The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Their condition is pathetic: Neerada Reddy panel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 24, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Their condition is pathetic: Neerada Reddy panel

‘Students looked like people hijacked and put in concentration camps’

Hyderabad: The Neerada Reddy Committee made some strong comments on the ‘inhuman’ treatment meted out to students in their teens.

“They looked like people hijacked and put in concentration camps,” she observed after visiting the colleges.

During her interaction with mediapersons after she submitted the report described the condition ‘pathetic’ and as a parent she could have never allowed such taxing schedule on students. “What do you expect when the academic schedule stretches to 16 hours and sometimes up to 18 hours? Forget about recreation, students do not have time to take food leisurely,” she had said.

Root cause

. The root of the problem, the panel felt, was the linking of Intermediate education with coaching for EAMCET. Not a single college gave any importance to the former and the emphasis was solely on the entrance exam.

Libraries were virtually non-existent in several colleges. Books and plates lie side by side in the classroom because students are expected not to waste time in freshening up, going to their rooms or relaxing a bit.

It is straight from the classroom to the dining halls and back. “Not all colleges fit into this category but this does not mean that they are any less demanding on students,” says Dr. Reddy.

Comparison

The committee on the whole felt that unscientific methods were being used for evaluation of students leading to their segregation within their own group.

The weekly tests led to more insults than gauging performance apart from constant comparison.

The panel noticed placards hanging in the dining halls of the colleges giving details of the top candidates in that particular weekly test.

“It had a devastating effect on young minds as they were repeatedly made aware of their poor performance even while eating,” the report claimed.

“That their parents spent a lot of money on them was definitely playing on their minds. And, when they realised they were not shaping up to the expectations of their parents and peers, the only way out for them was to commit suicide,” Dr. Reddy pointed out.

Suggestions

The study showed that the majority of students who committed suicide belonged to lower middle class families not used to such intense competitive atmosphere.

The panel recommended an immediate end to the anomalies and called for strict and immediate action. It listed out several suggestions to relieve stress among students like appointing counsellors in the colleges.

Grievance box

Setting up of a grievance box in each college was recommended and that the grievances be examined by social activists of that town.

It also called for a ban on advertisements in the media since the truth was not always told correctly thus misleading the parents.

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