Nagpur: Three students preparing for competitive exams in Rajasthan’s Kota allegedly died by suicide on Monday. The boys were 16, 17 and 18.
These deaths, again, highlight the extreme pressure on young men and women to perform well and qualify for India’s best colleges.
Students, including many who prepare for these competitive exams alongside their final two years in school, often complain about high stress.
The coaching hub across the country is notorious for pushing students over the edge with long class hours, long assignments, and very competitive internal tests which determine whether a student is promoted or demoted among the many “batches”. Top batches get the most sought-after teachers.
The humdinger institutions which take conceit in their ability to pave way for young students into Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), are being presumptuous when it comes to timings of the classes, not to mention ‘no’ options of ‘leaves’ amid course, these scenarios are adding up to severe mental trauma for students, who are facing difficult time in studying as well as enjoying their teen life, expressed city based psychiatrists. .
Several renowned institutions of the city – Allen, Akash BYJU’s, IIT Home — are conducting at least three 90-minutes-long lectures, back-to-back, with just a small void for students to breathe. This, coupled with stringent ‘no leaves’ options, which again rob the gullible students of valuable family time, appears to take a toll on their mental health, psychiatrists informed Nagpur Today, as they are witnessing a remarkable spike in such cases in the recent time.
Many parents have identified some or another strange behaviour of their ward. When they try to confront them, the kids, who are already facing severe mental trauma from studies, often lash out on their parents. The rat race for IIT and AIIMS has left no stones unturned in disturbing the peace of parents and their wards.
While some students share their ordeal with their parents and are taking therapy sessions, many are still making futile attempts to cope with the growing chaos, as their parents have paid a hefty amount to secure them a seat in these prestigious institutions.
