Cries for help (GS Paper 1, Society)
Context
- The alleged death by suicide of at least seven students, six of them girls, in different parts of Telangana after the declaration of intermediate results is another grim reminder that despite several progressive interventions in recent years, much work needs to be done to alleviate the anxieties of the country’s youth.
Government efforts to reduce the stress of students
- The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education had arranged for counsellors for students in junior colleges to deal with exam-related stress.
- State government representatives had also asked students to not be dejected by adverse results and make use of the supplementary examinations.
- However, the loss of young lives speaks of serious systemic shortcomings that cannot be mitigated by reaching out to students just before the examinations.
Extent of student suicide in India
- Year after year NCRB data has provided significant pointers about the stress faced by students.
- In 2022 according to the Bureau, over 13,044 Indian students ended their lives — 7.6 per cent of the total suicide fatalities in that year.
- The data shows a 70 per cent increase in the number of students who took their lives in the last decade.
Factors responsible for suicides among youth in India
- Suicidal behavior is, the culmination of several factors.
- It’s no secret, however, that competition pressures and burdens of parental expectations take a toll on the well-being of students — this is especially so because today, more than ever before, diverse sections of people see academic excellence as a ticket to a better life.
- Schools, too, are harbingers of the competitive mentality and teachers push their wards to higher levels of performance.
- This routine disincentives a child from searching for meaning in what is taught, encourages rote learning and pushes the young to coaching centers where the demands are even more punishing.
- Instead of being empathetic tests of the student’s aptitude, examinations continue to be purveyors of a ruthless elimination system that dehumanizes the learners and drives many of those who fail to make the cut to despondency.
- Designing flexible evaluation mechanisms for school goers, one of the objectives of NEP, 2020, is at an early stage.
- The endeavor requires greater urgency.
Effect of the New Education Policy (NEP)
- Emotional well-being is a key part of the NEP’s thrust on creating an enabling atmosphere for students.
- However, most schools today aren’t equipped to recognize a cry for help.
- Round-the-year support systems that enhance the resilience and coping skills of students — especially those from marginalized communities — are extremely rare in the Indian school-education landscape.
- Educationists have also emphasized the importance of counseling parents and teachers.
- For long, it has been clear that the grueling system does not prepare the student for the country’s economic realities.
- At the same time, the expansion of the economic pie hasn’t kept pace with the rise in aspirations.
Conclusion
- The manifestos of most political parties in the ongoing elections seem to be cognizant of the existing deficit between the expansion of the economy and the rising aspiration of youth.
- The urgent task after June 4 will be to translate words into action and make sure that the system doesn’t fail its young.
