Of leaked question papers and others : The mad rush for marks
- Sangai Express Editorial :: March 15, 2014 -

Distorted sense of education and gaining knowledge and existence of dubious academic institutions.

These two points should about sum up the situation behind the leaked question papers of Physics in the Class XII examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education.

Strange it is, but apart from the State Education Minister putting up the matter with the CBSE, Guwahati region, there was no palpable sense of outrage amongst the parents, guardians and students themselves.

In getting hold of the question papers before the examination day, some parents and guardians have outdone themselves to ensure that they give their best to their children.

This is not only unacceptable but also highly disturbing for in this very act lies exposed the mentality of quite a number of parents whose understanding of educating their wards and children has been distorted and disfigured beyond any doubts.

It should be apparent to all that to some of these parents and guardians, marks are the only things that matter, damn the knowledge that the students inculcate.

In another way it is also some sort of encouraging the young and tender minds, that anything can be had by hook or crook.

So what values are we imparting to our children, the future pillars of society is the first question that all concerned parents and guardians should ask themselves.

Cheat your way through life ?

The mad rush for marks is also clearly reflected in the manner in which parents and guardians rush to some particular schools when their children are about to appear in the Class X or Class XII Board exams, especially schools which are affiliated to the CBSE here.

A clear indication that some institutions are more than willing to ‘help’ the students get good or excellent grades without knowing anything about the subject matter.

This is not education but teaching the youngsters how to cheat and helping them too. Of course all these must have come at a price, a price which may run into a few thousand of rupees.

Maybe peanuts for some of the parents, but it is not the amount that we are concerned with but with the trend, a trend which more than says that everything can be had with a price.

Knowledge cannot be bought, it should be learnt. Period.

As things stand today, the CBSE has already announced that a re-examination of the Physics paper for Manipur will be held on April 2.

This is fine for it gives an even playing field to all the candidates, but give a thought to those who genuinely toiled through out the year for the examination.

Burning the midnight oil is not just a metaphor in Manipur, given the dismal power supply scenario here, but wouldn’t such a practise discourage or even frustrate the genuine students ?

A complete change of mindset is what the doctors would prescribe for the adults of the society.

Borders on the crazy, if one looks at the obsession for private tuitions or private coaching centres.

It is okay for students to go for private coaching centres to orient themselves to the test pattern when it comes to entrance examination for courses such as medical or engineering, but when students feel constrained to go for private tuitions even for appearing in the Board’s examination, whether in Class X or Class XII then it says something very disturbing about what is being taught or not taught to the students inside their class rooms in their respective schools.

Marks matter, there is no doubt about it but education by itself is not only about the marks that one scores in the examination.

It is about the overall growth of the young students. Are the parents and guardians ready to look beyond the report card and study the grasp of the subject matter by the young students ?

A tall call at the moment, but something needs to be done to redefine education here, or else, what happened to the Physics paper will not be the last and it will not be surprising if there were such earlier cases too, with some of the dubious institutions ‘helping’ out the students to not only score marks but also attract other students and in the process make more profits.