In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
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Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
#2I am from Kota - the city mentioned in this article as the epicenter of this crisis. India's annual suicide rate is 10.5 per 100,000 people, while the suicide rate for the world as a whole is 11.6 per 100,000 [1]. Kota has seen an extremely large influx of young students over the last decade. Roughly 200,000 [2] students come to live in this city to study for college entrance exam. Now, while the high-pressure exams are a problem and there are a complex set of contributing factors that make the exams "high pressure" - social norms, lottery-ticket-out-of-middle-class-mindset, lack of other options, population, demographics (large number of young people) etc. - but the article is trying to make a link between the high pressure exam and suicides, that seems a bit problematic to me. This exam has existed for more than 50 years, and has always been very hard and high pressure.
This article states that "from the start of 2014 to November 2017, 45 Kota students committed suicide". Please make up your mind about the facts, but it seems like lazy journalism and a stretch to make the connection between the exam and suicides without accounting for deviations from per capita rates.
Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
#3Notice how large percentage of the article was about a stupid fan, whose main feature is falling off the ceiling, rather than about the actual topic you clicked on the article for.
Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
#4I appreciate this for the article points out an alarming issue.
But there has been slight mis-representation. It slightly portrays that Indian engineering education landscape starts and ends in IITs only.
No, there are the NITs, BITSes, IIITs, IISc and others which have equal facilities as IITs and are even doing better than some IITs.
Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
#5"Large group of young students in India, pursuing a future under impossible circumstances, collapsing under the immense pressure and leading some of them to commit suicide."
Well, that's terrible. Surely we should discuss why they even get to this point, and how this could be prevented?
"Most suicides happen by hanging from ceiling fans, so let's make anti-suicide ceiling fans."
Nailed it.
Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
#6Notice how large percentage of the article was about a stupid fan, whose main feature is falling off the ceiling, rather than about the actual topic you clicked on the article for.
“Ashani is candid about his struggles to get his Smart Fan into circulation.”
This whole article exists for this one pun.
But you’re right — this seems to be a marketing article for this silly fan.
Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
#7I am from Kota - the city mentioned in this article as the epicenter of this crisis. India's annual suicide rate is 10.5 per 100,000 people, while the suicide rate for the world as a whole is 11.6 per 100,000 [1]. Kota has seen an extremely large influx of young students over the last decade. Roughly 200,000 [2] students come to live in this city to study for college entrance exam. Now, while the high-pressure exams…
India's population has boomed in 50 years but has the number of available places at prestigious institutions boomed with it?
Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
#8I am from Kota - the city mentioned in this article as the epicenter of this crisis. India's annual suicide rate is 10.5 per 100,000 people, while the suicide rate for the world as a whole is 11.6 per 100,000 [1]. Kota has seen an extremely large influx of young students over the last decade. Roughly 200,000 [2] students come to live in this city to study for college entrance exam. Now, while the high-pressure exams…
India's population has boomed in 50 years but has the number of available places at prestigious institutions boomed with it?
No.
Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
#9"Large group of young students in India, pursuing a future under impossible circumstances, collapsing under the immense pressure and leading some of them to commit suicide." Well, that's terrible. Surely we should discuss why they even get to this point, and how this could be prevented? "Most suicides happen by hanging from ceiling fans, so let's make anti-suicide ceiling fans." Nailed it.
Perfect solution to a perfect problem of course.
Re: In India, high-pressure exams are creating a student suicide crisis
#10These things have always existed in India. Largely happens because most people come from a strata of society where failure is not an option. Should you fail, you go back to the same crappy conditions all life.
Having said that, Indians solicit social approval as a report card that evaluates their life. And due to this people face irrational pressures from total strangers who have no stake in their lives. I remember suicide cases were common even during lay offs.
Thank fully now the society is gradually gaining numbers in non-conformists. This is now considered cool. I remember as a teenager I was largely treated as a rebel outcast, if didn't care for social approval.
People need to understand they can do what they want, how they want, and on their terms. Social approval means nothing, especially if people granting the approval have no real stake in your life.