Incremental popularity of the gap year

Although currently taking a gap year is an upper class privilege, not a few teens from middle class households are becoming aware of the importance of life skills and internships acquired in a break that enrich higher education and develop competencies that are valuable in adult life, writes Abhilasha Ojha

Gap year students: Western fad or enriching break?

Though a relatively new phenomenon in India, a small but increasing number of higher secondary and college students are opting to temporarily step out of the academic continuum, now raised to 19 years, and take a gap year — a year-long break after school or college/university — to pursue travel, sports, cultural interests, voluntary service or discover life’s purpose.

Aaliyah Kashyap (21), daughter of celebrated Bollywood film director Anurag Kashyap, is one of them. In an emotional video on her YouTube channel, she recounts her experience of taking a gap year from Chapman University, California. Posted in September 2021, Aaliyah opens up about her difficulty in adjusting to a new alien environment and suffering anxiety and depression. In another video, posted a few months later, Aaliyah reveals how taking a gap year and returning to India to bond with family and friends and pursue her creative interests was a regenerative experience that enabled her to find her true calling in fashion marketing.

Although currently taking a gap year is an upper class privilege, not a few teens from middle class households are becoming aware of the importance of life skills and internships acquired in a break that enrich higher education and develop competencies that are valuable in adult life. The value of work experience is acknowledged by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which provides for multiple entry and exit options in higher education. In a radical break from past practice, it permits students in higher education to exit after one, two and three years before resuming the four-year degree programmes now mandatory under NEP 2020. An online Academic Bank of Credits records certification at every stage.

The popularity of the gap year is likely to increase now that three years of ECCE (early childhood care and education) have been added at the beginning of formal education and one year at the end of higher education. There’s every likelihood of exhaustion, if not burn out, during 19 years of education.

Anushka Bellani, a graduate of the Heritage Xperiential Learning School, Gurugram, who topped her school in the humanities stream (98.8 percent) in the 2020-21 CBSE class XII exam, opted for a gap year because she was “desperate for time off from the academic drill”. “Twelve years of academic routine had demotivated me. I realised, it was time to give myself a break. There was a period of confusion in my mind, which was amplified by the deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Online classes, lockdown restrictions, and inability to meet friends stressed me out. Taking a gap year sounded like a great idea to calm and rejuvenate myself,” says Bellani, who was admitted into the University of British Columbia, Canada last year but opted for deferred admission. She will begin her term this September.
To take her mind off routine academics, Bellani volunteered for two weeks with an NGO in Sri Lanka through Plan my Gap Year, UK, an awards-winning voluntary services organisation. “I spent two weeks in Sri Lanka where I worked for a renovation project of community buildings and as an English teacher. These were enriching learning experiences which boosted my self-confidence. Now I feel like I can chase the clouds if I want to,” says Bellani.

Ruhee Mehta, a science stream higher secondary student of Sri Kumaran Children’s Home, Bengaluru, was encouraged to take a gap year by her parents, both frontline doctors during the pandemic. “As a science student, I was struggling with a packed schedule of online assignments and tuitions, and pressure to excel. I was tired all the time. Fortunately, my parents encouraged me to take a gap year. At the same time, I realised that I could waste the gap year if I didn’t quickly fall into a routine to make the most of these precious months. I made a list of everything I wanted to achieve and enrolled in a yoga teachers’ training course and later started conducting online yoga classes. I also interned with a wellness retreat. These involvements were valuable learning as well as healing experiences. To have continued to undergrad education would have been stressful,” says Mehta.

Undoubtedly, preparation for the all-important school-leaving class X – and especially class XII – examinations in which rote learning and memorisation skills are given high importance, drives children too hard. With admission cut-offs demanded by the country’s few dozen high-quality colleges and universities having risen sky-high, the pressure on students to score high grades in board and national competitive exams, is intense.