Recently RCI has published a new notification declaring that a new course named B.Sc. in psychology shall be introduced. It will prevail for 4 years duration. Students after pursuing this degree shall get the license to practice as counselling psychologists and will also get an RCI registration number. It is one of the revolutionary and somewhat controversial notifications from RCI as a community of psychologists are viewing it with speculation.  

Traditionally being a psychologist is a very lengthy process. First one has to get a bachelor’s in psychology, or this should be one of the disciplines in bachelors. Thereafter one is expected to pursue a master’s in it and then either an M.Phil. or psy D will allow one to be a psychologist after recognition from RCI. Now providing the license to practice just after graduation in order to fulfil the ratio to population is raising questions about this decision. 

No concern for humanities 

Psychology is not completely science. It is considered a mixture of science and humanities. Thus, students from both streams are allowed to pursue psychology as a career. However, after this notification, a student after class 10th will have two options. Either one chooses the science stream to get the license in four years or one can select humanities to go through the traditional way. 

Thus, the most promising method here is the first one. It, therefore, shows no concern for humanities students as they still have to follow the traditional method, however, this is not the same for students of science background. This will lead to generations of psychologists from science who can outnumber those who have humanities. Here psychologists view that it must be equal for both streams as psychology is an interdisciplinary subject. A person with no knowledge of social and political aspects will shrink this discipline with a single shade thereby pushing students from the arts into an inferiority complex in this discipline.

Ambiguity regarding the present status of the psychologist 

Considering those practitioners who have just graduated as equivalent to those who have cracked the traditional process and providing them with RCI registration numbers is something controversial. Although it is necessary to fulfil the psychologist a population ratio, this is raising ambiguity here. Questions such as, “What will be the future status of counseling psychologist who is already practising?”, “What will the way for humanities students to get the same license?” is still inside the box.  

Way forward 

Thus, it is high time that the WE must make the process of reforms inclusive and transparent. Following are the expectations from RCI while making such policies: – 

1. The policy formation process should also include the members who will be affected through this process 
2.  Humanities students should equally get a chance towards getting an RCI license through a similar course to provide level playing field 
3. The ambiguity regarding the present status of psychologists must be cleared. There must be transparency in the process 

Thus, in a nutshell, we shall conclude that policy formation is a complex task. While making such revolutionary policies, one must have a bird’s eye. We must consider all these aspects while making such decisions where the level playing field can be affected. 

References

Freepik images

https://rehabcouncil.nic.in/sites/default/files/circulars-documents/Notification_BSC_CP_HONS_0001.pdf

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 The corporate world and our education sector are full of competition. The number of seats available in the education sector for medical and engineering demands stiff competition among students to win the seats. Similarly, promotion in the corporate sector is based on performance compared with others. Then this is considered as a basis for whom the promotion will be provided. Thus, there is a hoax of a rat race created in society to get ahead of others to be called as achievers.  

Although psychologists claim that competition is necessary for a healthy life, it has its limits. How healthy is your competition? How much is this rat race helping you to be yourself in life? What are the ways to prevent unhealthy competition in the workplace? Also, the most fundamental questions include how necessary is competition for cognitive and economic development and what the ways to get away from the unhealthy repercussions of these unhealthy competitions. This blog shall deal with the fundamental aspects of competition that exist here in our immediate environment. 

Healthy v/s unhealthy competition 

We can classify the competition into two fundamental categories. Healthy and unhealthy competition. Healthy competition on the one hand is a kind of competition where the goal is to upskill oneself by learning from others. When the defeat is not a matter of life and death rather it is just the means of improvement. A kind of rat race where inferiority or superiority complex does not have a significant place in the improvement of the person. 

However, on the other hand, competition where the main aim is to defeat others leads to generations of unhealthy competition. This kind of competition leads to the creation of an extremely negative environment in society.   Nowadays the education sector and the corporate sector are gradually moving towards being war zones. The increasing rate of the unhealthy rat race is something very alarming in society which has its significant ramifications. 

