It was only two days ago that a class 10th student ended her life fearing poor marks in the forthcoming examinations. On February 24, another 17-year old had done the same fearing ‘less-than-satisfactory’ performance. What is it that is driving students to suicide?
Why can’t we change?
Rote learning methods are still practiced in schools, rather than the modern learning techniques where subjects are taught by understanding. Learning experts blame rank oriented school managements and parents for creating unnecessary pressure by focusing on the report card, rather than on overall personality development. According to them, too much pressure on a child, particularly if he or she has just entered the teens, will not only kill the talent but also pressurise them.
Says noted film director Mani Sankar, “Condemning the suicides is not the solution. What is needed is mass counselling done by the authorities and drive home the idea that exams are not the end of life. The whole concept of ‘perform or perish’ should be eliminated. This can be done by short-films that encourage this belief and lift the pressure.
Pressure-cooker stress at schools.
A few schools and colleges do take things too far. In an incident at a school at Secunderabad, the names of children were written on the board in the class room for months with the headline ‘Naughty Children’, like in a rogues gallery. A parent whose child studies in the kindergarten says on the condition of anonymity, “We have seen the same names on the board for three parent meetings consecutively for three months. Out of 40 children in the class, 15 names are in the list. The list has my daughter’s name as well. After one month, her classmates stopped talking to her because their parents thought she was a bad influence. This has affected her a lot and we are depressed too.”
Hotline to hope.
With exam fever rising, so do the anxiety levels among students. Most students who commit suicides are in high school and intermediate level where they feel the stress is at its worst. According to National Crime Records Bureau, 32.1 per cent of those who committed suicide in 2009 in Andhra Pradesh were aged 15-29. In 2009, 2,010 youngsters committed suicide due to failure in exams across the country. With more than 25-30 students calling up each day to solve their problems, psychologists handling helplines are the busy lot. Students open the heart to complete strangers and reveal their problems they face from family and teachers.
“Most of the calls we get are from youngsters aged 15 to 30 years. Their problems range from parents not understanding them to teachers being too harsh. Students call up after the exams worrying about the results. We encourage them to call us as often as they like. It generally requires two or three calls to finally change a person’s point of view and genuinely be of any measurable help,” says Ranjana Haladkar, Director of suicide help line Roshni.
It is important to understand the child without being judgmental. A girl had called up and said that she will not be able to perform in her exams and said that she has sleeping pills in her hand. It took a while to stop them. The best part of the job is when these kids call us back after they get through the examinations and thank us. Many kids have told us that we are the reason why they are alive today,” adds Ranjana.
Mayurnath Reddy, Consultant Psychiatrist at Yashoda Hospitalsays, “Even 3-6 months before the exams, children start showing signals of stress and anxiety — deviation from normal behavioural habits, diet disorders, sleep disorders etc. Such small things are enough to hint at a disturbed mental condition. If parents and schools can catch these signals and understand what their children are going through, then the kids will never reach the suicidal stage. Prompt counseling and consultation can be of help. The sooner the better, but also, it is never too late.
What’s the way forward?
A student of St Andrews, Yash Wadhwani, says, “I am in class 9 and I prefer CBSE to SSC. In CBSE, all the activities are fun and moreover, writing board exams is optional. I intend to skip board exams next year, but I will ensure that I get good grades throughout the year so that not writing the boards would not have any affect on my college admissions. Opting for CBSE and choosing not to write would undoubtedly ease the tension.”
The International Baccalaureate (IB) has three programs for students aged 3 to 19 years to help develop intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalising world. It has spread over 140 countries including in India. Says S.A.M.V. Prasada Rao, Principal of DRS International School, “The primary level in IB is stress-free and does not have traditional exams, but continuous assessments round the year. Students develop 10 types of profile skills like communication and risk-taking. The learning is enquiry based and reasoning. At 11 and 12, like plus two, though there is a depth in the subjects it will be self-learning and research oriented. They have to undertake projects and attend seminars. Exams are conducted in semester system and internal grades exist. Due to this there will no stress of year-end exams.”
Let’s hope the new age education systems accomplish what they set out to achieve –— letting children be children.
