Students pushed to perform

Updated on: Friday, November 04, 2011

Over the past decade or so, Maharashtra and West Bengal have mostly interchanged positions at the top of the students suicides list, a phenomenon even educationists find it tough to explain. Delhi, as a city, alone accounted for 133 deaths in 2010, while as a state, it accounted for 166 deaths.

“The examination system and the selection process for institutions of higher education weigh heavily on young people,” says Shyam Menon, vice-chancellor of Ambedkar University in Delhi. “The volume of students passing out of the school education system and vying for admission to tertiary education has dramatically increased over the years, with competition levels increasing too. At a time when higher education can result in social mobility, the stakes are very high. Today, there is a greater link between employability and higher education.” Menon believes changes in the education system over the years reflect the changes in the Indian middleclass and their high aspirations, which push young people to perform or perish.

Psychiatrist Dr Sanjay Chugh feels the NCRB data is the most reliable evidence that things are only going from bad to worse in the Indian education system. Chugh blames a myopic education system for forcing students to learn what they may never need in life. “Why do we expose our children to such nonsense, with examinations becoming a do-or-die situation where students need a minimum percentage to get into a halfway decent college,” asks Chugh. An inadequate system, coupled with lack of proper social support, pushes students over the brink, says Chugh. “If a child’s parents do not add to the pressure that the education system puts on him, chances are his stress levels will never cross the threshold for suicide.”

Students pushed to perform

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