With two suicides reported and concerns rising over the Blue Whale Challenge, schools in Chennai have begun counselling parents and children about the dangers of the game.
The Blue Whale Challenge is a morbid social media ‘game’ which targets vulnerable teens and pushes them to inflict self-harm and ultimately suicide. The challenge involves 50 tasks, which are given by an administrator or curator, which have to be completed one by one.
The Times of India reported that Hindustan International School in Karapakkam for the last few days has been consulting psychologists and sending out letters to parents about the dangers children are exposed to, online. This comes after the principal, Iris Theodore, heard rumours that one of the students in the school was playing the game.
She advised parents not to panic but wanted them to understand what is happening and to keep a check on the children.
She added that they had also received a circular from CBSE cautioning about the use of internet in schools, buses and classrooms.
The circular stated that security measures like installing effective firewalls, making sure that the internet is in a visible area of the school and giving children access to only a few preselected websites should be implemented.
Meanwhile, DAV Public school in Velachery also had a discussion with Class XI and XII students on online gaming.
Minoo Aggarwal, the principal, said that after the discussion, the school management was told to have discussions with Class IX and X students also, reported ToI.
On July 26, 16-year-old Manoj, a student of Class 11 from Perumkulam in Thiruvananthapuram, was found hanging in his bedroom allegedly after playing the Blue Whale Challenge.
A 14-year-old boy Manpreet Sahni committed suicide on July 30 by jumping off the terrace of his seven-floor building and his death has also been allegedly linked to the Blue Whale Challenge.