TW- Mentions Of Suicide
The National Testing Agency (NTA) declared The National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) UG Results 2023 on 15th June. According to reports, 2038596 candidates appeared for the test while 1145976 qualified. One then finds a reason why not around 892620 candidates make it to the other side. Has it been due to the lack of hard work, potential, and persistence or due to the absence of interest in thousands of students across the states?
Every year, thousands of students choose to appear for highly competitive examinations like NEET and JEE – many out of their will and interest, which is a great thing but so many of them just because their Indian parents are not ready to fathom the fact that their child is not part of the race everyone seems to be a runner in.
In contemporary India, streams like commerce are almost considered a big no-no for their child’s future while not educating oneself is still a better option than opting for humanities and social sciences. Any streams and interests other than science have been invisibilized, trivialized, and almost presented as a villain which only allow the kids to land a job not even worth mentioning to the people around them.
While I do not intend to say that these examinations are easy, I agree that they require blood, sweat, and tears and many children do achieve victory by the end, which is worth appreciating. I also agree that it is easier to comment on these examinations and the aspirants than actually putting oneself in their shoes but what I mean to say is that thousands of children would have excelled better had they chosen a stream out of their will and not just because their fathers saw a dream once and then suddenly woke up, and decided that this dream will now be fulfilled by their children, no matter the price their children will be asked to pay.
I understand that parents deserve results from their children’s hard work; after all, they have been raising and educating them since day one. But what I fail to understand is children wasting almost half of their youth preparing for an examination they never had the chance to converse with. The conversation which should take place on day one of preparation – Do I want this? Am I ready to give up on the most fruitful years of my life and instead go for this? Is there anything else I can excel in? Is it my dream in the first place? Unfortunately, not many students are ready for this sort of conversation in Indian households, or better to say, they never are given the luxury to do so in the first place.
What then does the examination demand? Days of physical and mental turmoil, failures, and self-doubt. It also demands one’s complete detachment from the fast-paced world outside something which Jeetu Bhaiyya in the web series Kota Factory (2019) would go on to explain to the young and naïve Vaibhav. Years of all these factors combined with victory, in the end, lead to the build-up of confidence, self-esteem, and joy for the student who feels that now he/she has conquered the big mountain and he/she can go on to do anything in the world, which he/she does too.
But what does the combination of all these factors with failure lead to in the end? Rising expectations of the child and the parents, more burden on the child who is already struggling to make terms with his mental and physical health, tougher competition, and in the worst situations, no coping mechanisms leading to serious issues like suicides. Again, in no way I am throwing these big words just to make my opinions sound fancy.
Reports mention that in the last 5 years, rising suicide rates have been observed among students and the youth. In 2020, 12526 students died by suicide while in 2021, the number went up to 13089. This majorly includes JEE and NEET aspirants and the major reason which has been cited is ‘family problems’, according to a report mentioned by NCRB. The evidence is right in front of the eyes!
A movie like 3 Idiots released almost a decade back, I fail to understand the audacity of the majority of Indian parents to enjoy it and appreciate it in the comfort of their dining rooms and then implement something of the opposite nature on their children – be the main hero of the dreams they might have seen years back and never to allow the child to follow his/her passion, dreams, and interests.
They are ready to go to every extreme to make their selfish dreams come to life – spent lakhs in private coaching institutes, send their kids away to become machines in institutions like Kota, and worse, send them away from their home country to struggle with every possible issue miles away from them. What does one say then, except how rigorous and sad of a situation it is when it comes to the Indian parents, their ever-rising expectations, and their pressure of being at the forefront of the race which leads to absolutely nothing for their child, in the majority of the cases?
If anything, Indian parents have to allow themselves to become Farhan’s Abba who would allow the child to follow his own, sometimes, Frost’s ‘The road not taken’ path. How else will a nation like India thrive which needs writers, painters, artists, psychologists, musicians, lawyers, etc as much as it needs doctors and engineers? Abba has to wake up, anyhow. Because like it or not, it is a bitter reality that some children find the sky to be the limit if they are given the option to do so in the first place.
It is high time and the pressure lies on the Indian parents who have to keep their egos aside, develop and progress, and most importantly, wake up from the long delusional dream they have been sleeping to all this while.