The Hindu Business Line : Suicidal matters

THE gruesome suicide of 22-year-old Rajani S. Anand has shaken the conscience of Kerala. A student in computer engineering at the College of Engineering, Adoor, run by the Institute of Human Resource Development in Electronics, she took her life by jumping from the seven-storeyed Housing Board building in the capital city, which also houses the Office of the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations.

Reportedly, Rajani reached the end of her tether when she was forced to discontinue studies due to her inability to pay the tuition fees. She also reportedly failed to secure an education loan, after having knocked at the doors of public sector banks.

The loss of a young life in so heart-rending a manner is a matter of great shame for Kerala society, which has a tendency to simultaneously place great pressure on youth to conform to a stereotype of success (read becoming an engineer or a doctor), while also belittling those who do not tread the well-trodden path of a familiar career.

Apart from exposing the shallowness of Kerala's claims to be boldly different in its societal aspirations, the Rajani episode shifts the spotlight to two other institutions that are supposedly the pillars of a robust society - the media (once quaintly referred to as the Fourth Estate) and the private education sector, both of which have played sterling roles in Kerala's past growth in human development capacities.

The media in Kerala displayed a dismal level of biased, emotive and unprofessional reporting in the way it handled the Rajani episode. Most reports - especially in the local dailies and television channels - were more of editorials that outright cast aspersions on all and sundry, beginning with leads that accused the criminal and pronounced the verdict in a trial, as it were, rather than sticking to the old and trusted, unprejudiced method of reporting who did what, where, when, how and why.

For instance, how many in the media followed up - or scooped in advance - the claim of Cherian Scaria, Principal of the College of Engineering, Adoor, that Rajani had never been asked to remit any tuition fee since her fee used to be remitted in time by the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes Welfare Department?

The principal said Rajani had not been attending classes since August 7, and the college had not received any application for her transfer certificate so far. Since the college did not have a hostel facility for girls, Rajani was reportedly staying at a private hostel in Adoor. Being a scheduled caste student, she received Rs 2,314 as stipend on June 9, 2003 and the stipend for the current academic year, Rs 2,410, was sanctioned on April 1, 2004. But nobody had turned up to receive the money, he added.

Are these claims true? If so, what is the role of the State and the college management in the tragic death of Rajani? More importantly, what is the role of the private sector in education - and this is the second institution that needs to be re-examined in the aftermath of the Rajani episode - in a State that is arguably over-schooled? Why have there been few protests or expressions of outrage from the teaching profession in the State?

These are the issues and questions that ought to be the focus of the debate in the wake of the tragedy of Rajani. Shifting the terms of the debate to more substantial matters might ensure that Rajani's death will not have been in vain.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

More Stories on : Education | Random Walk | Kerala

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Trust lost

HDR: Managing cultural diversity for stability

Govt finances: Divide to multiply

Civil service reform

Suicidal matters

Horrors that history can sober us with

A future for derivatives

Resolving the crisis in traffic management

Fertiliser subsidy