Is Failure the Only Reason Why Students Commit Suicide?

Breaking News!! CBSE class 12 topper Meghna Srivastav scores 499/500 with a percentage of 99.8 in Humanities stream.

Delhi bus driver’s son, Prince Kumar scores 97% who is among the toppers in CBSE class 12^th science stream.

Meet CBSE class topper Prakhar Mittal who scored 499 out of 500 and fell short of just 1 mark in French.

We all are aware of this news going viral through the TV channels that play them all day. But what about the one-fourth of the 9000 students who commit suicide due to failure in exams each year in India? They go unnoticed, though the number is very high. Even if the attention is paid it lasts only for a day or two.

Many people debate that there is no proper educational system in India. Even the most educated people say that our educational system is corrupted and it no more serves the aim of providing education, but it has become a cheap business that is way too expensive.

It all starts right from the birth of the child. Today’s generation parents start planning about the admission of their children into good playschool, kindergarten, primary school, high school, colleges, and universities even before the birth of the child. This is the way it is in the present world.

Parents nowadays are aiming to fulfill their dreams through their kids which they couldn’t accomplish and are setting the goals of their children. It is becoming difficult for the children to rise to the higher standards set up by the family.

Even the primary school students fall into the category of feeling pressurized for scoring good marks as they have to make their family happy before they themselves are happy.

Achieving good marks will only lead to a better job and a great lifestyle is the present misbelieve that is prevailing all around in India.

With the rise in expectations of parents from students, the pressure on students increased to a great extent and this situation is turned into a business by educational organizations to earn more money by launching various systems of learning and naming them differently. Even the fee of a primary school student is double the fee of a high school student.

High expectations from parents, relatives, educational organizations have ruined many lives.

We are all said that high school is the most important part of the life and we can relax rest of the life, and if we work hard at this stage we reach the next stage i.e. 11^th and 12^th. And when we are in class 11 and 12, we are said that it is the crucial part and is the turning point of our life and if we work hard, we can select our own career path. Therefore, it is evident that the process of working hard never ends in the life of a student.

So, let us suppose that every student is working hard in their life then every student deserves equal opportunity to get into their desired paths. So, now the question is what about the equal opportunity that is being provided?  Well, every year there is a decline of 80,000 seats in India.

There are around 15,53,809 engineering seats (UG), 5,29,625 medical seats all over India and 1,97,018 PG seats, and around 1.4 crore students appear for the exam of class 12 and the pass percentage is 80% i.e.70 lakh students would be ready to apply to various universities, colleges and vocational courses.

Thus the ratio of the total no of seats and the students clearing class 12 is 0.259 which means that 49,16,566 students are still left who cannot avail their opportunity of studying in engineering or medicine streams.

If we consider the other courses like commerce there are thousands of other students left with no opportunity.

If you are the student whose grades are good but, the other parameter that stops you from getting your seat is your caste.

Total of 22.5% of available seats in India is reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST), students.

So, in order to get a seat in the desired college with the desired rank, hard work is the key to study and get an opportunity to study our desired course.

The major question is WHAT IF?

What if I fail in exams? , what if I didn’t study well? , what if I have not got the seat I desired? Is the suicide solution for all these questions?

Ultimately the answer is no, but the count of students taking that option is increasing due to high pressure and lack of self-motivation.

There are many examples for a student to look at and get motivated, one of them is the story of the owner of the world’s most famous American fast food restaurant chain “KFC” who was rejected 1009 times early before a restaurant accepted his recipe.

Well, that’s a great number, but why don’t we try if we fail in an examination give another try maybe once or twice.

If you feel it is not working then try to take a look at an alternative, think beyond engineering and medicine there are many opportunities and have a good life in that career.

We can have a career in Architecture, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Designing, Fashion technology, Defense, Merchant Navy, Forensic science, Animation and Graphics and many more. The stream of Humanities, Commerce, Law and Charted Accountancy, etc even can be a good career to choose from.

So, if you are waiting for a seat in your desired college without having the required mark/ grade, then you probably are looking for a flight at a harbor.

