By M.N. Bhattacharjee
Come May-June-July every year; soon-to-attain adulthood Indian students, their parents and the adulterated society turn hyper with examination results. Recently, University exams have taken a back seat as performance in graduation and beyond get noticed only for exceptional achievements or as community pride. Board results make, ‘Breaking News,’ probably because this periodical outbreak opens up new vistas of careers for youngsters and the ‘market’, the present-day determinant for every domain of life, gets new brands of customers. However, there are more issues to ponder over than these momentary elations or dejections.
We are obsessed with pass percentages, rank-holders (CBSE/ICSE making it oblivious), performances of schools without caring for logistics, social status of the performers, neglecting the psychological impact on families, and more. Speak no evil! Often, we come across some publishers of ‘Made Easy’ books or Coaching centres or even private tutors as if the secret of students’ success lie in their super-conductivity effects and the students are doped elements in the super-conductor series. Claims also generate from households or business-magnates and astrologers claiming their success on the multicoloured stones, prescribed by them which decorate the fingers of some students! Next, students and parents make a beeline in front of the reputed institutions while the spill-overs go to less acclaimed institutions.
Books are the vehicles of knowledge propagation instilling critical thinking. Despite flooding of digital books, the short and long-term relationships with printed books will remain imprinted forever. Look critically at the contents of textbooks in circulation. Till 1990s, the textbooks had a detailed discussion and analysis of topics chapter-wise with few suggestive questions. For question setting, the teachers had to think a lot, scratch their head and then design questions. Students also studied in detail to be able to stand tall and face the eventuality. There were hardly any complaints of ‘out of syllabus’ ruckus! By mid-1990s globalization made us wiser. Slowly and steadily, books were market-produced, authors disappeared or lent their names to earn royalty, and the innovative phenomenon of copy-paste became a practice. With more pages on questions than discussion and analysis, volumes of the books became enormous with questions hired from board/entrance examinations and ‘MCQs’. But wiser people thought that is the only way to break the clutches of rote learning. Advantages! The process of setting question papers got easier, thanks to the copy-paste syndrome. Someone else has done the thinking, so better not waste time. Interestingly, many school boards stipulate that questions must be set on the pattern suggested in the book.
Divide and Rule policy is attributed to the British but we have mastered the art. Results are analysed through the eyes of segregation of students in innumerable categories like male, female, urban and rural, SC, ST, General, OBC, community, fluctuating barriers of poverty lines and more. Figures also emerge on nature and divinity of the institutions: government, semi-government, government-aided, private, missionary etc. Students are not uniform learners but tools of administrative, financial and social divisions. Consequently, students also come up with organisations with community aspirations; the fall-out of which is evident to everyone. Opinions in the mind are private but become public once words are used to express them. Often it is forgotten that the public discourse requires inculcation of values and rational deliberations.
Few instances of the effects of results reverberate in the mind. There are moments of deep satisfaction as well as extreme outrage. Two incidents of similar nature pertaining to Secondary examinations are worth mentioning. The first dates back to about a decade ago while the other is recent. In both cases, the students performed excellently and even ranked among the first few though not the topmost. Excited with the news, I contacted the parents to congratulate them and the students. Amazingly, the responses were cool and resentful as if a big mishap had occurred. The conversations became sessions of consolation as topmost position eluded the students. It may be interesting to divulge that the parents, in both cases, were highly educated. It appears intriguing why even the educated class cannot accept that there is a best amongst a large number who are very good. What a tale! The agony and stress in the minds of the bright youngsters are obliterated.
How justified is it to announce the performance of students in the media and grill the students so that they share their secrets of success? Is not my marksheet my personal property, if not totally confidential? Is it not interfering into one’s private life and triggering discomfort? That reminds one a scene of the blockbuster movie “3-Idiots” where the student ‘Rancho’ asked the Director of the institute, he was studying, about the efficacy of the ranking system and announcing the results publicly much to the ignominy of poor performers. Can’t we be little more compassionate? But how to come out of this coterie? Now there is a ranking system for institutions also where ranks are largely subject to factors of placements and corporate life. Do we appreciate the anguish of students of low-ranked institutions having very good results compared to students with poor results from top-ranking institutions? What about the knowledge base of either category?
