India has the highest rate of students who die by suicide. According to NCRB data. Suicides have risen 27% over five years. In 2021, over 1,600 suicides had “failure in examination” as the reason.
According to government data, 22 students have died in Kota since 2022. Around 121 have died since 2011 https://www.timesnownews.com/education/student-suicides-reach-an-all-time-high-in-2022-14-cases-recorded-in-kota-the-coaching-centre-hub-of-india-article-96338996
Though you can find suicide reports by searching the Internet, let’s discuss how can we decrease students’ suicide.
India is a coaching center hub. For any govt jobs or getting a seat in college, you need to pass the entrance. The most common type of entrance is JEE and NEET. Every student in this country is in a rat race to score highest in these entrances and get a seat. Parents pay in lakhs to prepare their kids for entrance in these coaching centers.
As seats are limited and so many aspirants, it’s very difficult to get qualified, about just 1% get the seats. No matter how hard you try, you are likely to fail. This rat race and teaching to test leads to emotional distress, and mental pressure.
Maybe scalability problems and disrupting the system are hard to solve and I am busy finding a way to solve them through decentralization and blockchain. But still, basic tinkering can help even with the existing system.
Lottery System:
Like the selection of students by lottery after a foundational knowledge test. The lottery is a fair system, does not increase corruption, and brings diverse representation. Bring a collaborative culture and give less importance to exam marks.
Why it’s fair and brings diverse representation?
After you have qualified for the foundational knowledge test, everyone has an equal probability of getting selected. So, even no reservation will be required. The way the questions are prepared in entrances is for eliminating students, they rarely test valuable knowledge and critical thinking rather than rote memorization and rigorous practice of the previous year’s questions. So, students with rank 1 are hardly any different from the student with a 50,000 rank.
Here is a video advocating for the reservation system:
End of coaching centers
Selecting by lottery will eliminate coaching centers. And resources will be used to scale the system and prepare children for an holistic humanistic learning rather than teaching to test.
Merit or Genetics?
We are always taught that it’s hard work to excel and crack tough exams. It’s a myth. It’s to do more with genetics rather than hard work. Siblings with different genetics, score differently, while homozygous twins get similar scores, even science too says so. How much you can reproduce the book script and practice lessons depends on genetics.
More details on how genetics impacts exam score, do watch the video.
65% of people in the higher polygenic group went on to do A-levels, whereas only 35% from the lower group did so
We can’t change genetics, but rely less on exam score and change how we select candidates and how we teach so that all students get a chance and benefit.
I am Brainstorming 