The TOI today reports the following news article! > New Delhi: Its a tragic tale of a bright young mind snuffed out, a grim reminder of how vulnerable children are to stress, and a lesson for all of us that marks should never be allowed …
The TOI today reports the following news article!
New Delhi: Its a tragic tale of a bright young mind snuffed out, a grim reminder of how vulnerable children are to stress, and a lesson for all of us that marks should never be allowed to become a matter of life and death. On Sunday, a 15-year-old student of Sanskriti School, who had scored 97% in pre-board tests and was waiting for her Class X results, hanged herself at her south Delhi home.
Shefali Bhan did not leave behind a suicide note, but police suspect study-related stress. Shefali had been preparing for tests for admission into engineering coaching institutes and had made it to the merit list of one such centre. There are indications, as yet uncorroborated, that she did not want to take up science in class XI.
Shefalis body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her rented secondfloor flat at Satya Niketan, where she lived with her parents and two brothers, Abhishek (9) and Prateek (7). The family had gone to a friends house but Shefali stayed back.
The family returned around 9 pm to find the main door open and Shefali inside, dead. Their landlady, Mrs Gupta, recalled: The children came crying and said their mother was inconsolable. When I reached there, Shefalis body was lying on the floor. She added that the girl was any parents delight. She was a very intelligent girl and had scored 97% in her pre-boards..
The police were called in and the body sent for post mortem. On Monday, it was handed over to the family.
The police have registered a case of suicide. Though the post-mortem report is not out, it seems that the girl committed suicide. Her relatives said she was stressed as she could not cope with non-medical stream and extra coaching for competition examinations, a senior police official said.
Shefalis father, Suraj Bhan, is a director-level Indian Economic Services officer posted with the labour ministry. Her brothers also study at Sanskriti.
Meanwhile, the school has expressed shock at the news. Shefali was a very bright student and a nice child. We did not see any problem which could have forced her to take the extreme step, Gowri Ishwaran, principal of Sanskriti School, said.
From what can it be seen.. People today are horribly under stress.. Kids right from the class 2nd or 3rd fall under stress, and this tale is alike for all students. Even a brilliant girl, who scores 97% is unable to face this pressure...
The pressure becomes exceeedingly abnormal due to the constant expectations, nagging of parents and teachers. They want us to be on the top and then, there are so many things to study... With this growing competition, we can see, the result..
Any field, is without doubt, full of cut throat competition and it is astonishing. Talk to MBA... Nearly 1,50,000/- students sit for CAT and compete for about 1200 seats for IIMs
Such psychological pressure, is just too much to take, esp for the young children. It has affected their health, physcially and mentally....
The following article shows the gruesome effects of school bags on little children
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/547336.stm
Where are we heading to? To a society of book worms, where we have suicides, painful living of those who survive... children, going to schools with heavy bag-packs, like mules carrying excess luggage...
Is this what we r making our kids?
Enough said, but what is the solution:
a) We need to re-think our education pattern and it needs to be revised.
b) Parents and teachers need to understand and encourage the child. A single word of discouragement means a lot of down fall for the child. A child who is already in a lot of stress, becomes even more stressed, when the support is lacking
c) The curriculum needs to be designed in such a way, that there is a healthy development. All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy!
d) Schools should introduce proper phychological camps , where counsellors would tal to kids... There should be stress-relieving classes, like meditation and spiritual discourses, so that the tension built-up should be released.
e) Teachers should try to be more supporting. Rules are meant for benefit of the children, however, if they cause harm, then they need to be thought again
f) Parents should keep themselves involved with the activities of the child. Share his/her thoughts... Always be motivating and encouraging. This helps a lot.
g) The issue of heavy school bags need to thought about. Schools must provide lockers, so that kids dont have to carry the books everyday. Instead the school can issue printed material of that day's lecture so that the student does not have to carry the whole book with him.
Expecting more replies and comments!