There is a new game in the horizon called ‘lessen the burden’ on students by contracting the curriculum content. What a mess! When the world is moving ahead with knowledge expansion and young learners are coping very well, some elites think ‘it is too much’. So instead of lessening the weight/volume of the schoolbags, they are shrinking the syllabus and deleting essential topics. This is not rationalisation but sheer rationing of basic knowledge undermining the capability of the learners. Likewise, there is a campaign in some states, mostly tribal states, that the students are weak in science and mathematics, and syllabus must be made easier. Another gross insult and embarrassment for the students! This populist ploy to satisfy the crowd shows a dearth in the capacity to think as sharply as the young informed students. The cumulative harm of such an infamous theory is being felt by any rational person. The weak students are discarded while forcing the better ones to join this group of mere certificate holders.
Can there be any uniform pattern of curriculum and examination system to standardise all students and decide who can proceed for the next level of learning? Given the socio-economic and geographical backgrounds of our students, this sounds rather impractical and self-defeating. Subjects like Science, Mathematics and English cannot be diluted looking at the crowd. Social science topics invite considerations of local culture and conditions, and hence liberal approach in framing the syllabus is essential. Environment education has rightly become an integral part of the curriculum yet the menace of Climate Change and Global Warming continue unabated. Is there any gap in the knowledge delivery and practices followed? Central and State Governments ban use of plastics periodically with much fanfair. Plastics disappear from the market for few days just to reappear with renewed vigour.
Whatever be the curriculum design, the mode of assessment of the students always presents an unpalatable mechanism. Big variation exists between state and central boards where central boards are seen as inflating the marks. Again, some enlightened citizens feel that central boards students are better equipped than the state products; the debate remains inconclusive. To standardise this, the think-tank prescribed JEE, NEET, CUET etc. Thus, students are in the grid system of examinations, the tyranny continues. As the pressure of Board examinations eases out there are more in the line-up. And mind it, these are done to ‘lessen the burden’! Hold your breath! There is National Testing Agency for conducting examinations in almost all fields of entry to academics and jobs but entry to politics? ‘Holy cow!’
Of late, there are increasing cases of students dying of suicide. A glance at these cases shows that most suicides are among the aspirants of professional courses – either during the process of preparation for the ordeal or as a burn-out syndrome. The tormentors like NEET and JEE, former being more lethal, have already made impacts as stories emanate from coaching hubs of our country. We are obsessed to be at par with international standards. Do other countries also report similar suicidal behaviour? Psychiatric counselling is a solution but there’s more to it; hopefully some enlightened members of the society will analyse the stress of the students who are to climb the rungs of the ladder to be successful.
Not all students score brilliantly and come to the limelight. Some score moderately yet a good number fail, and contribute positively to the fund-raising schemes of the Boards. These lesser humans are condemned but they constitute a huge force. We talk about them but remain obsessed with those career-driven brilliant ones. It is these weak/dropout/failed students who remain where they belong to and constitute the base of the local culture and society.
There is another aspect of knowledge dissemination, an issue of current affairs called ‘learning loss’, triggered by COVID pandemic like the challenges proliferated in other walks of life. There is a dip in overall pass percentage in the last two years in Board examinations across the country, attributed to the learning-gap caused by the pandemic. Advanced technology could not mitigate the slide due to constraints of resources. The access to education for the poor and those in remote areas suffered in a cumulative way following unequal access to digital infrastructure. Further, reports of surveys conducted by some universities suggest that remote learning has hampered students’ concentration levels, writing speed, handwriting and mental health. Basically, online education can be a facilitator but never a substitute for classroom learning.
But the future is bright. With NEP 2020 around, Class X examinations are on their way out; at least, few states have declared so. No more worries. It is commendable that many public figures, who opposed NEP till other day, have started finding immense opportunity with the same after dramatically changing political colour. Realisations are relative, not absolute as we often think. Academic considerations are highly volatile and sublimes in the heat of politics, career, lust for power, and also toeing the line of authority.
Systems are quite intriguing. News flows that few state governments have decided to revamp the education system and constituted committees. Each committee in its first meeting decided to constitute another committee which in turn acted likewise; hence committee after committee and series of meetings. Some decisions will emerge someday which may become irrevocable, despite flaws in them, since these have been obtained democratically!
Nature is omnipotent. Let us not disturb the natural qualities of young minds but teach them fundamentals of nature. As our children grow up, they encounter endless possibilities but we should not force them to stare defeat in the face in the exam hall. If this happens, we only will be real losers alongside the land we live in.
(The author is retired lecturer Shillong College and examiner, MBOSE)