When parental pressure compounds academic rigour on campus

How the thought of suicide entered the mind of a young girl because she failed a major course in Chemistry leaves a lot of questions to answer.

While some attribute her death to parental pressure, many others believe the rigour Nigerian University system expose students to could be a push factor.

In any case, Mercy was just sixteen and the decision to take her own life over a poor grade is something that may never cross the mind of an average Nigerian.

The reason is simple, Nigerians love to live, we love to laugh and even in the face of political and economic adversities, we see a reason to laugh off our own problems. Committing suicide is never a Nigerian thing but depression leave with us to be honest.

Mercy truly committed suicide at school but her problem may have started from home. In fact the pressure many Nigerian parents attach to the academic success of their children in higher institutions can dull a bright student.

Our University environment too is a big issue that could make a lilly-livered student drop dead.

The Nigerian University environment is not the one that is easy to go through. Students complain every day about the system and the kind of people that run the system.

Seriously, it takes ruggedness plus mental alertness to cope with academic madness in our universities. And it is either you cope or you drop out.

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Imagine a University not producing first class graduate in a certain department for over 50 years. Imagine a University where lecturers have a belief that no student can have the best grades irrespective of their effort.

Imagine a university system where the best grades belong to God and lecturers and no student have the right to score an A regardless of the student's brilliance.

Unaddressed issues like this could depress students whose success in life has been tied to their academic grades by their parents.

Apart from the pressure and rigour tied to academic pursuit in the Nigerian University system, there have also been questions around the age and maturity of students that are gaining admission into the tertiary institutions across the country.

Some people believe 16 is too immature for the pressure in the University. Maybe they are right, but in an ideal environment, nobody goes to school to read or study pressure. It is only in Nigeria you consider pressure and rigour as part of school curriculum. That is why certain courses are five units when others are three or two.

Gaining admission into a higher institution at sixteen isn't a bad idea. It in fact gives young students a higher chance of being accepted in the labour market after graduation.

Granted, the child might not be matured enough to stand the ever-present mess on the campus but parents would save their kids a lot of emotional trauma if they properly advise their kids about life on campus. rather than giving them unnecessary academic KPIs.

Parents only need to advise, educate and encourage their kids on campus to face their studies, but when an average student is being cooked by his parents to become an academic don, the student may not live to wear the gown.

Rest In Peace Mercy Afolaranmi.