The Fatal Search For Reflected Glory

Failing to meet expectations is driving students to the verge of suicide. Unfortunately, some do succumb. What leads to such a bleak situation?

- Shivani Manchanda

The pressure cooker environment that young students live under is evidenced by the large number of suicides the coaching towns in India like Kota report (57 suicides in 5 years). The 2016 report released by the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health indicated that suicide is becoming one of the largest causes of death amongst the 10 to 24 year-olds with close to 60,000 suicides reported in 2013. Other studies also link academic stress amongst students to depression and suicide. So what makes the young students more vulnerable to the pressures they face?

Vulnerability of the youth

Neuroscience research evidences that human brains are not completely developed till midtwenties. Imagine the tightrope that cognitively underdeveloped, 16-18-year-olds walk to make a career choice balancing their own and their parent’s preferences. To make matters worse academic institutions neither provide extensive course information on their websites or offer robust career counselling mechanisms. In this scenario, it comes as no surprise that families continue to make traditional career choices and the interests of a student are sacrificed.

Does the blame fall on parents?