‘GenZ studies like robots’: Parents on duty at JEE Main exam centre dream of IITs, fear suicides

NEW DELHI: As students start taking JEE Main 2025, parents wait outside the exam centres with an hope to hear they did well. Most of them resonated the same feeling of getting admission in Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Besides the IIT dream, parents also expressed their concerns about the rising student suicide cases. JEE Main 2025 January 23 Exam LIVE

Careers360 talked to the parents on duty at the JEE Main 2025 exam centres in Delhi and asked them about how their kids prepared for the exam and which engineering college they are aiming for.

“Preparation goes on forever. In the first attempt, he could not score well. Later he said he wanted to take the exam again. What choice do parents have, but to support them. Whenever you ask them, kids will say they are studying, but when the results are out at times it turns out otherwise,” father of an aspirant said.

Society blames parents for student suicides

“I have caught him using his mobile phone while preparing for the JEE Mains exam, but not sleeping. You cannot scold kids of this generation. Parents are constantly worried about suicide, especially when they shut the doors and sulk for four days when we scold,” he said.

“Society will also start blaming parents saying that they should have not nagged them and should have allowed them to study for another year. So ya, we also let it be,” he said.

Reminiscing about childhood memories, parents on duty at the exam centre said: “We hardly had any guts to talk back to our parents, when they used to scold and beat us. But kids these days are too stubborn.”

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Integration of technology in education

One of the parents said: “These GenZ kids study using mobile phones and laptops, like robots. They will not take our advice.” In an opposing viewpoint, a parent talked about the integration of technology in education and said that the visual and pictorial representation of textual information has impacted students’ brains positively.

“In our days, we only had books. We used to assume and imagine the texts. But these days, everything, including formulas and concepts, can be converted into diagrams, which makes it easy for students to learn,” a father of an aspirant, who was carrying two heavy bags while waiting for his kid, said.

We all know how kids use mobile phones these days, but if technology is not used correctly, there won’t be any impact on education.

When asked about their dream for their kids, he said: “Sir, every parent, that you see waiting here for their kids, dreams for IITs. But succeeding in the exam will depend on the hard work and destiny of the children.” “There is no patience in kids. They want to see results quickly,” he added.

Also read Kota Suicides: ‘Students who come for JEE, NEET preparation become extremely unempathetic’

'Kids wake up parents now'

When asked about catching kids dozing off while studying, most parents had a different story to tell.

A parent said: “I have felt bad watching my daughter study late at night, while I rest. Kids who want to study will do it at any cost and it’s better not to force them to study if they do not have an interest.”

Parents of an aspirant aiming to pursue BTech Computer Science and Engineering at IIT said: “My son wakes us up and it’s us who keeps asking him to take a nap or rest for a couple of hours.”

Expressing confidence in their kid, a parent said: “I couldn’t clear the IIT exam. My elder daughter graduated from IIT Delhi. But I am hoping my second daughter will get admission in IIT Bombay.”