Repercussions of Unhealthy Rat Race

Unhealthy competitions have several repercussions that are apparent in a variety of contexts. These can be summarized as: – 

1. It affects the mental health of students in a very negative manner. To develop interest in any discipline it is necessary to avoid the over-justification effect among students. This is a term used in social psychology here the intrinsic motivation to do a work tends to deteriorate when it is accompanied by external rewards and punishment. The unhealthy competitions lead to the development of inferiority and superiority complex among students which tend to decrease their intrinsic motivation for academics 
2. It leads to a problem of labelling of individuals. If someone tends to perform well in any task or competition, we tend to label the person as per the performance. This affects one’s self-concept and to bring congruity here, it impacts future performance too 
3. The talents which couldn’t be demonstrated in any particular test get under the vain which leads to loss of talents. 
4. Unhealthy competitions are a threat to fraternity in the organization if defeating one’s colleague becomes the goal. 
5. Failure creates a lot of pressure on oneself when one’s ego fails to defend oneself. Thus, it has ramifications in terms of the mental health of individuals. Also, it tends to provide the incorrect basis for judgement of oneself 

Cases of loss due to unhealthy competition 

1. The deaths in Kota due to suicides are apparent examples of the negative repercussions of unhealthy rat race. Where children of 15-16 years find it difficult to stand in the complex social structure where the battle to prove oneself continues. 
2. As many as 12 intermediate students committed suicide in April 2023 after the declaration of the examination results. The increase in suicide among youths between 14 to 18 years of age has extracted major concerns for the education department. 
3. A news report reported that “7 lakh suicides occurring worldwide each year, quite a significant number comprises India’s youngsters — suicide is the leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 30 here.” 

Ways to avoid unhealthy rat race 

1. Foster relationships: – Try to form healthy relationships among your peers. This will just label the competition as a part of your job. Thereby making it easier for you to deal with the competition when you tend to value the relationship more than the competition 
2. Try to focus on self-improvement. You need to consider that the main goal of the competition is your improvement rather than your victory. 
3. Consider failure as a way of improvement. It is normal for humans to fail. Thus, please consider failure as just the way of improvement rather than as an attack on the ego. 
4. One match won’t make u unsuccessful. There is always a way forward. Thus, irrespective of the history please focus on future opportunities. Optimism acts as a barrier to unhealthy rat race

Thus, in a nutshell, we can conclude that competition plays a vital role in our development when it is healthy. Otherwise, if it becomes a matter of life and death or self-respect then we shall see many Kotas in future. Thus, our institutions must educate their members regarding the ways of competition. Thus, competition on a limited scale is necessary for the holistic development of individuals. 

references

freepik indiatoday, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/100-score-culture-will-lead-to-unhealthy-competition-say-experts/articleshow/91676961.cms

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Students of Jammu and Kashmir are urging the government to set up examination centres at Srinagar for various Universities like (JNU, DU, JMI and AMU) entrances.

In a statement, the spokesperson of the Association, Nasir Khuehami, said that it is not possible for the students to afford air tickets to travel to other states and appear for exams as most of the them are hailing from marginalised communities.

As the examinations will be conducted from the next month, many students fear contagion, are giving second thoughts to traveling. It is going to be a lot of a hassle for students to travel to Delhi and other places when most of the students are not vaccinated as yet, and there is also a possibility of the third wave happening in the country.

Despite the pandemic, no centre has been allotted to Kashmir by these universities which has left the local students high and dry.

JKSA Secretary Davood Ahmad said: “It will be very inconvenient for the Kashmiri students to travel all the way and spend money on in other states if their examination centres are not arranged locally. This is really hard and grave situation especially for the students belonging to the average income group who can not afford the travel and accommodation expenses.”

He requested LG Sinha to urgently look into the matter and kindly establish alternative exam centre for Kashmiri students in Srinagar for the entrance exam, “otherwise large number of the students may miss the examination if the centre is not set up in Valley.”

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