The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ‘Hostel stay worsens situation’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 18, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘Hostel stay worsens situation’

Staff Reporter

‘Tiding over the psychological turmoil cannot be done without community help’

HYDERABAD: Groups of senior citizens visiting the corporate colleges and interacting with students could be an effective solution to the problem of increasing number of student suicides, suggests renowned psychiatrist P. Raghurami Reddy. “Students studying at corporate intermediate colleges face an imprisoned atmosphere. Pressure for time, humiliation of under-performance and comparison with other students often result in ever-increasing stress levels.

Even students with good performance are pressured with an eye on ranks. Stay in hostel worsens the situation as the students are literally robbed of their freedom of expression,” Dr. Reddy says.

Parents driven by intense competition force their children towards excellence, irrespective of their innate capabilities.

They don’t flinch from take loans to finance their children’s education. All this builds up performance anxiety and tension among the students, because, after all, the seats will be limited in number. “Expectations are irrationally high and social pressure adds up to it. It is as if without excellence, there is no life,” says Dr. Reddy.

He feels that the belief of hard work assuring success is not always true. Much depends on an individual’s psychology, and the functioning of the nervous system.

And then there is the “factor that is called luck”. However, conditioning by family and society is so compelling that it forces children to adopt and internalise parents’ goals. The “crisis of becoming something” nudges them to ignore their natural inclinations and physiological predispositions.

“By the time a child reaches six to seven years of age, his or her personality is formed by way of childhood experiences.

It determines how the child reacts in a given situation. Social expectations, financial benefits and parental ambitions all put together exercise artificial pressure,” says Mr. Reddy. A few students, unable to take it anymore, resort to the extreme step.

Tiding over the psychological turmoil cannot be done without community help. Dr. Reddy suggests the method of paper and pen whereby students may vent their frustration without being identified. It may be implemented with interventions from voluntary organisations.

An attempt should be made to convince the college managements against the oppressive methods in the context of the disrepute such methods would bring to the colleges.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh