Recently, a boy of my age—who also happened to be a relative I was not aware of—committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. I am unaware of the details of causes and situations that led him to do so, but some primary investigations have suggested that  stress and depression caused by academic competition and a sense of failure as factors.

Barely eighteen years old, he was said to be very bright, smart, and was among a few hundred Nepali students to get an annual placement in one of the four government engineering colleges. As it was a ‘fee payer’s seat’, he declined the college’s offer. He had planned to try next year for full scholarship admittance.

His gap year had just begun when one of his friends and neighbour had been offered a seat in a Chartered Accountancy programme. Though studying CA is expensive, far more expensive than studying engineering in a government college, the neighbour-friend was said to have opted for it.

The decision stirred gossips in the neighbourhood. The prospective CA student, obviously, is in no position to be blamed. He is just following wherever his hard work is taking him. But if there is anyone who is to be blamed, it is our society and our educational system. It is because our parents who cling to the dreams of their children becoming a doctor or an engineer one day. It is often said that people of our age are yet to see the world, its challenges, and charms. And before even setting off to see what the world actually is, why have so many of our friends ceased to believe that the world wasn’t worth seeing?

Our society has always taken a degree or an occupation as a matter of prestige. There are only a handful of subjects that most of our parents want us to study—medicine, engineering, aviation, etc. If their children study one of these subjects, it is supposed to give them a sense of esteem at various turns of living in a society that is so obsessed with competition. And ultimately, children end up being the victims.

I wonder if there is any difference between studying medicine or any other subject, say journalism. To earn bread and butter, to give back to society, and to succeed, does it matter what we pursue a career in? If this comes down to starting salary and work pay, what do people have to say about entrepreneurs who went from rags to riches?

This obsession with degrees like medicine and engineering is nothing but ignorance. Unlike us, the west has come to value new methods of education. It is said that students in Finland are required to appear in a very few standardised tests so that they won’t have to go through overbearing mental pressure. With respect to liberal arts education, or pursuing self-designed majors, how does our education stand out?  

Whenever students dream of pursuing a career in sports or social sciences or arts, our society has always cited “lack of job opportunities.” But they never put any effort into developing these sectors and encouraging students to study, to pursue a career in whatever they enjoy. 

I think it was in one of those times when health services used to be poor in Nepal that a doctor could have been a very influential person. When there were few roads and bridges in Nepal, being an engineer meant everything. But everything has changed today. And we still  over-value these jobs and degrees. This is nothing but being stuck in a time capsule.

This has in turn given birth to cut-throat competition. It is not just about some twenty thousand students competing for a few hundred seats every year. It is not just about parents who will have to empty their life savings to educate their children. No, it has always been more than this. It is about the life of students, just like this friend of ours, who leapt off that bridge in search of salvation.

One life gone, is one life too many.

Pant is an A-levels graduate from Budhanilkantha School