Not just training to earn livelihood, students need to be taught life skills too

A series of student suicides reported at some of the higher education institutions in the state, of late, has not just shaken the stakeholders, but  also raised concerns over the way kids are being raised. 

Though each case has a different reason, the general opinion among the public about the cause is ‘academic pressure.’ However, experts said more than academic performance, a majority of students pursuing higher education are in the race for ‘social prestige’ and youngsters are not ready to accept ‘failure.’ 

Akshara Dhamle, senior psychologist, says, “I feel it’s not academic pressure. Because as I see it, most of the young students know that only marks do not decide their future. Many of them are not taking the pressure to study. But they are in another race. That is ‘social prestige’. One more challenge is, most of them are unaware about
failure. They do not know what rejection is. That is how parents raise them. Hence, a major challenge comes up whenever there are hard times. They become so vulnerable that they find no more reason to live and think of extreme steps.” 

Lacking confidence

Endorsing Akshara’s opinion, a senior faculty working with a well-known higher education institution in the state, said, “In the 28 years of my experience as a teacher, I feel the present generation lacks self-confidence and is not ready to accept failure or rejection. In one particular incident, a student committed suicide after he was caught copying during exams at one of the private universities. He lacked confidence to attempt the exams without cheating and face his parents if he were to fail.” 

“That incident was a clear example that we are not preparing our kids to face failure, disappointment or humiliation,” the professor said.

Another senior faculty Dr Rajath Shekar pointed that, in most suicide cases, failed relationships were the cause.

‘Can’t face rejections’

“I have personally studied some of cases of suicide and 90% of them have nothing to do with studies or college. In one case, the boy took the extreme step as his girlfriend did not wish him on his birthday. In my opinion, parents (specially working parents) and those having single child should stop providing luxury to the kids. Start saying ‘no’ to some things and let children learn to accept disappointment. Prepare them to deal with personal relationships and the rejections they could face,” he said.

The role of parents is important. They have to be empathetic to their children, at the same time, they have to be assertive.

No luxuries

While they have to provide basic needs to the children or maybe even comfort, they don’t have to provide luxuries in their childhood. Parents have to allow their children to experiment in life and not worry if they fail, while providing strong support in the backend to ensure that they continue to have the courage to face the world and
take up new opportunities, experts said.

Mental health support

Dhamle said, “The students of this generation are in need of mental health support. Institutions should create a system where they teach life skills to the students apart from academics or curriculum. There is a great need for developing confidence and courage among students. Building mental resilience is the need of the hour. I feel as a society, we are becoming too sensitive. Being strict is seen as wrong by some people. However, if there is too much of lenience, the whole society may become norm-less..”

We don’t need to celebrate failure, but definitely teach them to accept failures, Dhamle said.

The expert committee constituted by the higher education department after recent suicide incidents in higher education institutions had also recommended the need for mental health support for students on the campus.

Experts point fingers at the way institutions treat students in case of copying. There could be other methodologies to deal with such students. 

One option could be putting a seal on those answer sheets that were written before getting caught, and allowing them to write the exams in the remaining time, so that their opportunity is not curtailed. That would be a fair way to handle the issue of copying.

Following the repeated incidents of suicide, the state higher education department has directed the Karnataka State Higher Education Council to look into the matter.

Sensitive children

“Earlier, suicides were connected to ragging/bullying. Now, the reasons are different and we cannot say it is only because of the academic pressure. Children nowadays are
sensitive. We have asked the higher education council to initiate measures at institutions to provide mental health support,” said a senior official of the department.

On the measures taken after a few incidents of suicide were reported on their campuses, Prof Jawahar D, pro chancellor of PES University, said, “We have strengthened mental health support, counselling, provided CCTV monitoring, safety net at multiple levels of high-rise buildings and also established a toll free number. These facilities were there earlier too. We revisited them, following a rise in incidents.”