Mir Farhaan / Asian Nama
The alarm goes off at 4:30 AM in a small hostel room but the occupant is already awake. For a seventeen year old preparing for NEET sleep feels like a luxury that comes with the guilt of lost marks.On the wall next to a periodic table hangs a handwritten countdown.
Below it sits a stack of module booklets from a coaching industry that has turned their teenage years into a business. In this room the air is heavy with the pressure of parental sacrifice,middle class survival and a harsh reality,over 2.4 million candidates are competing for about 100,000 seats.
They are set up to fail. This isn’t just an educational path it is a mental battle. For years the system has branded this intense pressure on youth as a necessary “meritocratic” process.
However, the recent collapse of India’s testing framework destroyed that idea.
The massive NEET paper leak scandals, where question keys were shared through WhatsApp groups and stolen from safe houses in places like Patna and Hazaribagh revealed a harsh truth. Students who dedicated their entire adolescence to studying fourteen hours a day saw their futures compromised by institutional corruption. The system not only failed to assess them fairly, but it also misled them into believing their worth was tied to a game that was rigged from the beginning.
The Data Behind the Distress The psychological toll of this institutional failure is reflected in alarming statistics.This is no longer just an individual problem of “stress”; it is a public health crisis.
Prevalence of Trauma:
Studies show that over 53% of NEET aspirants experience severe anxiety, while more than 44% show signs of clinical depression during their preparation.
When exams are suddenly canceled, investigated or rescheduled students enter a state of mental limbo.
Psychiatrists note that prolonged exposure to high stakes uncertainty leads to anhedonia the complete burnout of the brain’s ability to feel pleasure or motivation.
The institutions response to this crisis has been weak. Coaching centers install anti suicide ceiling fans in hostel rooms and hire a few counselors who provide generic advice trying to treat a deep rooted problem with a quick fix and harsd reality is that the only thing they need is money.
Gen Z’s Revolt: From Stigma to Defiance Previous generations may have accepted this failure quietly internalizing feelings of shame and disappointment. Gen Z is rejecting that.they understand that the shame belongs to the institutions, not to them.
This generation is transforming the
stigma around mental health into collective political resistance. With smartphones, legal
petitions and street protests, they are changing the narrative.
They openly discuss their mental health struggles on social media, not seeking clinical solutions but aiming their frustration at the National Testing Agency (NTA).
By sharing their experiences of taking a “drop year” and their issues with the system, they are dismantling the harmful belief that exam scores determine a person’s worth.
Fixing the Architecture Not the Student Gen Z wants real change in the system not just quick fixes. You cannot solve a mental health crisis caused by the environment while sending people back into that same roted environment.
True reform means changing the evaluation system so that a single three hour exam does not control a teenager’s
future.
It requires strict regulations on the predatory coaching industry to limit study hours and
ban misleading marketing.
Most importantly, it calls for a shift in culture toward an environment that values young people as real individuals instead of just numbers on a merit list.it is time to stop trying to fix students and to finally fix the system.we need to get our minds out of the neet and jee utopian world.
By Mir Farhaan
