Studying and acquiring the skills through works increases the odds of succeeding down the road, but work-study balance is a strenuous task to master and may invite a lot of stresses and mental pressure.[break]
Samir Shrestha, 22, an MBA student who works in a commercial bank, has also been juggling his work and study for the past year in order to support his family.
“The pressure of having to meet the deadlines of assignments in college and working long hours in office is an arduous task,” says Shrestha, adding that since he goes to the office straight from college, managing time has become nonetheless a ticklish task. Work proves to be detrimental to study as it is not easy to hack the long working hours in a fulltime job.
For some, making an early career move comes out of compulsion. For Ranjan Giri, 23, working while studying was his last resort since he was badly in debts. He had no other option but to find a job in order to pay his college bills.
“Since I had left my hometown Chitwan to get quality education and build a strong career in the capital there was no looking back for me. I didn’t want to ask my parents to support me so I joined work when I was in my second year of Bachelors’ studies,” says Ranjan.
“The pressure mounts when the finals approach. Sometimes it really gets out of hand when I have to work extra hours at the office leaving me sleepless throughout the night. And I have to reach college in the wee hours of the morning the next day”, he added.
Most students don’t have the money to attend college without working so they are forced to find a job that will help pay the bills. The demand for years of work experience has also led many youth to start their career early so that while they finish up their studies they can have both the degrees and experience at hand.
Anisha Khadka, 25, who joined work in order to gain experience and make a speedy progress in her career says, “After I joined work, my studies got hampered and I could no longer focus on learning the way I used to do at one point. Then, I has to rethink --choose between work and study -- as it was getting tougher to focus on both.”
She further expressed that most of the time at work she had a feeling that she should be spending more time in college and then when at college, she worried about not being as focused on her career like she once was.
Such mental pressure and stress adversely affects the person’s performance when it comes to pursuing education and profession at the same time. David Shakya, 22, who started working at a call center during his second semester of Bachelors, shares, “I opted to work so that I could be independent and also to support my family.
Since I worked from 4pm in the evening till 4am in the morning, I only got four hours of sleep each day, so there was no time for me to study and I often dozed off in class”. He further said that it was hard for him to concentrate till second class and he hardly had time to eat and meet his friends and family.
Those who are working and studying simultaneously have to make a lot of compromises and often have to make difficult sacrifices. This puts the person in a position where there is the constant need to manage the tension between these two opposing things. It is a grueling task to handle the pressure that work-study invites, so, one should keep in mind the big picture and balance work and studies accordingly.
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