Death of a Student

Context:  Increasing pressure on students in the existing education system and the ways to address the same.

Factors for rising pressure in students:

• Havoc caused by the “digital divide”: This creates difficulties in accessing online education for some. E.g. due to lack of gadgets required for online classes.
• Delayed economic supports: E.g. There is tardiness shown by Department of Science &Technology (DST) in giving well-deserved scholarships on time.
• No consideration based on their socio-economic backgrounds: Colleges often are not aware of socio-economic backgrounds of students; It creates a vicious cycle of disadvantage for some students:
• Stratified education system makes it difficult for many students to get into elite institutions.
• Lack of diversity in pedagogy: Children with different caste, class, religion and ethnicity, with unequal economic, social and cultural capital, are all treated alike. Herein lies the seeds of the inequality!
• COVID-19 induced pressure: The pandemic had further deteriorated the socio-economic condition of a poor student’s household.
• Neglect of gender issues: Like their inability to reach out to those in positions of authority to help.
• Pressure to perform well holistically: Along with academic excellence, students are under pressure to conform and look/dress/talk in a certain way and to appreciate a particular kind of music/film.

Way Forward

• Repair the stratified education system: with due recognition to the fact that ours is an unequal society, and our socio-economic and cultural locations determine the nature of education we get.
• Make Institutions democratic and egalitarian: By adopting more proactive measures to reach out to students in order to get out of the vicious cycle of disadvantage.
• Give timely economic support: By providing scholarships on time.

Conclusion: There is a need to fix the education system that turns a blind eye to inequality by addressing the deeper malaise plaguing our education system rather than a quick fix.