Beyond the Rank List

Why India’s Gen Z is breaking under academic pressure

From Class 10 boards to entrance exams, the message is clear: one bad score can close doors to IITs, medical colleges, or “respectable” careers

metro india news  I hyderabad

If you’re a student in India right now, the word “exam” probably triggers a physical reaction. Heart rate up, sleep down, Instagram stories full of late-night study reels and “JEE/NEET warriors.” For Gen Z, the Indian education system has turned into a high-stakes endurance race where one rank can feel like it decides your entire future. The numbers are brutal. In 2024, India recorded 14,488 student suicides — the highest ever, accounting for 8.5% of all suicides in the country. That’s a sharp rise over the past decade. Behind every statistic is a young person who spent years in coaching factories in Kota or Delhi, grinding 14-hour days, only to face the crushing weight of family expectations, peer comparison, and the fear of “failing.” This isn’t just about hard work. It’s a system that equates marks with self-worth.

From Class 10 boards to entrance exams, the message is clear: one bad score can close doors to IITs, medical colleges, or “respectable” careers. Parental pressure, often coming from genuine love and economic anxiety, amplifies it. Many Gen Z students grow up hearing “beta, padh lo, warna kya karoge?” while scrolling past filtered success stories of toppers. Social media makes it worse. You see peers posting “AIR 47” or “finally IIT” while you’re drowning in self-doubt. Sleep deprivation is common — three out of four Class 12 students report not getting enough rest. Anxiety and depression rates are high; studies in Tier-1 cities show around 70% of college students dealing with moderate to high anxiety and over half showing depression symptoms.

The coaching culture has industrialised this pressure. Cities like Kota became synonymous with both dreams and despair. Recent controversies around paper leaks only deepened the distrust. When the system itself feels rigged or broken, the psychological toll multiplies. Gen Z is starting to push back. Conversations about mental health are less taboo than before. More students talk openly about burnout, therapy, and the need for balance. The UGC has pushed for wellness cells in colleges, and courts have ordered stronger guidelines after high-profile campus incidents.

But still access remains uneven. Counsellors are scarce, stigma lingers in many families, and rural or smaller-town students often have nowhere to turn. What needs to change? Education must shift from pure ranking to genuine learning and well-being. Career counselling from earlier grades, reduced emphasis on single high-stakes exams, better teacher training on emotional support, and realistic conversations at home about multiple paths to success. Parents and institutions need to stop treating young people as walking rank sheets. For Gen Z, the message is simple: your worth is not your percentile. The system is changing slowly, but the demand for change is growing louder.

Prioritising mental health isn’t weakness — it’s the only way this generation can survive and eventually reshape the race itself.