The other day an erudite gentleman quipped, “I hate to be a +2 student in today’s India!” How apt yet horrendous the statement sounds.

Each year, we get to see the nation’s toppers of various Boards. We also witness the higher and higher cut-off marks resulting in more and more pressure for the junior students who have a tough act to emulate! I recently read an article by a young girl who bemoans the fact that the astronomical cut off lists adds to the frustration of the students. She also feels that the examinations are more to do with testing of “pattern” rather than that of “knowledge.”

Taking off from her statement, are the marks an absolute reflection of the child’s ability? Can we safely say that children who score high in their Boards definitely possess a superior mind?

The testing of the “key words” or the “pattern” is aptly doing away with creativity and aptitude. Speaking from a personal experience, my daughter skipped a few steps on paper and did it mentally in the chapter of “factorisation” when she was abroad in Grade 8. We came back to India for her IX and she had to ‘unlearn her learning’ only to ‘re-learn’ the pattern followed by the Board! It was immaterial that she achieved the answer by her method in far lesser time! It is not an isolated incident. Any answer is acceptable if the “key words” are incorporated in English, Science and Social Sciences even if the sentence construction falls below standard.

It is a well-known fact that spelling error has to be overlooked in any subject other than English. Each Board has its own way of testing and sometimes the pattern varies! Much importance is given to the ability for ‘rote learning’, rather than the aptitude or for the reasoning capacity.

Errors can cost a life!

The children of today as it stands, face a lot of pressure with this unnaturally high cut off percentages. Added to this is also the misapprehension that there might be the possibility of an error at the Board’s end. Sometime ago a newspaper carried an article with a heading: “SSLC valuators pulled up as grave errors surface.”
The newspapers are replete with mistakes wherein a 92 has been entered as a mere 30, and a 114/125 has been entered as a 71. I think these children should consider themselves ‘lucky’ as they have not been termed “failed!” There have been instances wherein the child had apparently “failed” in his boards when actually he had got a 69 in a third language but the marks entered was a measly 9! Imagine the turmoil the child undergoes due to someone else’s mismanagement.

Problem of nativity!

After all this pressure to score well the child’s difficulties do not end. He finds he is not eligible to write certain common entrances conducted by the States he lives in. The nativity of the child is questioned. In the present culture of “job hopping” by parents it is inconceivable to expect the child to complete a major chunk of his/her schooling from one State. The brainiest of the brains get into the IITs and NITs but what about students who are “supposedly average” by today’s standards? A child who has been shuttling and studying in various places suddenly realises that it actually does not belong anywhere. This results in more and more forced separation of parents of high school-going children having its own repercussions due to stress-induced behavioural problems.
With the Boards keen on increasing the level of literacy in the secondary level the portions are diluted to such a degree in Class X that the quantum leap from the X to the XI is disquieting. These poor children are caught between the school portions, preparing for the various entrances and over and above having a Damocles’ sword of their unknown future hanging over their heads. With insufficient knowledge in the way of time management, these children seem to be heavily burdened. I am reminded of the lines from Davies Leisure that says, What is this life so full of care that I have no time to stand and stare!

The above statement is so true for the child of today. No wonder the stressed out parents and children find themselves at loggerheads throughout these crucial years.