Publicity drives of educational institutions : Understanding merit
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 16, 2024 -

Starkly reminiscent of those days when Manipur joined the rest of the country on the mobile telephony map and all major newspapers published from Imphal were adorned with advertisements and publicity drives of shops selling mobile handsets from different companies.

Fast forward to May of 2024 and flip open any of the said newspapers and one is sure to be greeted with advertisements of different educational institutions outlining the achievements of its students.

This is the season, the season for different schools, especially those which have made a name for themselves at the Plus II level to go the whole way and try to hog the limelight and in the process etch a name for themselves in the consciousness of the parents, elders of the family, especially parents whose children will be seeking admission in the Plus II level after the result of the Class X exam is announced.

This is especially true for schools which are under the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur (COHSEM), but even schools which are affiliated to the Delhi based Central Board of Secondary Education, have been going to the press to catch the attention of the people via the good showing of their students.

One can expect more to come when the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BOSEM) announces the results of the Class X exams. BOSEM has already announced that from this year it will go in for the grading system, and one may take this to mean that the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) system may be adopted on a scale of 1 to 10 or A to D or E interspersed with ( + ) or (-) such as in A+ or A- or B+ or B-.

How well this goes down with the students, the parents and the elders of the family remains to be seen, but to be sure there will be a universally accepted method of calculating the marks, as seen when CBSE first adopted the CGPA system with the accepted model being to multiply the grade scored with 9.5.

As-noted, this is the season and some outstation private universities too have joined the pack of publicising the good show of their students in different exams and what they have to offer to the students who have just finished their Class XII here.

As noted, the rush for publicity will see a sharp spike once BOSEM announces the Class X results and if the past is any indication then one can see the different institutions trying to attract the best with freebies and other attractive packages.

One wish that the schools which have gone to town announcing the achievements of their top notch students had done the extra work to let the people know how much the students have improved after they joined their institution.

As repeatedly stated in this column, taking a student who scored 90 percent in the Class X exam to the 95 percent club in Class XII may not take much effort.

It would be so much better if only some of the schools are in a position to announce that they have managed to take a 70 percent student in the Class X exam to the 90 percent club in the Class XII exam. This in a way would reflect a truer merit of the school in question.

For the moment, it is hard to believe that any school would adopt such a method to advertise itself this way, but it would do so good if parents and elders of the family start digging up a little to get a feel of how exactly the school they may have in mind have been dispensing with its job of moulding the students.

Such an approach will go well with the understanding of 'quality education' and it would be for the better for the place as a whole.

Let the adoption of the grading system be a reminder to all, especially the students and parents, that an 81 percenter can be clubbed with an 89 percenter, for in the grading system they will all come together in the same club.

Moreover they still do have to sit for the latter examinations which will further influence and even decide their future academic career.