The rising rate of teenage suicide has become one of the most pressing public health crises of our time. In Nepal alone, the fiscal year 2023–24 recorded 7,223 suicide cases, an average of 20 lives lost every single day. Alarmingly, 15.4% of those who took their own lives were students, exposing a mental health emergency among the nation’s youth.
These are not merely lost lives; they represent deeper, systemic failures. Each case reflects the weight of unfulfilled dreams, fractured relationships, cultural dislocation, and mounting academic pressure that many adolescents are unable to withstand. This raises a critical question: Is the root cause simply failure? Or are we confronting a deeper issue, the erosion of emotional resilience in today’s youth? Perhaps it is not failure itself, but the growing inability to cope with setbacks and navigate life’s turning points, that lies at the heart of this crisis. To understand this erosion, we must examine the environment in which today’s youth are growing up.
Growing Up Under Pressure
Today’s adolescents are growing up under relentless expectations to excel, compete, and achieve. Unfortunately, they are seldom equipped with tools to handle failure or process their emotions. These academic, social, and now digital pressures are increasingly linked to rising rates of stress, anxiety, and depression among youth in Nepal.
A cross-sectional study of 411 students (aged 14–19) from public schools in Kathmandu found that 27.5% reported stress, 56.9% anxiety, and 41.6% depression. High academic pressure, particularly among female students was identified as a major contributing factor.
In rural Nepal, similar patterns persist. A study in Karnali Province involving 424 adolescents found that 19.8% suffered from moderate academic stress and 2.4% from high stress. Girls were over three times more likely to experience stress than boys, with additional factors such as poor performance, being in Grade 10, and having literate mothers contributing to the burden.
Meanwhile, social media reinforces impossible ideals, masking struggles and magnifying insecurities. A recent study among college students in Nepal found a significant link between physical appearance perfectionism and subthreshold depression, especially among young women. The fear of negative evaluation was a key mediator.
Faced with these mounting pressures and mental health challenges, what can equip young people to withstand such adversity? The answer lies in cultivating emotional resilience.
Cementing Emotional Resilience
Celebrating the inspiring stories of women’s courage, resilienc...
Life is a constant battlefield, full of unexpected twists, daunting challenges, and moments that demand tough decisions. Even Arjuna, the iconic warrior of the Mahabharata, once stood frozen on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, torn between his sense of duty and his personal attachments. At that critical moment, what Arjuna needed was not tactical advice, but emotional resilience, the strength to stand firm amid inner turmoil. This ancient story beautifully illustrates what emotional resilience truly means.
Emotional resilience is the ability to stay steady and balanced despite the waves of stress, pressure, and adversity crashing around us. Like a boat anchored firmly against rising tides, it gives young people the courage to hold on even when life’s challenges threaten to pull them under. This inner strength safeguards them from mental imbalances, despair, and emotional breakdowns. More importantly, it fuels hope and determination, enabling youth to face adversity with confidence and grit.
However, building this resilience is not a quick or simple process. Unlike a quick fix or a single lesson, emotional resilience does not develop overnight. It is not a topic confined to a one-time workshop or a classroom lecture. Rather, it is like a tree that sends its roots deep into the soil over time, requiring constant nourishment to flourish. To grow, emotional resilience needs consistent love, meaningful relationships, and the steady presence of trusted adults - parents, teachers, mentors - who walk alongside youth through their struggles.
Small, intimate moments of attention, empathy, and care are the soil in which emotional resilience takes root. It is in these quiet interactions that young people learn to trust, adapt, and build the emotional muscles necessary for lifelong wellbeing.
In today’s fast-paced and pressure-filled world, prioritizing emotional resilience is more crucial than ever. Teachers, parents, and communities must work together to nurture this inner strength in youth, empowering them to overcome stress and confidently meet life’s challenges head-on.
When emotional resilience is cultivated, young people are not only protected from the adverse effects of stress and anxiety, they are also inspired to see setbacks as opportunities for growth and renewal. This empowers a generation to rise from hardship with hope, purpose, and a positive outlook on life.
