Me and the Indian Education System

I am from India. I really appreciate my country's people when it comes down to it. Everyone has a story to share. I love it at times here.

I add the 'at times' because for young adults, it's horrible. The employment sucks, everyone is underpaid and overworked. Societal norms suck, freedom is just an illusion. The moral values of so many people suck too, a mob mentality emerges and even the most gentle and smart people I know enrobe themselves in it. What sucks the most and what I can commentate the most on is my country's horrible education system.

We have 'entrance exams' for government colleges -- which I really quite like the idea of on the surface. For medicine, the exam is called NEET and that's what I'll be talking about.

To start off, there are barely any options in the first place. I'm really lucky that I actually enjoy Science as a subject. There are so many kids out there with no choice -- it's either their parents not allowing them to do what they WANT or simply a lack of options provided. It's truly horrifying to know that there are thousands of doctors out there in India, who do what they do against their own will! With menial compensation too!

Government medical colleges in India are alright, most are so-so in their facilities but the top universities are really where it's at. The state of private medical colleges is to say the very least -- batshit. Most are run by corrupt politicians, with barely any funding. The good private colleges are insanely out of reach for everyone except the top 0.1%, some have tuition fees of 80,000 USD/year (college: KMC) which is too much to ask for even in western countries let alone India of all places. I would be fine with this if it weren't for the number of available 'seats' (essentially the total number of possible student admissions/year). 2,400,000 students appeared for NEET this year, that sounds okay considering the fact that India has the largest population in the world until you get to know that there are ONLY 55 thousand government seats, many of them undesirable.

It's such a sorry state that if I try voicing my opinion to anyone except the closest, and by closest I mean CLOSEST -- I hear: 'Try harder'. The system is so fucked that you'll be bullied for having voiced an opinion, I've been through it. It sucks!

There's so much pressure, it's asphyxiating. I've won national level debates and I love engineering and making things by myself -- up until grade 11 started (the time where most people start this >journey<). My personality, my soul, everything interesting about it was CRUSHED. Obliterated. Drawing on the last paragraph, I had no one to talk to about these problems. I used escapisms like using reddit or being on Youtube all the time, I've come out of that now because I realized it isn't doing shit for me. I was so lonely, I was extremely down -- there was no human connection! I had no people to vent my frustrations to, I was depressed.

My entire family is SUPER positive and always help me but they're in the whole "It's okay, try harder and don't complain" ethos. They were out of touch with the frustration I was going through. I wanted a person my age to talk to, someone who appreciated who I was and listened to me -- I found her in the most unusual place imaginable. I love everything about her, her voice, her cute little face, her eyes, her personality and her humor (it's killer). I approached her, initiated conversation and texted her -- she was IT! I found someone who I genuinely appreciated and LOVED to talk to. And the funny thing is, she reciprocates! But when I asked to take her out, she said no -- why? Because of the system. Because she has no time on her hands, because her parents will get worried. And I understand that absolutely, there's no way around it right now. I can't change shit until I've got loads of money of my own (that's how things work in India: $$$).

Even if you forget everything else I've talked about and get to the main subject (literally), that being science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology and CS) -- you can't! People do not appreciate you learning about the history of how and why things happened, interesting ways of looking at physical concepts or even something as simple as thinking before you note something down in your notebook. It's soul consuming, the one topic I love deeply is being played with. It makes me incredibly furious and extremely sad that I can't even talk about relevant topics. I can't even go in-depth into a topic without people complaining and calling me a time-waster.

I am deeply frustrated, if I didn't have the awesome mother I have -- I would not be the same person. I love life, I've never thought of committing suicide. I want to live it and enjoy it, I'm human. I want to take her out and have fun. I want to have moments of peace. I also want to face good levels of competition and study the human body and the physical world around me. I am a philistine at heart. I just want to be happy. And I want change for fuck's sake.