Regards,
Gaurav
hey gaurav .. u cud have used a better and more relevant thread title.
sahilgoyal Sayshey gaurav .. u cud have used a better and more relevant thread title.
i know... but this is more eye catching... :)
Lekin bhai, apne comments nahi diye... ?
there are pressures from a lot of fronts ... society, family, peers ...
but the cause is not the education system .... it being tough and makes us bookworms... true that it adds to the pressure ...
but the main cause of worry here is extraordinally high competition... true it makes a genius out of those who overcome it... but what about those who cant face it.. they falter .. hence there must be an alternatives for them.
The issue is not a bad education system.. but lack of alternative education systems.
we have a single sytem and that will definitely have drawbacks.
Why do we need to be only a doctor or an engineer after class X... why cant we have sports and music as popular educational optons??
If a child cant crunch numbers ... move him to the other system where we have more pratical methods than theoritical.
Doing away with current education system is not the solution ... we need to create a parallel education system.
The issue is not a bad education system.. but lack of alternative education systems.
we have a single sytem and that will definitely have drawbacks.
Why do we need to be only a doctor or an engineer after class X... why cant we have sports and music as popular educational optons??
I don't say that the educational system is bad. I meant, we do not have as many streams as there should be. Consider US.. There are so many other possible options ppl go for. However, here.. we either have engineers or doctors. Very few ppl opt for art and related subjects!
gaurav200x SaysI don't say that the educational system is bad. I meant, we do not have as many streams as there should be. Consider US.. There are so many other possible options ppl go for. However, here.. we either have engineers or doctors. Very few ppl opt for art and related subjects!
rightly said .. coz if we change the existing educational system .. then 10 years down the line we may complaint that it is too many incompetent people.
So we need the best of both worlds.. and the the good thing is that both these worlds can co exhist.
Can u plz elaborate what can be "alternate education system" and how will you generate jobs for them?
Govt. is already imcompetent of providing jobs to 10-11 % of the population!!
Can u plz elaborate what can be "alternate education system" and how will you generate jobs for them?
Govt. is already imcompetent of providing jobs to 10-11 % of the population!!
like we have streams after Xth ... after 5th or 6th we can have a system where the education is more activity based .... on the lines of US education system.
Also at the same time we need to keep the traditional system as the other option. Thos who find it tough to cope in this system can switch to the other.
Generating jobs for them?? I am not adding to the population ... just adding a system that a huge part of population can benifit from. So generating jobs issue wud remain as it is.
Can u plz elaborate what can be "alternate education system" and how will you generate jobs for them?
Govt. is already imcompetent of providing jobs to 10-11 % of the population!!
Well Rajsher,
It is very easy to analyse this. Why do u think, so many people fail in the exams? One reason is that they do not study, another being, that they're pursuing, what disinterests them! Right?
Now-a-days, the pressure, is whether u want to be a doctor or an engineer and this questions springs upon u, as soon as u complete 10th grade. Sometimes, its not even ur choice and the parents take this decision for u, without even thinking, whether are u actually capable of pursuing this stream, or not.
There are 100s of engg colleges, as compared to the arts colleges. More no. of engineers than other professionals, like journalists, writers, etc. and the truth is that many of them could have opted for more likeable professions. But if the schools, right from the early days, stress on that u should be an engineer only, or a doctor only... then the child's opinion are, sort of limited.
See the courses which are there... english, maths, science, et al. Not many of them have games as compulsory subject. There are not many schools, where arts is a subject.. like crafts, painting, poetry, etc The stress is mainly on technical knowledge. How do u expect a child to find out his/her creative side, then? That's the point, and here's the change which we need!
there are pressures from a lot of fronts ... society, family, peers ...
but the cause is not the education system .... it being tough and makes us bookworms... true that it adds to the pressure ...
but the main cause of worry here is extraordinally high competition... true it makes a genius out of those who overcome it... but what about those who cant face it.. they falter .. hence there must be an alternatives for them.
The issue is not a bad education system.. but lack of alternative education systems.
we have a single sytem and that will definitely have drawbacks.