Ever heard of the advertisements like, “Join our XYZ coaching center …which is a one-stop destination for all your NEET and IIT ranks….” Or something like, “Join our ABC coaching center…we guarantee you a seat in NEET and IIT, if you are not getting the rank, we will repay the money….” and many more. The heights of these advertisements and their exposure to the success rates have created a strong impact on the minds of parents and students. These coaching institutes do not even provide knowledge in spite create a large burden on the students, to complete the given work, they often conduct tests and the students are been forced to get good grades in those tests. Due to which, the students are exposed to mental torture and study under pressure. Ultimately, the interest is lost and sometimes even many of the students end up committing suicides if they fail in the examinations. It is clear that the teaching methodology doesn’t go well in these coaching institutes. The goal behind these coaching institutes is most probably making money and not the education. Parents in a long time goal to create a bright future for their children and children with the pressure of reaching those high standards set up by the parents, both struggle. Parents getting impressed by these advertisements endorsed by the coaching centers, join their children. Even the fee of these coaching centers is really high, and the struggle is real if you belong to a low or a middle-class family.

Even these days, the colleges do not run with a proper teaching methodology. Everyone is just focusing on the marks that you gain in your exams and not the knowledge and skills that are to be taught. Ultimately, and that’s the end of the teaching process and you are expected to get a good grade even when you don’t have proper knowledge regarding the subject. In spite, of the methodology of teaching that is to be changed, and the colleges argue that the student isn’t paying attention and that is the only reason for their failure.

Let us look at some other reasons why a student fails in his/ her exam:

• Lack of effort.
• Lack of Motivation or Interest.
• Economic Issues.
• Personality Issues.
• Life, Work, and Career issues.
• Not ready for the college.

Students, who try a par well but still couldn’t clear such exams, even feel suicide is the only option. The days have become something like this, where our long-term goals are no more a goal but, they are becoming the greatest need. And not achieving the rank or seat in a particular college is not the end of the life.

The mistake completely lies here, the mindset of the students and the way they are being portrayed in the society. Marks are given the highest priority, but why? When you are selected for the job based on your skills and talent. I agree that your percentage is also seen before you are called for the interview. But that’s not the only criteria. It’s not the marks that count, it’s how you apply your knowledge in performing any task in your day-to-day life and how that’s beneficial to the other people. Remember it’s the skills that are going to be noticed in future and not your marks.

How can parents help out their children?

Firstly, it’s the responsibility of a child to make sure that his/her parents are in support of them for choosing their own career path. Make them believe in your dreams and create trust in their minds. Coming to the parents, they should:

• Understand the mental pressure that’s being posed on the child.
• Support and believe in their dreams.
• Help them build confidence, so that they can achieve their goal.
• Act wisely and behave like a friend.
• Spare time to understand their problems and sort out their worries.

A good pace should be created between parents and children. Such as a rope walker who can only walk safely if the weights are balanced on both sides of the rope, such as the balance that is to be created between children and parents.

Education is important but it is not everything in life. There is a success story behind every failure one. Don’t read success stories, you may get a message. Read failure stories, you will get some ideas to get success. Let us look at some of those inspiring personalities of all time who made it even after failing in their school, who we know but don’t try to remember and get inspired.

List of successful people who failed:

• The great Thomas Alva Edison, who was a master of “trial and error”, found 10,000 ways a light-bulb cannot work. And became one of those greatest inventors.
• Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player ever was once cut from his school team which missed him almost 300 games and 9000 shots in his career.
• Who doesn’t know Abraham Lincoln, who failed any number of times and still didn’t give up? Later became the 16^th S. President. How different would the world have been today, if he quit when the going got tough?
• How could someone forget mentioning Albert Einstein in this list? If asked to name a genius, most people would come up with the name Albert Einstein. Yet even the recognition of genius did not come that easy. As a child, he had speech difficulties, failed in school and many failures. He won Nobel Peace Prize for physics and is today known as the genius of our modern era.

How boring would life be, if there aren’t any obstacles? What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?  Obstacles are out there and are meant to overcome. What makes or breaks a person is how they react to failures and still don’t give up. When things go wrong, don’t go with them. Instead, find your own and conventional methods to achieve something.

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Success takes time and effort. Failures happen, try to live and learn from it. It is a chance to learn something that doesn’t work. It is not always about reaching the destination, it’s about the journey you have been through. “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried something new”, says Albert Einstein. Do it big, do it right and do it with style. The biggest successes have gone through the biggest failures.  The key to success is hard work and not to doubt yourself.

There is a life beyond education, there is a success story behind every failure, and there is even a good lifestyle beyond every unachieved goal. There is a lesson that you learn behind every tragedy, which leads you to all walks of life.

(Special Article by Sai Priya and Rajan)