Parents need to think differently when it comes to educating their children

(MainsGS2:Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.)

Context:

Every year, news of suicides of students triggers breaking headlines in India but the race starts from the school where scholar badges create a strange divide in the classrooms.
Over 13,000 students died in India in 2021 at the rate of more than 35 every day, mainly due to failure in examinations.

Wrong approach:

In their efforts to push students to maintain their reputation, parents feel pressured and compelled to raise the bar too high for their students to match up to the standards set by these education institutions.
Parents have always wanted their children to be the best and brightest, thus this is a crisis of performing nothing but the best, rushing to win a seemingly endless race.
Parents often generalise the idea of excellence and success but this is certainly not the right approach.
However not many studies have come up in India to dissuade parents from taking this highly convoluted approach.
As a result, parents continue to follow the wrong path, adopt the wrong approach.

Harsh competition and limited opportunities:

The idea of excellence and success is often generalised by Indian parents based on how others are performing.
Apart from academics, there are expectations from the children to excel in sports, music and arts.
So there is no wholesome development of a student who is constantly pushing boundaries that eventually lead to disappointment, anxiety, stress and suicide.
Countless studies in India have said time and again that students routinely experienced pressure from their teachers and parents to perform better academically.
As a result, this very harsh competition and limited opportunities make the academic journey highly stressful.

Study abroad:

Indians have pushed their children to colleges in the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States. In 2022, an estimated 7.7 lakh Indian students went abroad to study and many faced severe challenges in finding jobs later.
India continues to produce some of the world’s best CEOs and they have all been educated in the West.
So, the craze for getting admitted in a top global university will not disappear very soon, unless Indian colleges really match up to the global standards.
The Indian Education Ministry said only 22% of Indian students who studied abroad between 2015-2019 were able to secure employment on returning home.

Way forward:

For parents:

They need to know that the mad rush for high marks should be dropped and it will save students from unnecessary pressure and anxiety and help them realise the benefits of education.
What is more important is that the students would be exposed to the practical world, they will understand what skills and traits are important and what are not.
They will have futuristic knowledge and skills, else they will be lost in this big race of grades.

For policy makers:

India’s nightmarish college admission reminded the students that every year that there is very little in life if your marks are below 97%.
This has been nerve shattering for thousands of students filling up forms for the entrance examinations.
This needs to change, else, private colleges will continue to charge high fees and parents will have to pledge family jewellery or insurance certificates to take loans.
One needs to remember that India’s education loan stands at a whopping ₹21,000 crore with average size of education loans for domestic colleges is ₹4,00,000 while for overseas education, it ranges between ₹50-60 lakh.
And then, there is a Rs 32,000 crore test-preparatory market flourishing, especially in cities like Kota.

Conclusion:

Indian parents in the current age need to help students realise their strengths and support them with value-added courses.
This is very crucial because decisions taken at the right time and in the right manner always create the best foundation for children, both in school and college.