Why do we need to be only a doctor or an engineer after class X... why cant we have sports and music as popular educational optons??
If a child cant crunch numbers ... move him to the other system where we have more pratical methods than theoritical.
Doing away with current education system is not the solution ... we need to create a parallel education system.
so true........evrey word of it..........
in usa..or else..richely diversified nations..u have multiple career streams with quality social acceptance n gallore of oppurtunties to exhibit...the traits of ur genes...!..
in some way financial..reaps of various fields in india is still skewed in fav of traditional routic streams
here r parents.n near ones(all in their rights ! )........without 9ing the root interest.of r thought dynamics ...start bombarding..r still virgin interests....n choices ..at the small age with books ...all around sciences...quizes
maths...astro..watnot...same things(its not wrong...but testing the kid with his absorbtion power is must...at early age!).from the day u start speaking sense.............
..n ur trapped.....give 10th these marks take that stream....those marks...take this stream.....n blah...........monotonous personified...in r system
thats the reason....a survey suggested that 85 % of people r not happy with their work field or choices.......they made........in lives............scapegoats of system.. n social pressures alike.....
in maths i would analogise...its like we become the depedent variable of r very own social function...............where we become the summation of all the independent variables (which we absorb or inculcate ,imbibe!) that we come across through r education .. n life system!!!! .............
feel very sad to see that incident ..that happened....with the girl...................
hedger
so true........evrey word of it..........
in usa..or else..richely diversified nations..u have multiple career streams with quality social acceptance n gallore of oppurtunties to exhibit...the traits of ur genes...!..
in some way financial..reaps of various fields in india is still skewed in fav of traditional routic streams
here r parents.n near ones(all in their rights ! )........without 9ing the root interest.of r thought dynamics ...start bombarding..r still virgin interests....n choices ..at the small age with books ...all around sciences...quizes
maths...astro..watnot...same things(its not wrong...but testing the kid with his absorbtion power is must...at early age!).from the day u start speaking sense.............
..n ur trapped.....give 10th these marks take that stream....those marks...take this stream.....n blah...........monotonous personified...in r system
thats the reason....a survey suggested that 85 % of people r not happy with their work field or choices.......they made........in lives............scapegoats of system.. n social pressures alike.....
in maths i would analogise...its like we become the depedent variable of r very own social function...............where we become the summation of all the independent variables (which we absorb or inculcate ,imbibe!) that we come across through r education .. n life system!!!! .............
feel very sad to see that incident ..that happened....with the girl...................
hedger
Well with the changing scene of the Indian education system,...the growing population has led to a giant form of competition.
In all the fields,from medical to engineering and management we have a lakhs and lakhs of students vying for a few seats,which unfortunately are going to get fewer ,thanks to the Quota proposed by the UPA govt.
We are going to be future managers and entrepreneurs,and so we need to realize the responcibility to do something for our very own country.
Today what we need the most is a large number of educational institutions.These institutes should not only focus on basic education but also should guide the students to chose their career options from a bouquet of streams like fine arts to yoga.
We are a developing nation,and maybe ten years down the line we may attain the status of a developed nation.With such a huge available human resources,if at all we are able to train it in the plethora of fields,we may soon be s superpower.
But at the moment i want support from each and every PGite in order to do something for the basic education of our children.
I personally want to have a school for the children from all sections of our society.Also the school may guide the parents to be more friendly towards their wards.
What i feel is that when the parents are not able to achieve some targets in their lives they expect their off-springs to get the same.
May be when we grow into parents ourselves we may also do the same.But since we seem to be part of an aware crowd,we may promise ourselves to be a parent who would love to see his/her ward performing in the filed of his choice.
In the end i would like to say that i know the pressure felt by a topper,as i was too a topper in my 1st and 2nd year of graduation.You really feel like succumbing yourself to death as there is in some part of your mind that even a small deterioration in your percentage or rank may bring utter shame to you.
But thankfully my parents help me a lot...
Bye all
And
Keep pouring your ideas.!!