By Neha Shetty:
The topic popped up in my mind when I recently saw one of my cousins studying for his upcoming SSC boards. He was so tensed that my aunt was awfully worried about him. However, what shocked me more was that he had got into a habit of murmuring his notes while sleeping too. This plight reminded me of a recent film which throws light over the sensitivity of this issue- “3 Idiots.” Through a comic genre, the movie gave us two strong characters- “Chatur” and “Rancho”; “Chatur” depicts that group of students who are mugging parrots and “Rancho” depicts those who don’t mug up but actually learn things.
One thing that stands in common is that both are manufactured by our education system. Over the years, its standard has deteriorated in such a way that it is generating lots of “Chaturs” and hardly any one like “Rancho”. There have been discussions at personal and national level about the importance of education very often. Moreover, the Government has also set up many goals to nurture education at the grass root level.
Getting educated is very crucial, isn’t it? But in my cousin’s case, was he getting educated? Was he gaining knowledge from his studies? It is pretty doubtful to answer in the affirmative. He was just memorizing as much as possible so that he could reproduce the same in his examinations. This is the case everywhere; our education system is drafted in such a way that students have no choice but to learn things without understanding, for grades. What is the use of gaining such grades? What is the actual productivity out of such study?
Our examination system is all the more irrational. Students study for the entire academic year and they are judged by their performance in the end on the basis of three hours of examination. If he manages to solve all questions correctly, he tops the chart and if he doesn’t then he fails badly and becomes a disgrace for all. I ask a simple question; how can we conclude that a person who topped is the most intelligent and the one who failed is a fool? Sometimes, it may so happen that a student is well prepared but something goes wrong in those three hours and he isn’t able to give his best. Just because he scored less marks, does it mean he knows nothing?
This unwise mentality has proven to be very fatal. Low grades mean more scolding from parents, teachers, etc. Some parents even resort to flogging their children. But for students, it’s not only physical but mental flogging too. An off-shoot of this is the escalating number of students committing suicides due to examination stress.
Is this our road towards creation of an educated India? Then I guess we will be sacrificing many more young lives on the way. I think an urgent heed should be paid to this issue before it becomes even more critical. Education system should be redrafted in such a way that it stops emphasizing only on testing our memory and tries to nurture young minds logically and creatively. There should be a proper blend of academics and creativity also so that both our left and right sides of the brain develop effectively.
Examination system should also be amended drastically. The system should stop pressurizing heads and help students realize that they are for their benefit. Let us make an appeal to our education department so that the forthcoming generations get to see a sensible education system which actually makes them learn and get ready for a better future.