Shayam secured a seventy-eight percent in his state boards examination and he recalls his father distributing sweets amongst his neighbours and friends. But this was twenty years back. A week ago a girl scores ninty-three percent in her CBSE exams and she’s not happy. Each year the rank holder scores steep higher and higher. We are in a society today where eighty percent is just an average mark and schools expect their students perform better than the previous years.
Every student has now built a stereotyped notion that marks is the key criteria to keep up in society and more amongst their peers. Very few institutes give importance to personality development and creativity in students. With high percentage in individual scores there is an increasing demand for one to fair better with the passing of each academic year.
Firstly the presence of a number of education boards namely CBSC, ICSE and State Board has lead to non-uniformity in the education system. State board students often complain that their ICSE and CBSE counterparts are given an advantage during college admissions. Secondly, to emphasise on improving the quality of education by increasing the percentage of practical and project marks. Even though some say students still memorise or even plagiarise.
Today, students slip into the competitive atmosphere very well. The students all from Kendriya Vidyalaya say that put in a good amount of hard work to reach the top. Nidhi S Kikkeri of class 10 and K R Sridevi Koushik is from class 12 says that hard work pays. While, Sridevi drew inspiration from her brother who scored nothing less than 95 per cent and Nidhi went for regular coaching classes. Sharath P Kaushik of class 10 who scored 95 per cent says he never needed any tuitions, If he had any doubts he would get it cleared from his peers. But students like Darbha Sriharsha from class 12 in a City school says he ‘s not happy with the 90 per cent he has scored. He says had he studied right from the beginning of the year he would have scored better.
The education boards play a crucial role and it is their responsibility to award marks to students in a more acceptable fashion. “They are students who achieve cent percent marks in social studies, science and more shockingly in language subjects, defining these studies as a more mathematical equation,” remarked Phyllis Farias, a well known education consultant and counsellor based in Bangalore. She strongly felt that by awarding students with full scores in their exams, the board is only increasing their tension and stress for these exams, and silently building a demand to keep up with high marks.
Student suicides due to low marks and failure has seen a rise in the country, especially in metropolitan cities. Even though such cases are rare, expectations from parents and teachers in schools contribute to the pressure.
Another solution that would avoid such incidents is counselling. ‘Basic counselling in schools would help but more importantly teachers can also help by maintaining the confidentiality of the students who approach them with their difficulties’, believes Phyllis Farias.