The recent student suicide in BITS Pilani is a stark reminder of the pressure-filled lives our youth lead. The education system, designed as a filter due to India's overpopulation and skewed job market, is taking a toll on students. The societal stigma around certain jobs and the huge salary disparities drive students and parents towards high-paying fields, often disregarding individual interests. This leads to mismatched careers, with graduates working in unrelated fields (e.g., chemistry graduates in banks, mechanical engineers in IT). To address this, we need to revamp higher education, ensure minimum wages across professions, introduce mainstream courses for blue-collar jobs, and counsel parents to let their children choose careers freely. Counseling alone can't solve this, systemic changes are needed.
