Pressure or Perfection?

Pressure Or perfection? Every hour, one student commits suicide in India!

Arjun Bharadwaj, a sixteen-year-old, 12th standard student, committed suicide by jumping out of a 19th-floor hotel room in Mumbai. Media reporting suggested he had been depressed about facing failure in exams. Students in India are killing themselves at a fast rate, with 26 suicides reported every 24 hours.

9,474 students committed suicide in 2016 — at a rate of more than one every hour. Over the past three years, more than 26,000 students have committed suicide across India. A majority of student suicides are caused by underlying psychiatric factors such as stress, depression and anxiety. It could result from difficulty in coping with academics, unrealistic expectations and pressure from parents and lack of support from peers. It is very important to identify the illness at an early stage and consult a mental health professional. It is really unfortunate to see the cascading effect of the pressures of the society, parents and schools on young minds. The rising suicide snuffs away ingenious, young minds who could have become great scientists, poets, artists or doctors. Sad but real.

“Society is transforming, and people are finding it difficult to cope, whether it is apparent or otherwise. One of the oldest definitions of our species says that we are social animals, but today we are less social and more individualistic. Apart from things like caste and religion, which also unite people at a superficial level, people are forced to be competitive and worry only about oneself, often depriving several others of a cushion.”

I have never been able to understand the need to get excellent marks. Yes, it is important to make a great career and get into the best colleges, but not at the cost of our lives.

“Mental health wellness should be added to the school curriculum. Only when children know about these disorders in their formative years will they be able to seek help. "

People like Abraham Lincoln (failed 8 times to become president of the USA), Albert Einstein (suffering from dyslexia), Amitabh Bachan (being rejected so many times due to his harsh voice), J. K. Rowling (lost everything n also rejected by the publisher for publishing her book) and many more people did not score well in exams and standardised tests but they did succeed in different fields of their lives.
Also, one sheet of paper cannot decide your future, no matter how difficult this challenge is, your dedication will make you overcome any stress and fear. And always ask yourself if this is how your story will end. Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly. The moment you are ready to quit is usually the moment right before a miracle happens.

-Rtr. Nishika Kogta