Public Exams – the Need, the Fear, a possible Approach

How many of us answer even a simple question when we are asked it in front of others? Even if we know the answer, we tend to keep quiet. “Someone else will answer. I do not want to make a fool of myself, if I am wrong”….the thought going through our mind. This is a stress of some kind. In fact, we try and avoid eye contact with the person asking the question lest he asks us to answer.

I have gone through so many examinations. But, each time it is the same. A kind of fear grips me. However well I am prepared, however unfrazzled I may look, actually, only I know and feel the churn in the stomach. Well, we all know that this is not easy. We have all gone through this. This examination system and process came about to manage a large scale and ensure meritocracy. Further, there were lesser number of Institutions of Higher Studies than there were Schools.

The first premise that we must all understand is that we are not all born the same. There must be a deep understanding of that. Someone is good in music, some in science, some in math, some in history, some in games and sports, etc. But, the problem with this is that all of these do not give equal amounts of money for a living. So, what do we do for a living then?

The crux of the problem is the above. For the child who dreamt of becoming a cricketer but never made it to any major league and settled for another career or the parent who kept worrying what her/his child will do because s/he didn’t become that sportsperson that they dreamt of and is it too late to study now? In a career that spans over 40 years, few years here and there do not make a difference. But, when we are in our late teens or early twenties, this is what we believe. For our parents, this is critical. So, everyone is tensed.

So, the equation Money = Happiness drives our behaviours. We must understand that we need Money. So, let us not denigrate the importance of Money for a moment. It is absolutely essential in this world. So, we as well as our children must be capable to making money.

But, it is one thing to worry about children’s ability to make money and quite a different thing when this morphs to parents living their lives and desires through their children. I could not become a pilot, my child should. And this child is not at all interested in that.

The fallout – Children are in fear, parents are in fear, teachers are in fear and School Management Teams are in Fear. Now, you will be wondering why School managements are in Fear. As parents, how many of you like it when a School says, 95% of our children scored 95% in the 10th Grade and 12th Grade Examinations. What do we do as parents? We flock to those schools. When we flock to those schools only, most schools decide that to attract parents, we need to ensure that all our children score over 95%. So, everyone lives in constant Fear. Atleast, for the child and parents, this fear is only for few years – when they do 10th, 12th, Final Year Degree. Just imagine for the Teachers and the School – it is every year!!! Unfortunately, we see 1 suicide by a child every hour in India and this is not an exaggeration. We lose 24 children every day i.e. 8760 children every year to suicides because of this fear. Is this cost worth the trouble?

If I told you that there is a plane crash every 15 days in a particular airport due to airport negligence and all 300 passengers in the aircraft die in each accident, what would you do? All of us will be up and screaming for the airport to be shut. These 8760 deaths is the same number as the plane crash!!! Will we now get up and scream and say end the Examination system?

The trade-off decision – if you can even call it a trade off as it has to do with lives – is not easy. Is there a better way of handling this? Can we de-stress the situation for all of us?

Yes, we can and I would suggest the following approach….

Basic Education Approach

a)  Every child should be given mandatory literacy – read, write and do basic math to be able to live in this world till 6th Grade;

b)  Parent and Child can decide to focus on a skill anytime after 6th Grade. The best way would be to break skills in to few groups – some after 6th Grade, some after 8th Grade, some after 10th Grade, some after 12th Grade and so on. However, the skills program should be rigorous enough and should be for a minimum of 1 year;

c)   Parent and child can decide not to go the skills route but get the child to study further up to whatever level the child wants

Approach to Exams

Exams are supposed to be a confirmation of understanding of a child of what s/he has learnt and a method for the teacher to find out if the child has understood concepts well or not. But, in our current scenario, they are used as a method to seek admission to the next level of education. For eg., 10th Grade exams being used to seek admissions to 11th Grade in another Institution and so on.

So, can we do away with exams? Absolutely yes!!! But, up to a certain Grade. Let us say, till 12th Grade. Why till 12th Grade? After this, children go for a Degree and then it becomes more Professional. We need to be able to trust professionals who are in the field. So, this assessment before giving them the degree becomes essential. Otherwise, we will not know whether this Doctor who we are visiting is good enough or this Engineer who designed this Bridge is good enough or this Chartered Accountant who certified these accounts is good enough and so on. Once this is done, make it mandatory for them to work for at least 3 years before they can start off their own practice. Better still would be if they can work while studying so that they are able to apply their theory at work.

So, let us do away with Exams till 12th Grade (including 12th Grade) and trust Institutions to give their best to children. There will be exceptions. But, we need to make that leap of faith and over a period of 10 years, I believe, it will settle down. The speed of trust will help us handle the situation better. A system of worksheets, continuous assessments, work during studying so that children learn concepts in a practical way, open book exercises, etc will help build knowledge and reduce the pressure in the education system.

Love as the key ingredient in Schooling

Charlie Chaplin said, “You need Power when you want to do something harmful. Otherwise, Love is enough to get everything done.” In my experience, I have seen that this is the most powerful approach in Education. The magic in Mom’s cooking (ofcourse, Dad’s cooking is also included in this!!!), they say, is Love. It is an unseen ingredient but her love seems to enter in to the food and its taste. In the same way, Love seems to enter in to the Education process. It boosts confidence, it gives the room and leeway to make mistakes and learn, it goes beyond empathy, it brings a calm and things just fall in place, though it could take a wee bit longer. For this ingredient to be fully effective, the same Love should pervade at Homes too. If that is missing or is misplaced, the impact takes longer to set in at School.

This discussion doesn’t end here. It will continue as subsequent posts as I discuss various aspects of setting up an Educational Institution and how archaic laws that work on lack of trust and corruption make it difficult for anyone to make a difference to the world in which we live!!!