(UCAN): Church leaders in India have expressed concern over student suicides in northern Rajasthan state, India, as parents competed competition to place their children in a better-salaried-career.
On September 18, a 16-year-old female student took poison and ended her life in Kota, where 26 students have committed suicide so far this year, according to media reports, quoting the police. She was preparing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test [NEET], and came from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
“We deplore the loss of life of students who take the extreme step due to peer pressure and high expectations from parents,” said Salesian Father Maria Charles, secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s Commission for Education and Culture.
Pressure from parents and the pursuit to achieve bigger things in life cause mental imbalances, leading to suicides, Father Charles added.
Kota is home to more than 40 coaching institutes, where nearly 150,000 students burn the midnight oil to pass the Joint Entrance Exam [JEE] and the NEET, meant to get admission to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology [IITs] and pursue undergraduate medical courses.
We deplore the loss of life of students who take the extreme step due to peer pressure and high expectations from parents
Father Maria Charles
Rigorous coaching methods and a high success rate have made Kota a hub for pre-requisite tests, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) under the Ministry of Education.
According to police in Rajasthan, 15 students in Kota ended their lives in 2022, while 18 committed suicide in 2019, and 20 in 2018. There were no suicides from 2020-2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Basic arrangements are lacking in privately-run institutions to help children relax,” Father Charles said, noting that many coaching centres lack the wherewithal to conduct counselling and students are not taught how to handle pressure.
“Counseling should start at school level so that children can grow up in a healthy and stress-free environment,” he added.
The Catholic Church runs 30,000 educational institutions, including schools, universities, and colleges in the country and runs coaching centres in different parts of the country.
Counseling should start at school level so that children can grow up in a healthy and stress-free environment
“Our institutes make sure that children are taken care of properly by giving them regular counselling which helps them cope with the challenges,” Father Charles said.
Coaching centres are a lucrative business, many of which are owned by wealthy people and politicians who pack these institutions with highly qualified teachers and high-class facilities with the sole objective of reaping rich dividends.
Besides the rich, lower middle class parents are attracted to them to get their children what they feel is a “quality education” to compete in India’s cutthroat job market.
Mukti Prakash Tirkey, editor of a New Delhi-based weekly, Dalit Adivasi Duniya [the world of Dalits and tribal people), said that apart from parental pressure, bullying and caste-related remarks often drive students to suicide.
Previously, only students from better socio-economic backgrounds opted for the NEET and the JEE. Now, Dalits [untouchables] and students from tribal communities also take them, the Catholic tribal leader said, adding, “They are considered as competitors and hence targeted.”
Students are “too young” to handle the pressure, Tirkey said.
Many people cannot afford to send their children to costly coaching centres. So, they take out loans from banks. But not all students are lucky enough to pass the entrance test.
Over 13,000 students nationwide took their own lives in 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
