Srinagar: The government has issued advisory to all the schools in the state following an alert by Police’s intelligence wing (CID) to prevent them from the social media ‘Blue Whale’ suicide game and has directed the schools heads to start counseling among students.
Secretary School Education Farooq Ahmad Shah told KNS that the department has issued an advisory to all the schools heads after the alert by the CID.
“We have directed all the heads of the schools to counsel students and inform parents not to allow their children to use mobile phones and social media to lay hazardous games,” Shah told KNS.
“We are involving officials, parents and civil society to educate the students about the potential hazards of the ‘Blue Whale’ attacks,” he said.
Meanwhile, following the direction, Director School education Kashmir, Dr G N Itoo has issued a notice to all the school heads.
A copy of which is lying with KNS reads “… You are requested to kindly issue immediate necessary instructions to the Heads of the Institutions so that rigorous awareness campaign is launched in order to prevent such activities,” Itoo wrote to all CEOs of the region.
According to media reports, 200 to 250 cases of stimulated suicide have been reported across the world, including three suspected cases in India.
ON August 14, IGP CID Abdul Gani Mir had issued an alert to the Education department against possibility of the young teenage students falling in the trap of online provocateurs.
“The Blue Whale—a suicide game, is getting popular among social media users, especially teenagers through different social media platforms. Blue Whale is a twisted suicide challenge that appears to prod vulnerable teens into killing themselves,” Mir said.
“The horrifying dangerous game has been linked to hundreds of teen deaths across the globe and it has already made inroads into India having a large population of social media users. The game is played via many social media platforms,” the IGP said in the alert.
“It is being said that the game can reach a young teenager on social media sites if they endorse certain hashtags and get involved in some groups. When the player signs up for the game, she or he is assigned an administrator who provides them with a daily task of which they must send photographic proof of completion,” the IGP said.
The IGP said that since Jammu and Kashmir has a broader social media base comprising majority of teenagers who are more vulnerable and prone to such traps, it is advised that the Department of Education may be asked to impart awareness and knowledge of such fatal social media traps to students.
“The children should be advised not to follow the crowd and not feel pressured into doing anything that makes them feel unsafe. Parents should also be advised to talk to their children, counsel them to prevent any untoward incident,” the IGP said. (KNS)
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