In India, IITs are recognized as the most prestigious institute and the admission exam of IITs are internationally considered difficult exams. Over 1.5 million students appeared for JEE Main only for 13,000 seats in 23 IITs across the country which means 115 aspirants are competing for each seat. Before discussing the unfortunate it must be clarified that IITs continue to produce thousands of fine young graduates with the brightest tech minds. Those institutes are responsible for a huge number of internationally renowned scientists, and matchless facilities that the IITs offer. But the situation changes very fast. Something is deeply wrong with the system which causes worry to society.

Academic and Social Pressure on Students

The craze for IITs is so intense that students started to take preparation even from the age of 14 which leads them to miss the simple joys of adolescence. Most of them give up extra-curricular activities, relationships with friends and peers, and all forms of entertainment for getting chances in IITs. Under this pressure, some of them lost social skills, communication skills, and hobbies even after achieving their aim.

In earlier years the academic pressure on an IIT student was the same but students did not suffer massive years-long parental pressure and the horror of failure. But the stress of IIT put a long-term effect on today’s students because they have been strictly guided and spoon-fed all the way. Before getting a chance in IITs, students spend more than two years struggling in preparation. It can be very difficult for kids to suffer in IITs where 50 percent of them will be below average, 20 percent of them will be at the bottom of their class and very few would fail and drop out. Parents totally shut down the outer world from children to “help them focus”. Activities such as watching television, surfing the Internet, and participating in social events, sports, and hobbies are totally eliminated from the list of priorities. Some of them removed the cable connection, skipped family vacations, and social events, and blocked all sorts of entertainment in preparation for JEE. In the routine of coaching, school, and practice tests, students miss their important life skills, friend circles, and overall personality development.

There is always a reason behind the high expectation of parents for their children. This is because of news and social media reports about the high job opportunities in IITs. They had read that every year that half a dozen IITians have been hired by Amazon or Facebook or some high companies at $200,000 a year, with US postings. But the media does not report that the median salary of a fresh IIT graduate is around INR 8-10 lakh a year, and even at least 15-20% of students were not hired on campus. From IIT Bombay in the academic year 2017-18, 85.21% of B.Tech students have got jobs. At IIT Madras only 73.96% of candidates got jobs. If a child fails to get a job after all this hardest preparation causes him psychological damage for a lifetime. Parents must understand that.

Role of Coaching Classes

Though there are a huge number of coaching classes that help students take the exams, it is not healthy for students. In coaching centers, they lose the talent of discovery and innovation during the training course. Several students, feel a lack of an outlet and no mind space to do anything other than study and suffer from several mental health problems. Most coaching institutes create an atmosphere where students have to sit into batches based on their performance. If a student has been trained in a ‘low-performing’ batch for several years, they think of themselves as low-performing students. This led them into a hesitation to take part in group activities or personality growth programs. In some discussions and reports, some students have mentioned the academic pressure of IITs as a significant cause for distress. On the topic of increasing number of suicide cases, some alumni of IIT said most of their classmates burnt themselves out to run behind the high requirements. There are very few students who give up and choose their own way for peace of mind. Unfortunately, because of mugging up for high grades in the exam, they did not do well in that environment. The institutes’ administrations are very indifferent about those issues and won’t do anything. Due to continuous protests from IIT students, some of the institutes took wiser decisions to handle the students’ depression issues and build a counseling center where students can ask for professional help. However, the counselors tried to build self-confidence and fixes for pre-exam anxiety. Some senior students become the “mentor” of juniors who understand the issues much better.

Conclusion

For achieving one seat in IIT most of the students lost their childhood, hobbies, and attitudes. A mental health expert said that during the research on IITians, the most common problem among IIT students was that they all ran behind high achievers, and suffer from an ‘existential crisis. After years of hard-core training, students start searching for a deeper meaning in life. After so many when they look behind they seek how many opportunities they lost for that one seat at IIT.