undue parental pressure on children to score high marks
Answers
Tushar Srivastava, a 13 year old boy, a student of eighth standard, lives with his family which dreams of seeing him getting admission into one of the top IITs. However, Tushar loves photography, painting and dreams of getting into a fine arts college. Parents have spent money for tuitions so that he finishes with top grades in all the subjects. But, Tushar manages to achieve average score that has left his parents distraught.
Similar situation can be witnessed in majority of Indian families where parents’ expectations are way too much for kids to achieve.
Increasing pressure from parents to do well in the national board examinations, especially in Class XII, is a huge concern. This is because scores in these exams often determine college admissions and subsequent employment opportunities. Students are often subjected to undue pressure at home to succeed in academics and when they fail to live up to the sky high expectations, many succumb, taking extreme measures like suicide we often sadly read in newspapers.
India has the world’s highest suicide rate among 15 to 29 year olds, ahead of even North Korea, according to a September 2014 report by the World Health Organization. Parental pressure and competition for highly paid jobs, psychiatrists say, are prime triggers of suicides among Indian youth.
NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences) study on suicides, carried out in 2014, has revealed that 11 percent of college students and 7-8 percent of high school students have attempted suicide. Dr. M Manjula, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry at the institute, who led this study, said that the current adolescent generation is stressed due to academics, relationship with parents, peer groups and romantic relationships.
With increasing suicides among the students, Dr. John Vijay Sagar, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, advises counseling for parents so that children are not driven to suicide under undue pressure of parental expectations.
Difference in Approach
Kids are guided by parents to select a particular course because supposedly that course comes with higher chances of getting a high paid reputed job opportunity in future.
It would seem strange to parents that there are courses available for being a librarian, carpenter or a painter. Indian Library Association offers bachelors in library science and similarly Indian Institute of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) provides courses in plumbing.
Majority of parents in India would not think of encouraging their kids to a field of their choice, if it includes plumbing. The point here is not to focus on non-academic careers but to know and support their kids’ choice.
Every individual is different and when it comes to education, not everyone would wish to be a doctor or an engineer. Unfortunately the herd mentality has taken a strong hold over Indian society, prompting parents to ask more from kids than their actual potential.
Majority of Indian students take up courses and careers that are nowhere near their interest. This impacts their learning as it is half-hearted in such cases, leading to unemployability. According to an article published in a business magazine last year, only about 30 percent graduates in India are job worthy. In case of engineering graduates their employability lies somewhere between 20 to 25 per cent. Many academicians feel it could be still lower.
The foremost reason, the article mentioned, was the deteriorating quality of education in these institutes that have failed to generate any skilled talent among students. The second reason was the lack of interest among students in courses they were studying. These students were either pursuing engineering because of parental pressure or because of absence of knowledge or encouragement towards other fields.
The issue is whether we need to concentrate on solving problems faced by students or should we first start counselling parents who offer guidance to their wards without enough knowledge themselves.
The point here is not to insult or mock parents but to make them think from a child’s perspective. They only wish the best for their kids but parents cannot pressurize them for higher marks.
dear parents, please do not make burden to children to score high marks because their brain is getting some problems