A Class 11 student commits suicide in New Delhi.
A student of Class 11 commits suicide in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh.
In Kota, a girl in Class 11 commits suicide.
These are the common headlines I have been reading in the newspaper these days. A frequently cited reason for Class 11 students taking their lives is because they are unable to pass the grade.
What’s the reason? Is Class 11 that tough? Is the syllabus that cumbersome for students to handle?
Well being a CBSE student myself, I can tell you that, yes, students face a great difference in the course pattern when they start Class 11. Everything really changes by 180 degrees and as a result, students do suffer. But whose mistake is this? It’s not students, it’s our education system which is so badly designed and implemented that causes a lot of troubles for the students.
But don’t you think that these are quite general and idealistic kind of reasons? Obviously, nature is subjected to change and these changes are always in balance with one another. If there’s a change in syllabus pattern then it’s nothing like a student can work hard and learn the same. Scoring the 33% pass marks is not that difficult.
Education is the most powerful weapon which one can use to change the world. These days, private school teachers are using this weapon effectively to harass, insult and torture students in the class. It’s a matter of pride for all of us that our country’s literacy rate has reached 74.04% but what’s the need of this kind of literacy and education where the quality has deteriorated remarkably? Definition of teachers has been completed modified. There was a time when teachers used to only think about their student’s welfare but nowadays, the only thing that most of them care about is their own benefits and luxuries. They force students to join private classes and if they don’t, eventually by hook or by crook, they make them fail. They don’t even think once about their students in front of their business of money making.
Obviously teenage is a critical and vulnerable part of a person’s life. And the biggest problem with this issue is even parents think that it is their child’s fault that their money is going to vain. As a result of constant pressure from all sides, some students feel that the best option for them is to quit… to end their lives once and for all. This is an extremely sad trend and school authorities especially should step in to empower and encourage students, so that they don’t feel that there is only one drastic way out.
School is really not the end of the world because there is a big, bright future awaiting all students in high school who feel like they are increasingly succumbing to the pressures of our country’s problematic schooling and education system.