Academic Pressure And Institutional Murders
There was a famous quote by our missile man of India A.P.J Abdul Kalam, "The
purpose of education is to make good human beings with skill and expertise.
Enlightened humans can be created by teachers." Is this really what is
happening in our country? Are we actually being enlightened?
We are aware of the rate of suicides being increased day by day especially among
the students studying in the most reputed and said to be "centers of excellence"
institutions of our country. These institutions are said to have a great amount
of national importance and take the place of top universities or institutions of
our country. Institution like IITs, IIMs and central universities are centrally
funded and provide facilities with world renowned academics and top lecturers
that make them the finest in their field.
But according to the research bureau in 2020, Of the 1.64 lakh people that
suicided 8% of them were students for the reasons such as academic pressure,
social stigma, caste discriminations, mental illness, abuse of management and
many. These students that half of the parents and teachers are forcefully
moulding every year to get admission in one of the top institutes in India like
IIT, IIM, Central universities, and subsequently completing the toughest
entrance examinations are again defamed on the ground of caste, class, gender,
and others in the campus, just like purchasing their tickets to academic
pressure and distress.
Suicide is not a sudden act or a state of mind. The reasons of the suicides can
be mental disorder, personality disorder, bipolar disorder etc. But these
suicides that are happening in these intuitions Are They Really Suicides?
Is it really the fault of the students? Or Are They Instituional Murders?
Related Cases:
Darshan Solanki Of Iit- Bombay
Darshan was a Dalit student pursuing B-Tech at IIT Bombay. He had died by
suicide this. Let's look upon this case.
Darshan was a first-year student of chemical engineering at the IIT Bombay and
belonged to the Dalit community. Nearly four months after joining the most
reputed institution in his dreams he was seen suicided at his hostel by jumping
off the 18th floor on February 12th, 2023. His father says that:
"he was euphoric when he made it in to IIT Bombay. After his death the student
body Ambedkar Pereyra Phule Study Circle (APPSC) has found that Darshan had
faced Caste discrimination which led him to give up his life. They called the
death as an "institutional murder". There is a notable question that Darshan's
father asking to the whole country "How can someone who cleared the toughest JEE
exam, not once, but twice be a weak student and score poor marks?"
Is it true? How we can call it as a suicide? The classmates of Darshan saying
that he had faced caste discrimination from both uppercase students and teachers
as well. Whenever he comes to join the group study, there were students saying
that 'look, the Dalit boy is coming'. Darshan was only 18 years old and he was
first time away from his home, so this discrimination made him hate himself.
24 Students Of Central Universities Suicided Last 5 Year:
According to the UGC Statistics, twenty-four cases of student suicides were
reported in central universities, last five years. Most of them are from Uttar
Pradesh according to UGC Statistics. The maximum number of cases were reported
in 2017 (7) followed by 6 in 2018 and 2019. The number of suicide cases reported
in central universities in 2020,2021 and 2022 so far as one, three and one
respectively. This issue was discussed in Lok Sabha and the minister Dharmendra
Pradhan said that the reasons of the suicides by students are not maintained.
Ayush Ashna Of Iit Delhi
A final year student from tribal community Ayush Ashna (20), died by suicide in
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi on 8th July. The Ambedkar Periyar Phule
Study circle (APPSC), a student organisation in IIT Delhi, alleged that the
recent death highlights hoe unwelcoming the institute is for students from
Scheduled Castes and Tribes to address "institutional casteism, bullying, and
constant questioning of SC/ST student' merits.
Ayush death comes months after the death of Darshan Solanki, a Dalit student of
IIT Bombay. Darshan, a chemical engineering student from Ahmedabad in Gujarat,
died by suicide at the campus on February 12, a day after his semester exams
ended.
Sradha Satheesh, Student Of Amal Jyothi; Kerala
Sradha Satheesh a student of food technology at the Amal Jyothi college of
engineering in Kanjirapally, died by suicide on the evening of Friday, June 2.
Sradha's friends and family members have been alleging mental harassment by the
authorities as the reason for her death. The college authority tried to hide the
suicide attempt and took Shradha to hospital claiming that she had collapsed.
One teacher seized sradha's phone and reported to HoD and harasses her in the
name of internals. Students have complained to the managements several times.
Rohit Vemula Of Hyderabad University
On January 17, Rohith Chakravarthy Vemula, a Dalit research scholar at the
University of Hyderabad in southern India, hanged himself from a ceiling fan in
his friend's hostel room.
Vemula and four of his friends, all Dalits and associated with a campus
political group called Ambedkar Students Association, had moved out of their
hostel rooms after being suspended by the university administration.
Students are saying that there was severe caste discrimination in the
university. Susheel Kumar Nandana, the leader of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi
Parishad, the student wing of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party, accused the five
suspended students of assaulting him.
The university was rocked by protests soon after Rohit's suicide, with students
saying it was yet another case of discrimination against Dalits on campus.
