The tag of Navodayan (an alumnus of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya) has always held a special place in my heart and has been a matter of immense pride for me. I owe my present personality primarily due to the education imparted through Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV). JNV education system has proved to be a successful experiment in the field of education for underprivileged students across the country.
However, the time has come to revise some of its policies as we see the increasing number of suicides in Navodaya schools. Therefore, let us understand the issue first.
What Is The Issue?
A leading newspaper of India, The Indian Express has reported the news through the RTI that from 2013 to 2017, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) have witnessed 49 suicides committed by students. This report further mentions that more than half of them belongs to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The suicide rate in JNVs is slightly higher than the national average for the similar age group. These are indeed worrisome statistics which raises questions on the education system of JNVs all over India. The causes of suicides in JNVs have been various like “unrequited love, family problems, corporal punishment or humiliation by teachers, academic pressure, depression, and fight between friends”.
Before we go forward to understand the issue in an in-depth manner, we need to understand the institution first:
What Is Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV)?
JNVs are prestigious residential schools specially created to provide modern quality education to the talented rural children of India. The school takes admission from class 6 and runs up to grade 12 following the CBSE curriculum. At least 75% of seats are reserved for rural children in the schools. There are 635 JNVs spread across the country. The entire cost of education and living in the school is incurred by the Government of India.
Why JNV Matters?
As far as the academic performance of JNV is concerned, it has done remarkably well by securing 99 passing percentage in class 10 and 95 percentage in class 12 since 2012. Despite having a maximum number of rural students amongst the total strength of students, JNVs have performed far better in comparison to private schools and other government schools. JNVs have produced alumni in almost all the sector working in various parts of the globe. To its credit, JNV boasts of having the largest school alumni body in the world- All India JNV Alumni Association (AIJAA).
What Has Been Done By NVS?
It is not the case that Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (an autonomous body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development) did not take any actions after these suicides. In fact, NVS took steps like “censure, increment cut, suspension and transfer” against the principal or teachers or sometimes both in most of the cases after due enquiry of cases of suicides.
A circular was issued in 2016 by the then Commissioner of NVS. It stated that reported causes of these suicides are “home sickness, mal adjustment in the Vidyalaya, adolescence related issues, depression, unable to tolerate fear of getting fail marks in the exam, failing to come up to expectations of their parents, extreme humiliation by the fellow students, lapses of Vidyalaya administration, award of corporal punishment, lack of proper counseling, negligence in performing assigned duties by staff, humiliation by the fellow Teachers/Principal etc.” The circular warned to take stern action on the negligent officials.
What Does NHRC Say On The Issue?
The National Human Rights Commission took a suo moto cognisance of the report mentioned above. The Commission says that “The intelligent students with the rural background are entrusted to the care of JNVs. They are the strength and future of this country. The proportion of the suicides of the students from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities is also a matter of concerns for a society, which aspires for inclusive growth”.
What Does The NITI Aayog Report Say?
Programme Evaluation Organisation of NITI AAYOG did an evaluation study on Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and published its report in 2015. The NITI AAYOG report has found that non-teaching activities corrode teachers’ performance and quality of teaching. Appointment of teachers as house wardens and responsibilities under the mess management severely affect the quality of teaching. Therefore, the report has recommended for the appointment of permanent wardens under the category of non-teaching staff.
What Do Former Students Think?
Ankita Singh, a postgraduate student of University of Delhi and alumnus of Kokrajhar JNV (Assam), asserts that the behaviour of teachers towards students plays the most important role in their lives, as they are living in the campus without parents and counsellors.
Sometimes, very strict-behaviour and stern corporal punishment by the teachers compels students to commit suicides due to humiliation faced in front of other students. Moreover, she also adds the issue of seniority amongst the students. Sometimes, senior students harass and mistreat juniors which is usually not complained to anyone due to the fear and intimidation. They fear as they have to live with the same senior in the residential school for many years. These repressive fear and harassment lead to suicidal tendencies in many cases.
