Who Carries the Burden and Grief of Systemic Failures?

The NEET paper leak and the announcement of a re-examination reveal how India individualises youth psychological distress while ignoring systemic violence - the one which doesn’t show visible scars until later. In this case, the corruption of the education sector, coaching institutions, unequal school infrastructure and mentorship, caste and class privileges, and access to support. Over 22.7 lakh aspirants registered for the NEET examination in 2026, many of whom will now have to rewrite the exam on June 21. Reports of student suicides following the controversy reflect the immense psychological burden surrounding competitive exams in the country.

Competitive exams in India are deeply tied to self-worth, social mobility, prestige, belonging, and future opportunities. For many young people, failing to clear such exams becomes one of the earliest experiences of perceived failure. While exams like NEET/JEE may provide mobility in life and be a gateway to better opportunities, do we need our self-worth or others' worth to be based on exam performance? What if we taught a younger generation to view education and learning rather than letting marks dominate the conversation? 

In the absence of adequate emotional support, accessible resources, and resilience-building environments, this pressure can leave students vulnerable to severe psychological distress. It is not merely exam stress. It is the chronic anticipatory anxiety of feeling that one’s entire career and future depend on a single outcome. It is the exhaustion that comes from preparing relentlessly, often for years, while carrying the constant fear of failing, falling behind, or never doing “enough.” Beneath it all lies a deeper psychological burden: the belief that acceptance, worth, and belonging are conditional upon achievement.

Hence, the costs of paper leaks and systemic failures are borne by students and their families through years of preparation, financial investment, emotional exhaustion, and uncertainty. It is the accumulation of this distress, combined with systemic strain and vulnerability, that can contribute to student suicides, among other factors. These incidents cannot be understood merely as isolated mental health crises detached from their social context. Institutional failures are repeatedly externalised onto aspirants, who are expected to begin again while systems remain opaque and accountability remains limited.

Exam paper leaks are not merely instances of institutional failure or corruption. They represent the grief of lost years, uncertain futures, sacrificed adolescence, and emotional exhaustion. They erode trust at a deeply vulnerable age, often damaging hope and resilience itself. For many students, they also create confusion about identity and self-worth during formative years. This grief is complex, invisible, and too often left unacknowledged.

Moreover, power and privilege shape who suffers the most during such crises. Students from Dalit and SC/ST communities, lower socio-economic backgrounds, religious and gender minorities, and first-generation learners often bear a disproportionate burden. The majority of these learners have unequal access to coaching and resources, a lack of linguistic privileges and a history of exclusion from education. For many of them, a failed or postponed exam is not merely a disappointment; it may represent years of family savings, social pressure, and uncertainty about upward mobility. Collapsed expectations and fractured aspirations are a consequence of these systemic failures. 

Amid this uncertainty, one of the most common responses offered to students is: “Seek therapy” or “Work harder”. While therapy can support individuals navigating distress, it cannot substitute structural accountability. At times, resilience is invoked not to transform harmful systems, but to increase individuals’ capacity to survive them.

Mental health does not exist in isolation. Psychological distress is relational, social, economic, and political. Community, peer groups, therapy, mentorship and other forms of care can be an important source of support, but meaningful mental well-being also requires accountability, humane institutions, and social systems that do not reduce human worth to performance. While these crises are complex and deeply rooted in structures of governance and inequality, acknowledging those systems is essential to creating change.

Not making examinations the sole measure of success, dignity, or self-worth can itself become a form of prevention. In the case of NEET paper leak, a transparent and fast track investigation, plan and its implementation to avoid such paper leaks in the future, a diversified pathway and compensation to the students and their families for their lost time and efforts can provide some relief. When institutions fail repeatedly without accountability, distress should not be understood as an individual inability to cope, but as a predictable social outcome. Mental health is not a leaf existing separately from society; it is the entire tree.