Many students undergo a harrowing experience during this time of the year, when board examinations are conducted. Their entire year’s learning is assessed in just three hours and the outcome of which is vital for getting admission to reputed colleges. It is compounded by unprecedented pressure from society, family and educational institutions, to score good marks besides their personal zeal to excel in the exam. There is no better mode of assessing student’s performance than examination system, at least for now, and some amount of pressure along with encouragement is necessary to push children to work hard but one needs to draw a line in doing so, however good the intent may be. Reducing board examinations to some sort of soul-crushing exercise for academically weak students instead of acting as a platform to help find their strengths and interests can push many young minds to the edge. The common practice of taking up courses based on the marks one scores in an exam and not on one’s interest is another unhealthy trend that can be detrimental to the career and life of young people. Many parents too have the habit of deciding what their children should do and be good at instead of accompanying them in the journey towards excelling in the field of their interest. The failure to see success beyond academic excellence sometimes pushes children to the edge, even to the extent of taking the extreme tragic step. Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar said in the Rajya Sabha last week that a total of 61 cases of suicide have been reported since 2018 in the IITs, NITs and IIMs, the premier educational institutions that most people see as a gateway to a promising career. This data is just the tip of the iceberg as many reports of disappointed students taking their own lives surface after exam results are declared. It indicates that some young minds continue to suffer in silence despite measures initiated by educational institutions to alleviate their problems.
Besides enhancing grievance redressal mechanism by educational institutions, parents and teachers should identify the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of children to reduce expectation mismatch. Measuring the success of students through the marks they scored in exams rather than encouraging them to put their best foot forward without fear of the outcome will put unnecessary stress and pressure on students. The price of undermining children’s well-being, which is essential for growth as individuals and as professionals of tomorrow, will be too costly. We should not sacrifice the well-being of children, be it during exam time or life in general.