Dr.Payal Tadvi Of Topiwala National Medical College:
Tadvi, who died by suicide in her hostel room at TN Topiwala National Medical
College on May 22, 2019, wrote in her suicide note that it had become
"unbearable" for her to carry on with the torture by her seniors. She was
undergone ragging by her seniors, mainly because she was belonged to the
scheduled tribe community. Tadvi was under stress and unable to cope with the
work load and the ragging, which caused her to die by suicide.
Preethi Of Kakatiya Medical College: Telengana
26-year-old Preethi, a first-year postgraduate medical student attempted suicide
due to the harassment by her senior at Kakatiya Medical College. She was found
unconscious after working the night shift at MGM hospital and moved to Hyderabad
in a critical condition. On her father's complaint, Mohammed Ali Saif, a second
year post graduate student, was arrested by the police on charges of ragging,
abetment to suicide and harassment under the schedule's castes and schedules
tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Anti-Ragging Act.
Rise In Institutional Murders
Institutional murders are due to the lack of caste discrimination free campus.
Indian institutions as the number of suicide deaths that occur in educational
facilities and institutional murders increase daily. The murder of 19-year-old
Darshan Solanki of IIT Bombay, suicide of Dalit woman doctor in Punjab, all
point towards discrimination based on caste.
At the same time another case was reported of a 20-year-old female engineering
student who died by suicide in Telangana who had been allegedly harassed by a
male. The excessive imposition of academic pressure on students especially
targeting individuals based on gender, income, class, caste, creates the
trajectory of homicides in the universities.
According to Articles 15 and 16 of the Indian constitution, the purpose of
reservation in India is for the advancement of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes. To an extent, reservation is a policy in states to rectify the social
injustice of certain castes. However, in many institutions in India students
from a particular community are getting mobbed by the upper-class administrative
regulations on them. Initially, the reservation was limited to SC and ST
communities. It is in the wake of the Mandal Commission report in 1990 the scope
of reservation for Other Backward Communities widened.
While we look at OBC reservations in the country, the reservations are formed to
include individuals from lower income and social status excluding those who are
privileged in the category of other backward communities. Similarly, the
Economically Weaker Section (EWS) reservations were introduced by the Central
Government of India adding the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019. EWS
reservation provides a ten per cent allocation for candidates who are in the
general category.
Corresponding to the Data Point podcast by The Hindu on 'Dissecting Caste
Discrimination in India ', it uncovers the data that the acceptance of SC, ST,
and OBC PhD candidates are below 8 per cent from receiving hundreds of
applications. In 2021, IIT Delhi received 637 eligible PhD applicants but none
of them has been admitted. Similarly, the statistics of students admitted to IIT
Tirupati, Goa, and others are 0.8 to 1.2 per cent of the total in which the
general category has cleared above 41 per cent of total applications received.
Having said that, suicide is the second leading reason for death among
adolescents and adults in India. India bears the world's highest suicide rates
among youngsters embodies peer pressure, fear of failure, depression, and
unemployment, the enactment of healthy counselling cells in educational
institutes is the need of the hour.
Thus, Indian institutes and universities are hatcheries of mental stress. In
various top universities in the country for instance many of the colleges in the
University of Delhi hold a dead counselling cell on the campus however the
number of institutional murders occurring is unbalanced. It is the obligation of
management to ensure the mental health of their students as well as provide a
healthy atmosphere in academics.
By establishing proper counselling centres for both teachers and students will
be helpful to prevent the institutional murders. Create Awareness programmes for
both students and teachers against the caste discrimination, gender
discrimination, or any other kinds of discrimination. Create a student
counselling wing, students can better share things to students and it will
improve the mental health. Ragging must be punished without any mercy. Proper
action should take against the teachers too who discriminate students.
Conclusion
The most common discrimination we can see from the above-mentioned cases is
caste discrimination. The students who come from the lower caste mainly come
from small villages which have no schools with sufficient facilities even
benches. Some villages there are restrictions for lower caste people to use even
the public taps. From such villages the students are working hard and coming
with a lot of dreams to the well reputed institutions. There dream is all about
a decent life.
A student who had worked that much ending everything in one second, it is not a
suicide for sure! It's an institutional murder! Suicides are not lonely
incidents. There is tremendous rate of increase in the number of suicides in the
last 10 years! The student suicidal rates per year in our universities are
greater than the soldiers who are dying in the frontiers of our country. The
future hopes of our country are being murdered! By whom?
These students need justice! The authorities of these finest institution's
saying that it's the survival of the fittest and it's their fate! They are
saying If students are unfit, they'll quit. When we check up on the students who
suicided we can see that most of them were hardworking students ever in that
university! There are students who are not getting a PhD even in 7-8 years after
a lot a hard work only because of the caste discrimination by the teachers.
By destroying the dreams of a student, by destroying the personality of a
student, even destroying the student itself by inch by inch these
discriminations push them to a point whether they have no other option! Do these
students quit? No, they did not quit! THEY WERE FORCED TO QUIT!!!
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