THE NATIONWIDE incidents linked with the Blue Whale Challenge — of teenagers committing or attempting suicides — have caused concern among parents as well as teachers in the Tricity. While parents’ associations are sharing the dos and don’ts for preventing their wards from playing this game, school managements have displayed warnings related to this game on their noticeboards. Some school authorities have even organised lectures by counsellors.
Sudha Babbar, principal of Jainendra Public School in Sector 1, Panchkula, says, “After the first incident of death of a 14-year-old boy linked with Blue Whale game was reported in Mumbai, we alerted our teaching staff. We discussed the issue in our morning session. We also decided to put up a warning on our noticeboard when we observed random incidents of suicides being reported throughout the country.”
Teachers of Jainendra Public School contacted parents of students telling them to be careful about this game.
Gurpreet S Bakshi, principal of St Kabir School, Sector 26, says, “Things like Blue Whale game move very fast in society. We have cautioned the parents about it through diary notes. The best way to prevent this menace is to keep tabs on the behaviour of children and also monitor what they are watching on social networking sites and on internet. Awareness of the game and strict monitoring of the children are two solutions to prevent the kids from falling prey to this game.”
Vivek High School, Sector 38, sensitised the students and parents to the pitfalls of this game. Chandigarh Police cyber cell incharge, Inspector H S Sekhon, says, “We have appealed to the parents to contact us if they see any change in the behaviour of their children, and if they want to know more about the Blue Whale Challenge. We also take up this issue during our visits to schools.”
Nitin Goyal, president of Chandigarh Parents Association, which has more than 1,600 members from across the Tricity, says, “We have uploaded recently issued guidelines of UNICEF about this game on our WhatsApp group just to sensitise the parents. We are very serious about it. We have also urged the education department to take strict steps in this direction. Government should introduce such a mechanism that nobody is able to download and surf this game on internet in our country.”
The Blue Whale Challenge, which originated in Russia, is believed to be a suicide game in which administrators give the participant a task to complete daily — for a period of 50 days. The final task is to commit suicide. Participants are expected to share photos of the challenges and tasks completed by them
