Failure in certificate examinations: Expert condemns cyber bullying, says can trigger suicide.

The students who sat for these examinations have been using the social media to pour out their emotions in the wake of the publication of the results.

However, there is a growing trend of those who failed being bullied on the cyber space. 

This is said to have had very negative effects on those who aren’t mentality strong.

As a results psychologists and experts have been warning that some content published on social media platforms are presumed to fuel feelings that risk ending in tragedy. 

According to Nkengagni Bertrand, a pedagogue who spoke to The Guardian Post, the effects of some social media content on students can go as far as triggering suicide.

“The purpose of social media which has been to promote education has been diverted,” Nkengagni said, adding that most young people have taken the social media as an interphase to bully, publish nudes as well as promote hate speech leading to moral decadence. 

The pedagogue also said it is as a result of these activities that most students do not perform well in class and certificate examinations.

“From my interactions with students, they are vulnerable to contents on social media, especially with its demoralising effects when it comes to results of public exams,” he stated. 

According to Nkengagni, mocking and insulting unsuccessful candidates makes the burden heavier on them. 

The teacher said “there is a better way to handle such situations to avoid the possibility of suicides which becomes the only option for some students to overcome depression”. 

Solutions to the growing phenomenon 

In order for this phenomenon to be mitigated, Nkengagni called for responsibility on the part of parents, educational establishments and the authorities.

He has suggested that government, should through the National Assembly, put in place laws that punish cyber bullying. 

“The National Assembly has to vote a law to put an end to cyber bullying, mocking of failed students and manage social media properly,” he said. 

According to him, teachers educate students to be able to accept and manage failure. He also opined that most parents have been a push factor to the tragedies committed by unsuccessful candidates. 

“Aside social media, some of the things that can cause tension and suicide after publication of results comes from us the parents. The words we use on our children at home,” he continued. 

Nkengagni has encouraged parents to stop acting as a pain in the neck to their children, demanding that they should comfort instead of criticising and insulting them.

Students speak out

On the streets of Yaounde, some students spoke to The Guardian Post, recounted how social media has affected them before and after exams. 

“I am a successful candidate but from the post I have been seeing online, if I didn’t make it many thoughts would have been going through my mind now,” Menje Lesley revealed.

Hardly does a season of publication of examination results in the country comes and goes, without cases of suicide recorded on the part of unsuccessful candidates.

The most recent case is that of a young girl whose only name was gotten as Laura died after failing in the General Certificate of Examination, GCE.  She was said to be from Menchum division in the North West region of Cameroon.

By Ngange Glory Yinyu (Journalism student on internship) 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3187 of Friday August 02, 2024