attention. Let us focus on it, work to seek solutions, and intervene accordingly. Reiterating that this is a social responsibility, I conclude my remarks. Thank you very much.