10th Std. Board exams done away with

Kapil Sibal, the Union HRD Minister, an eminent lawyer and a Congress Spokesperson is a welcome change from the half-morose and senile Mr. Arjun Singh. He has revolutionary ideas regarding Education and does not hesitate to debate and implement these. The Free Elementary Education Bill has already been passed in the Parliament. The implementation though seems difficult because of lack of funds. Now, the 10th Standard Board Exams for CBSE have been made optional for students. The students are obviously happy.

How the Indian Education system operates is that there is a lot of stress on rote learning. These days I see that the emphasis is changing. There is more stress on comprehending rather than mugging up. CBSE already has grading system till Class V and though there are exams held due to grades being given and not marks, the students are less pressured to struggle for every mark. Obviously, there is no yardstick like a rank or marks which depicts excellence and that deprives the really bright ones from basking in the glory of being the best. The continuous evaluation system ensures that the student studies and understands throughout the year rather than just mugging up at the time of the exams. The emphasis on understanding and assimilating is good which sets up the student for better learning practices in the future.

Since the children can not be failed or held back in the class, does it make the job of the teacher tougher? Isn’t it harder to motivate the child to perform to his best potential? It is. How does one tell the child that do your best or you might fail. The child might be satisfied with just doing the bare minimum. If the child has no practice for taking the Board Exam, how do we suddenly thrust them into the World of Competitive Exams beginning with Board Exams at the level of 12th Standard. In India, one has to take umpteen tests to qualify for any professional course or prestigious colleges like the IITs and IIMs. Will it then not stress out the children even more to cope with the pressure of exams when they have not been used to that format this far?

I don’t know, I feel there are a lot of unanswered questions. Even though I support Mr. Sibal’s policy in spirit – of reducing the stress of the children and simplifying processes; I feel there are many more issues which need to be addressed here. Are we trying to be too protective of our kids? Indians have through the times excelled in their studies and the much-demonised education system which had a tough curriculum and put the stress of lots of exams on its students churned out young adults who have been recognized the world over for their intellectual talents. Are we meddling too much with the same system? Are we somehow diluting our educational standards? Tough ones to answer!