Building emotional resilience is not just a personal journey; it is a collective responsibility. As guardians of the next generation, educators, families, and communities must create environments where young people feel supported, valued, and equipped to go through the complexities of modern life.
Teachers as Modern-Day Guides
This is where the sacred vocation of teaching transcends the boundaries of profession. Teachers are not mere dispensers of information, but they are bridge-builders, mentors, and companions on life’s stormy seas. Especially in moments of confusion and crisis, the presence of a caring teachers can be not only transformative, but lifesaving. Every teacher must ask: Do my students feel seen, heard, and valued? Am I with them not just in their success, but in their struggle too?
Imagine a classroom not as a pressure cooker of performance, but a sanctuary of emotional safety. A place where students are not merely graded, but genuinely known. Where failure is not feared but embraced as part of growth. Where every correction is grounded in care, and every silence hides a listening ear.
Creating emotionally safe environments doesn’t require expensive reforms or technological upgrades. It starts with small, powerful gestures, like calling a student by name, noticing subtle shifts in mood, asking “Are you okay?”, and meaning it. It’s about shifting from a culture of competition to a culture of connection.
Teachers, parents, and mentors must become modern-day sarathis - guides who walk beside the young, not ahead of them. We cannot prevent every storm they will face, but we can help them build stronger boats. We may not have the answers to every problem, but we can offer our presence and courage as they search for their own. In this age of rapid technological change, such human presence is more essential than ever.
Connection Over Content
In an era of artificial intelligence, knowledge is available at the click of a button. AI can teach facts, explain theories, and even simulate tutoring sessions. But it cannot sit with a heartbroken teenager, cannot interpret the silence in a student’s eyes, and cannot offer the warmth of human presence. It can teach, but it cannot mentor. It can calculate, but it cannot care.
What young people need are not perfect role models, but trusted adults who say, “I’ve been there. I’ve struggled too. Let’s walk through this together.” Emotional resilience is not developed through information, but through connection. It is cultivated slowly, like a tree growing roots through meaningful relationships and the steady presence of trusted adults. This truth echoes through our ancient wisdom and timeless stories.
Ancient Wisdom, Timeless Presence
Our sacred stories give profound meaning to this responsibility. The Mahabharata reminds us that on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna did not need solutions; he needed inner strength. In that defining moment, Lord Krishna did not offer strategies or arguments; he offered silent faith and unwavering presence.
Ekalavya was denied the physical presence of a guru. He sculpted a statue of Dronacharya and practiced in solitude until he became a master archer. When the great yogi Machhindranath lost his way, it was the silent presence of Guru Gorakhnath that gently guided him back. And when Sita awaited rescue in Lanka, it was Hanuman’s voice became her anchor of hope.
These stories remain deeply relevant today. What adolescents need is not more lessons, but companionship. Solutions may resolve problems, but only human presence can heal a wounded spirit. In today’s psychological battlefield, every young people like Arjuna needs a sarathi, a guide who listens, understands, and knows how to walk with them even in silence. At this critical hour, our calling is clear: not just to teach, but to accompany, especially today, when technology offers quick answers, the human touch remains irreplaceable.
Embracing the Human Touch
In today’s digital age, answers arrive at the press of a button. This is the era of artificial intelligence (AI). It can provide knowledge, even train skills to some degree. But can it offer the depth of lived experience? Can it whisper wisdom, or become a companion to the soul? No matter how sophisticated it becomes, AI cannot feel the softness of a broken heart. It cannot read the silent ache in a student’s eyes. It cannot offer the healing warmth of a human touch.
Technology is transforming our world. Roles are shifting. But the human presence, the steady, compassionate guide remains irreplaceable. In fact, the faster AI advances, the more vital our presence becomes.
Many worry that AI will disrupt their future. But this is not a time to fear the future. It is a time to shape it with the warmth of our hearts, the light of our hope, and the strength of our shared humanity. By grounding ourselves in compassion and presence, we can guide the next generation through life’s storms with strength and hope. To wipe unseen tears, to understand unspoken pain, to simply walk beside someone in silence we need more attentive hearts, not more algorithms.
(The author is the Chairman of Lalitpur-based Nepal Jesuit Society)
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