In today’s competitive world, when students and parents go through a vicious circle of admissions, entrance exams, competitive exams, terms, remedial and coaching classes, it is difficult to maintain a strong mental balance to deal with stressful situations they encounter at every step. In a bird’s eye view, The Goan explores where, why and how things go wrong
Today’s youth stand on a very delicate and vulnerable curve in their journey of life, facing the challenges thrown at them from all corners. They try their best to cope up physically and mentally in this most competitive era that the world is going through. There are challenges at every step – from getting admission to a reputed school or college, to passing the competitive exams, choosing the right career, hunting for a satisfactory job, finding the right partner and so on…
Growing concerns
The series of suicides occurring in reputed educational institutions are compelling Goan parents to think twice before pushing their wards towards competitive exams, or forcing them to follow demanding careers. The fact has dawned upon many that if too much is expected from Gen Z, it can lead to causing harm than extracting positive output.
Academic pressure
“Today’s educational institutions demand continuous evaluations from the students. There are assignments every week. There are deadlines for submissions. If the submissions are delayed, marks are cut, if valid reason is not provided by the student or the parents. Teachers are forced to follow stricter procedures, as otherwise there are students who take it easy, and don’t complete assignments on time. Teachers have to submit results and evaluation reports to their department heads, and if delayed, they are answerable. This compels teachers to follow self-discipline and expect the same from students. We are helpless. It’s a vicious circle,” admits a higher secondary teacher from Margao.
Parents’ burden
Parents also get ground down along with their children. Students have to complete assignments on time, irrespective of whether they do it themselves or take someone else’s help. Much more importance is given to written submissions than actual learning, which makes life stressful for the students, explained a parent. She, however, is happy that her daughter, after going through all this exercise, is today working for an IT company in Germany. “Mrinal can take it easy with the work pressures abroad, because she was already accustomed to deal with the academic pressures in Goa,” says her mother Anjali Shinde.
Engineering grind
Another parent, whose both sons are now engineers – one passed out from IIT Powai and the other from BITS Pilani Goa, agrees that life was tough not only for his sons, but for himself and his wife too. Managing the timings of both, picking up and dropping them to coaching classes was a task for the working parents. The coaching classes stretched for lengthy hours, leaving very little time for the boys to engage in any extracurricular activity. So much so, that the family postponed tours in vacations for years.
“We put life on hold until both stepped out of the engineering colleges. The elder son joined Microsoft in the US, and the younger one runs his own software business from Bengaluru. Both settled in their careers, but the long demanding years of hard work, dedication and commitment still haunt our entire family,” recalls the father.
Medical journey
A single mother whose sons chose MBBS, shares her nightmares, “I kept alarms at odd hours to wake up myself and to wake up my sons to study. Luckily, they were brilliant and are toppers. But my life revolved around them, making sure that they do not face any uncomfortable situation in college or hostels including ragging. But being focused and mentally strong, they never succumbed to peer-pressures. And being toppers, the professors were watchful and concerned of their wellbeing. Today both are MD and practicing. I did my moral duty.”
Changing families
But not all parents are lucky. The question is why do young minds show weakness and vulnerability? According to a counselor, today’s children grow up in nuclear families, have no siblings to share their emotions, no elderly around to hug and console if they fault or err and no soothing word falls on their ears. This turns them into introverts who sink into a virtual world of reels, online games or web series. Outdoor games have decreased to zero, and remain restricted to punching or cycling in a gym.
Strength within
Let our youth be mentally strong and accept the fact that failures are a part of life, which has its ups and downs, challenges, and hard times. But succumbing to these pressures or breaking down mentally and physically is not the solution. Learning to digest a ‘no’ or a ‘failure’ from a tender age can teach them to remain calm when things turn upside down. A sound mind stays in a sound body!
