Andhra Pradesh   

Colleges or boot camps?

M.L. Melly Maitreyi

EducationPlus Students raise a flag of protest against the strict regimen in colleges-cum-coaching centres

SINGLE-TRACK MINDS: Study, study and more study. That seems to be the sole occupation of Intermediate students aspiring to be doctors and engineers. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Sending students to corporate junior colleges for Intermediate-cum-engineering and medical entrance examination coaching may have become the norm over the years in the State. But is it leaving more and more students disillusioned with the kind of regimen that these colleges enforce to a fault?

If the disenchantment was muted a couple of years ago, it is vocal now with seven out of 10 students giving vent to their frustration and decrying the regimen system.

If long hours of regular classes followed by study hours leave the students sapped, constant comparisons with others and pressure to score more and more have apparently made them immune to reprimands at college and home.

"This is worse than high school. At school, teachers taught us and expected us to study and we did and scored well in the boards. But the corporate colleges now chalk out a timetable for us -- when to read and sleep -- day in and day out and view us with suspicion. Forget about motivation, it kills basic interest in studies," say Aditya and Kiran, students of corporate junior colleges.

"I shall study as much as I can and would like to have fun too. I don't want to be a nerd," says Rohan. The long hours at college are fine with him because it helps him revise his lessons. "Once back home, I am not in the mood to study again," he adds.

Empathising with the views of children but supportive of regimentation at college given the competition, parents are at a loss to reconcile both views. "I kept telling my son to put in more hours of study and would yell at him when my patience snapped.

Things went on this way till our communication was on the verge of breakdown and I realised the futility of this," says Vijaya, a parent.

Dr. Ashok Alim Chandani, a medical psychiatrist with Apollo Hospitals agrees that by-and-large corporate college students are unhappy with regimentation though there are students who willingly go with it and try to excel.

After a spurt of severe cases of stress, the Government formulated guidelines about the number of working hours, holidays. But these are observed more in their breach by the colleges, he says. "Education is not mere memorisation and it is about all-round personality development.

How many of these colleges have playgrounds, dramatics? The situation becomes very stressful for students when they are pushed to the wall both by parents who have high expectations and colleges to get more ranks.

It often leaves the student demoralised or acting out on impulses, a form of adolescent depression," he warns.

Parents should realise children cannot be pushed beyond a point and give them emotional support and they will find their own level.

Ranks in entrance tests are not everything and they alone do not ensure success later in life, Dr. Chandani says.

(What do you feel about education in corporate colleges? Write to collegian@thehindu.co.in or Education Plus, The Hindu, Begumpet, Hyderabad-16).

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