Neet politics consumes one more life in Tamil Nadu

Villupuram/ Chennai: An 18-year-old girl hanged herself at home near Villupuram on Thursday after failing to clear the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Neet), a day after two girls ended their lives in Tamil Nadu for the same reason. A total of three girls have committed suicide within two days in the state after the Neet results were declared.  

These deaths could have been avoided — not by scrapping Neet as some politicians irresponsibly claim — but by a combined effort by the parents/families, the educational institutions, the government and the society, insist expert counselors dealing with depression among young people.

M. Monisha took her life after she could not crack the exam for the second time. "She could not succeed in her previous attempt last year and the girl this year has got a very low score in Neet," PTI quoted a Villpuram district police official as saying.   

The student, belonging to the fishermen community at Koonimedu Kuppam near Marakkanam, had completed Class 12 from a reputed school at Tiruchengode in Erode district.   She studied hard for the exam for a year and was dejected due to her failure. Also, preliminary enquiries revealed that her mother had died recently. She was close to her father and might have felt he would be dejected by her failure, the official said.   

On June 5, S. Ritusree and N. Vaishiya of Tirupur and Pattukottai respectively ended their lives following their failure in Neet.   

In 2017, Anitha of Ariyalur district had committed suicide following her failure to clear the NEET and it led to protests and widespread demands from the opposition politicians urging the Centre to exempt Tamil Nadu from Neet.

All these young women need not have died, if only their families and the society had not cast heavy burden upon them to prove themselves by succeeding in NEET. The parents and family expect too much from the child, even without properly assessing his/her interests and capabilities. There is always someone else on the race track to be compared with in the perennial contest to win the approval of the parent, the teacher and the society.

"There is a very depressing mood at home if the boy/girl fails in the competitive exam and sullen looks from all around, at a time when the parent and the others in the family should reach out to the kid and tell him/her that the world is not lost if he/she has failed in NEET, that there is surely another shot at the exam, or there are multiple other career choices", says Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar of Sneha Suicide Prevention Centre at Chennai.  The Centre has been doing yeomen service to the youth in helping them to come out of their depression and face life with new confidence, thus preventing many suicides over the years.  
    (With PTI reports)