Venkaiah Naidu pitches for memory training to deal with student suicide issue

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday flagged the issue of suicides by students unable to cope with stress, and pitched for memory training which, he said, would make studies a pleasurable experience and not a "stressful nightmare".

He also batted for extending due encouragement to mind sport in the country on the lines of physical sport.

"We have been frequently coming across reports of suicides by students, who are unable to cope with stress. I get extremely anguished whenever I read such news reports as all those deaths of youngsters are avoidable...time has come for institutions, governments and the society at large to prevent such suicides," he said.

He said memory training will make "studies a pleasurable experience rather than a stressful nightmare".

"If students can learn and master memory techniques, they can work smarter. This will actually enable students to get better grades and leave them with more time for other extra- curricular activities," the Vice President said.

He made these remarks while addressing a delegation of the World Memory Sports Council for India here. The mind sport contingent has returned after bagging the fourth place at the World Memory Championships held last month in Shenzen, China.

"No doubt, physical body has its limitations but the mind has unlimited capacity and this has to be tapped to its full potential," he said.

The Vice President said there was a need to move towards analytical and logical thinking skills and not merely focusing on learning and memorising.

Naidu was of the view that there is a need for every Indian to learn these memory techniques and practise memory sports on regular basis to have a healthy state of mind.