Are we pushing our students a bit too far in the name of SSLC examinations ?
Image courtesy : – The Hindu
What is happening to our SSLC toppers ? Are they able to maintain their performance. Is our parameters for measuring performance wrong ? Is it soo necessary to put the children through so much of pressure. in the name of a silly examination ?
For my 10th, we were banned from all extra curricular activities. No games, no fun, no holidays. Everything revolved around the exam. And I got very good marks. But that mark list has been of no use to me. None cares how much I got for my SSLC. During campus placement a few companies asked for a consistent performance of 60%. I have 30% more, and for that the sacrifice was too much. I could have learned some life skills.
All that you get out of your SSLC is an admission to a +2 school. There are too many schools and with a distinction you can get into almost any school. Then why are we wasting golden years of the student, putting him through too much of pressure and restraining him from all the extra curricular activities.
studies dont matter one bit in todays scenario . . .in my school too, we were kinda treated like something else than students. no tours, no sports, no fest nothing .
the sheer hype based pressure kills a student and ends up making him take life easy in +2 and engg. when that is the real time he is supposed to be studying well.
Comment by TheAnand — March 23, 2008 @ 6:06 pm
Keeny, TheAnand,
It is very true indeed.
A very refreshing thing is that Kerala Education Departments are trying to change the scenario by giving less importance to SSLC.
Now with the new grading system, the pressure factor has a bit decreased.
Comment by Niyaz PK — March 24, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
My cousin sister is writing her SSLC exams this year. It was a real pity to see her. She had classes from morning 8 to evening 7.
You can tell from number of books that the students are asked to carry everyday that there is something really wrong with the education system. We are more of training them for manual labour than giving them any knowledge…
I think it is high time someone took some real steps to improve the educational system in India.
Comment by JMJ — March 25, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
Dont you think that exams are still important….
after an age(say 10 or 12 yrs)you will never study
to satisfy your curiosity.(if u r an ordinary guy).So to make students study or give them a motivation there must be something.Now it is exams…if you fail..your future is dim..that makes u study…and i think they must stay..in this form or in better way..there must be a system to evaluate..not to create winners and loosers but give a motivation,
to make us study what we dont want to study,but we need to study.
Comment by Dhanesh — March 25, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
Learning is important, exams are not.
“To make students study”…… what are we making them study forcing them to sit in the class from 8 am to 7 pm.
I studied 12 subjects for my sslc. I dont even remember what I studied for history and geography now, even though I got very high marks. Learned many subjects out of context, and those were useless.
Wait for some other thoughts on education in my next post.
Comment by admin — March 25, 2008 @ 2:57 pm
Dhanush, learn things, but dnt study. there are a million things that a 10/12yr old is curious about, and I am sure he is not bothered whether neolithic or monolithic ape comes first!
Let him learn what he wants to, not what others think what he has to .
Comment by TheAnand — March 25, 2008 @ 3:54 pm
I would say that the problem is not with the exam or the study part of it. When I was 10 years old – I did not know I will get into computers – so I will learn only computers…
The problem is the social pressure creaated around the student – the kid has learned hardly to walk and talk – and the parents want him to become a engineer if not a doctor.
For Christ’s sake we are talking about kids…
Comment by John — April 2, 2008 @ 3:24 pm