Education News, OpinionJuly 26, 2016
To be called an educated is not a concern for everyone anymore. Rather, the word has lost its real connotation over the years. Today, the struggle is to be a part of that crowd that is aspiring to head toward a similar direction. This march has million heads and somewhere when all these heads carry a similar notion, that very notion appear to be the idea to live for.
In the realm of education, where its mini-fields like engineering and medical boast of many aspirants, it becomes difficult to identify with those who actually want to be a part of these fields. In the process of learning an unwanted subject, some aspirants become so disoriented that they either decide to quit or go the other way. The latter is more due to the fear of what the society would perceive and how their parents would react.
With the surging cases of suicide of students, it is imperative to know why these students are aiming for just one solution.
Apparently, the answer is more subjective than it appears to be. If one looks at these cases, they will notice that most of these cases erupt from coaching hubs where a herd is sent to get prepared for engineering and medical entrances. Unable to endure the never ceasing voices of pressure with the incessant classes that happen in these hubs, the reasons behind suicides are understandable. So what is exactly prompting these students not to opt for simply dropping the idea of that field and choose something else over it?
A lot could be attributed to a bad concept that Indian parents have regarding education. It is true that for many, education is science and science is education. The other fields are looked down as something that only the less-than-average opts for.
They push their child much against the child’s will to become either engineer or doctor. Their perception for Arts is relegated and they instill the same idea in the child’s brain. So if the child is not able to run as fast as the other, taking away the life is the only alternative he/she feels is left with him.
The recent case of the IIT aspirant who hanged himself is a consequence of the tousled ideas of education. He is said to be the twelfth student to have died in the coaching hub Kota this year.
These figures may not perturb the still-confused lot in that crowd. However, the ones who are yet to decide and do not feel inclined towards these hubs should start speaking up. Speak for yourself in front of your parents before you are made to toil in the same unflustered space. That space was never yours and, in all probability, you will never be able to carve your own space out of it.
