Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough……
– A P J Abdul Kalam
Yet another suicide by a student and once again the media/political circus has started.
Grieving family demanding a probe by CBI/FBI. Activists sitting in air conditioned rooms, sipping the poison of their choice and spouting jargon like social injustice, discrimination. A TRP hungry Media lapping it all up. Politicians bidding their time to embark on their favourite hobby viz suicide tourism. The media spin, the manufactured outrage. All this will now play out to a media weary public till the next newsworthy event in the capital.
To quote the great Rajdeep Sardesai this is the reverse tyranny of distance psychosis. While millions across the country grapple with problems like job loss, lack of safety to women, basic education out of reach for many in rural heartland, the media & the politicians will continue to focus on this unfortunate event in the capital conveniently forgetting that in Tamilnadu only last year 3 girls studying in a private Siddha College committed suicide alleging harassment by the management. But sadly no national or local media covered this news since it was not glamorous enough for a prime time TV debate. Nor would it fit their narrative of their usual balderdash of hindutva, intolerance and social injustice.
There are hundreds of young Indians especially students committing suicide every year but not all make to the front page. Without being guilty of insensitivity or judgemental opinion lets try to analyze these recent spat of unfortunate student deaths & unrest. In many cases the students happen to be from an underprivileged background. These students grow up constantly listening to the refrain that they have been victimized & discriminated against. In India everything is seen via the caste and religion prism be it marriage, buying house, education, the caste narrative is all pervasive.
Thus these students invariably grow up with a huge chip on their shoulder. If someone taunts them they feel its due to their caste or humble roots. If they are awarded poor marks in their internals or Viva its seen as a conspiracy. If their dissertation is criticized they view it as discrimination. If the management opposes their political activism inside the college campus they claim that the establishment is muzzling their freedom. The list of complaints is humongous. Not once do they pause to think that their low grades or ostracization need not necessarily be due to a caste conspiracy but simply due to lack of academic brilliance or blatant flaunting of college guidelines inside the campus.
At the risk of being labelled an elitist let me stick my neck out and say that reservation in many cases has harmed rather than helped these students. At an attempt to create a level playing ground reservation seeks to dilute the meritocracy of education. The bar is lowered considerably for these students. Having entered the colleges based on these government provided props & assistance these students struggle to stay afloat & thrive in the academic environment. Today’s world is extremely competitive. If you don’t have it in you you are simply pushed aside or crushed. No point in crying foul since life is rarely fair. The person who battles it out survives while the rest are simply discarded by the side. It might sound callous & brutal but that’s the real world. These students live in a fairy tale make believe of equality, justice, socialism & when they are confronted with the ugly reality their coping mechanism is to search for villains. Rather than searching for villains had they strove to search for solutions today their family would have been spared all this anguish.
Does these mean that there is no caste based discrimination. Does this mean that people born into less privileged families do not deserve an opportunity to aspire for bigger things. Are only the elites supposed to rule over the lesser privileged.
The answer is a resounding No. Social justice, equality & empowerment is the right of every citizen of this great country. Sadly all this merely stays on paper. Noble intentions are marred by poor execution & misguided methods. For dalits & tribals to truly join the mainstream they first need to have complete & continuous access to quality education, health care & employment. Lowering the cutoff for college is not the correct approach to help rural or economically backward students. Rather than reducing the criteria ensure that public schools have quality teachers who can help these students have a fighting chance in boards or competitive exams. In Finland education is government sponsored but the quality is superlative compared to the standard of a private institute. Super 30 is a classic example of grass-root initiative to help education reach the rural, economically backward section of the society.
Next a qualified group of counselors should be made available in all major educational institutes. A nation wide help line needs to be setup so that students who are under stress of academic pressure & other problems can reach out to these groups or helpline for professional help & counseling in their local language.
A group of qualified mentors need to be identified in each university. These mentors will not be restricted to just specific students. Instead students who require additional or specialized tutoring can be attached to these senior mentors for a specific number of hours per month, which will give the lagging students a leg up in the competitive academic environs without affecting their morale & feeling of self worth.
Lastly large educational institutes like central universities, colleges must have an impartial redressal board which accepts complaints & concerns from students & attempt to address the concerns without any prejudice. In case of private institutes & smaller institutes a central government appointed education board can be appointed for this purpose. Most importantly to maintain impartiality none of the members should be from the incumbent institutes’ faculty. For example if a PHD scholar feels that his dissertation has been unfairly evaluated he must have the option of applying for an impartial assessment by the redressal board. If the charges are found to be valid the faculty needs to be made accountable. However if the charges are found to be false the student needs to be warned appropriately & counseled. Accountability should be enforced on both sides.
Finally a word to all the politicians, activists & media. Rather than milking such unfortunate incidents for your personal gain try to check the actual cause behind these suicides & unrest. Initiate a fruitful dialogue with both the student & teaching community. Young minds are the workshops of great, creative ideas. Lets harness this youth energy & power in a constructive & productive manner.
Agitations, strikes, violence may attract eyeballs but will not provide answers or solutions to the problem. Only concerted effort & dedication by all of us can truly transform the nation.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world – M Gandhi