Why me?
That’s the question you end up asking yourself. Over and over again.

What did I do to deserve this? I am just horrible. I don’t want to live like this.

And then, the inevitable evolution of that germ of a thought comes to fruition- Maybe I just don’t deserve to live.

This is the abject reality of the current mindset in students across India. And the corresponding sad truth of Students Suicide.

Student Suicide

Results just came out; boards, college entrances, scholarship and financial aid package tests. While we spend our first moments congratulating the people who inched another step closer to their aspirations, let’s not forget the ones who feel utterly dejected today. The kids, yes kids, who feel like the world is crashing around them.

What is it that gives numbers on a piece of paper such importance? Importance enough to decide that one’s life has no meaning?

I got into a scholarship program at a premiere IIT coaching center when I was just 14. Getting into an institute that had a success rate of over 90% was such a big deal that the fact I couldn’t give IITJEE for another four years didn’t matter to my family then.

The Great Indian Family Priorities vis-à-vis Education

Let’s face it, there is something about the way an Indian household views education that is unheard of in other cultures. Yes, a good education is respected but the way it is treated here? Absolutely mind-boggling. Only thing is, no one ever stopped to ask whether it was any good. Or if it led to anything good.

Yes, parents work very hard in the Indian setup to ensure their kids do better. Get a better education and superior facilities than they did themselves. Sometime that creates a Nobel laureate, sometimes it just ends up as one generation’s lack of success driving another generation’s life. We all know at least one person in our social circles whose career and life were decided the day they were born. By their financial capability, standing in the society or their own failure to become something they aspired for.

Societal Pressure

For any kid to grow up to be an able citizen and contribute positively to his society, he has to be educated and informed about that society and what is considered right and wrong in it. Sadly, we aren’t showing them the reality. They grow up believing in the possibility of everything and are then met by the cruel reality of unabashed failure.

The Telangana student suicides are still mainstream news. If history has taught us anything, and it really hasn’t, we will forget it as early as the next catastrophe. It is the systemic failure of us as a people and our government that has led to this level of apathy. Students are supposed to study, learn, retain and put their learning to practice; not end up dead hanging to a noose thanks to pressure. Students committing suicide is not a legacy anyone wants.

Too Many People Giving Entrance & Eligibility Exams – Not Enough Seats

The draconian civil services examinations have left little to the imagination with regards to competition. It is not just the fact that there seems to be an incapability at the administrative end, but also a dogma inducing stillness regarding change.

Students endup attaching months and years of their lives in their quest to gain a seat in these services and get to a better social standing. But they are left saddened instead.

IITJEE has about 11 lakh applicants to 11000 seats. The civil services have about 1000-3000 vacancies (rarely) and an application list that numbers over 4 lakh. How are we to explain all the time, effort and resources that go into preparing for these competitive exams if there isn’t enough give for the people who deserve them. Reservations in these places according to caste, creed and religion, in-state exclusivity also leave a lot of good students standing in the lurches.

Will student suicides ever go from current news to ancient history?

I have to be hopeful. I saw a friend of mine, in a good medical college take her life after just two semesters. It wasn’t because of financial burdens, romantic entanglements or personal issues. It was her unabashed need to fulfill her parents wishes. She couldn’t take it anymore.

So, if you’re a parent who’s reading this. Understand that the stigma is not as worse as it seems in this regard. Be a parent and stand with you children, make better humans out of them, they will be good students by themselves.

If you are a student who understands this kind of pressure, or is facing similar issues in your environment, approach the people you respect. They will find a way to repay that faith by helping you and easing your burdens in whatever way they can.

If all else fails, think of the world as it is today if Einstein had committed suicide when his school failed to see him as a true genius or how bereft we would be if Beethoven had given up when the world closed in on him. He just wrote another symphony.

So find your symphonies my dear students. This life will find a way to sustain you anyway!

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Educating our Children for a better future, thinking beyond result excellence