Karan Kumar Khoiya, an alumnus of Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) JNV, considers the psychological element for suicides. He is of the view that most of the suicides are committed by the age group of 9-14, which deserves special care. These students face the mental pain of living away from their parents at such a tender age. Also, these young students do not get due care and attention from wardens (teacher-in-charge of the hostel) as they are already overburdened with their teaching and non-teaching activities. Khoiya also finds the element of casteism amongst the students where “upper caste” group dominate and intimidate the “lower caste” groups in some JNVs.
Narendra Mandloi, former student president of JNV Dewas (MP), argues that in some cases, the student faces mental trauma of expulsion from the school, especially in cases of indiscipline and misconduct. In such cases, their parents are also humiliated, which become a source of immense grief for the child under question. It is one of the reasons which compel a student to take adverse decisions to endanger his or her own life.
Moreover, in general terms, even talks between boys and girls are restricted up to a large extent, unlike private schools of cities. In some cases, when boys and girls are caught talking, they are often punished and harassed by teachers for an extended time. It also becomes one of the reasons which increases suicidal tendencies amongst vulnerable students devoid of professional counselling.
Saddam Patel, presently Librarian at Tuensang JNV of Nagaland and alumnus of JNV is of the view that socioeconomic background of the family of the student also plays a crucial role in assessing the difficulties of a student. High family expectations from a child to perform best in class impact his/her mindset. If the student is unable to perform up to the expectations of the family, it creates immense psychological pressure on him/her, which many a time lead to the dangerous option of committing suicide.
These aspects mentioned above do show that the issue of suicides is multifaceted and therefore requires a comprehensive solution rather than adopting the ad-hoc approach.
What Is Wrong In The JNV Approach?
The NVS has assigned the responsibility of understanding the behavioural changes, suicidal tendencies and depression amongst students on House Masters and Principal of the respective schools. It seems to be a wrong solution, which is quite evident through the statistics of an increasing number of suicides.
There is a need for a deeper understanding of the issue to curb it from the root. How come teachers and principals are supposed to play the role of clinical counsellors? Teachers are already overburdened with the responsibilities of being a member of mess management, as well as wardenship, are less capable of paying attention to the minute behavioural changes undergoing in the student. Teachers and Principals are not professionals when it comes to an understanding of the psychology of a student and cannot perform the role of professional counsellors. Therefore, the role of professional counsellors become more critical.
Moreover, the responsibility for teachers to handle the Wardenship affects their personal and professional life. It has been observed that students hesitate to tell their problems to their warden (as warden is the teacher in the classroom) as he/she might scold them in the classroom for one or other incident happened in the hostel. Therefore, there is a need for full-time recruitment of wardens solely for the hostels in JNVs. It would help students to open up their problems to wardens.
How Has The Government Responded?
It seems that the government now has taken due cognisance of the grave matter. In January 2019, the Finance Ministry has cleared the proposal to hire two full-time counsellors for each of the 635 JNVs across India. Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti will spend about 56 crore rupees for implementing this important decision for the welfare of students.
However, we know that the implementation of Government schemes usually takes a lot of time due to bureaucratic inertia and lack of awareness among the stakeholders. Regrettably, the news is emerging from various parts of the country regarding the suicides still being committed by students of JNVs. Therefore, the implementation of the proposal at the earliest can prevent suicides by students and in saving the bright future of India.
Suggested Solutions
There is a need for full-time professional counsellors in each JNV (at least 1 Male and 1 Female) to counsel the students and reduce their stress by providing them with professional help. It will create a friendly environment on the campuses.
Increased awareness of emotional and sexual abuse to be spread amongst the students. As students go through the phase of puberty, they need to be educated and made aware of sex education to create gender equality in the residential campus.
Teachers can not be blamed and punished in all cases of suicides. There is a need for the recruitment of Permanent Wardens under the category of non-teaching staff, who can take care of the students.
Introduction of “Happiness Classes” on the lines of Government Schools of Delhi. It has proved to be an effective model to take care of the mental well-being of students and enhancing their concentration as well.