CRIES FOR HELP

Telangana student suicides underline the need to make the system more assuring for the young

THE ALLEGED DEATH by suicide of at least seven students, six of them girls, in different parts of Telangana after the declaration of intermediate (equivalent of Classes XI and XII) 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. The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education had arranged for counsellors for students in junior colleges to deal with examrelated 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.

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. Suicidal behaviour is, of course, 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 disincentivises a child from searching for meaning in what is taught, encourages rote learning and pushes the young to coaching centres 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 dehumanises 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 endeavour requires greater urgency.

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 recognise a cry for help. Roundthe-year support systems that enhance the resilience and coping skills of students — especially those from marginalised communities — are extremely rare in the Indian school-education landscape. Educationists have also emphasised 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. The manifestos of most political parties in the ongoing elections seem to be cognisant of this deficit. The urgent task after June 4 will be to translate words into action and make sure that the system doesn’t fail its young.