I topped my Class 10 and 12 board exams. This is why we need to stop celebrating the results
Some things never change.
When I was a board exam topper in 1993 and 1995 (Class 10 and Class 12, respectively; West Bengal board), I became an instant celebrity in my town. Journalists from several newspapers thronged my house. All the obligatory details about me were sought and duly reported in the newspapers – how many hours per day I had studied, what I wanted to become.
Since then, 25 years have gone by – but media, and common people remain as obsessed about the board exam results as they were then. Celebrating the toppers is only one part of the game. There are relentless reports on all aspects of the board exams. How a good Samaritan cop helped a stranded board exam student reach his exam centre. How a son of a rickshaw-puller got 93 per cent.
While I do not mean to belittle those students – the fact remains that the so-called “achievements” mask a bigger malady within our system. The celebration of board-exam related achievements is a way to dupe us into believing that this rote-learning oriented hoax is a significant predictor of future success.Be under no illusion – it is not.
The board exams of most of our boards test memory-driven retention. They do not test one’s ability to logically reason and think. They do not test the ability of the students to solve new problems. Neither do they test their ability to articulate something new through their writing.
In several boards, the past questions serve as an indicator of what kind of questions might appear this year. Sometimes questions are even repeated verbatim. In such a situation, memorising answers of such probable questions certainly pays. Even if the questions are not repeated, they are often directly from the textbooks – requiring no thinking or analysis.
To survive and do well in life and work, we do require thinking skills. We require the ability to solve a new problem. We need the ability to cogently communicate about new issues at hand. None of those are tested in our celebrated board exams.
In a way, by feeding the frenzy surrounding the board exams, the media helps perpetuate the illusion that some learning must be happening in all these years at school. It gives the ordinary citizens some comfort. Board exams are the culmination of all the schooling received in our childhood years. When we celebrate it, the education we receive is indirectly validated.
Truth be told, we do not receive much education in our schools. In international tests like PISA or TIMMS, India ranks at the very bottom. Bill Gates, when he came to India last year, said that we expect too little of our education system. In a way, that’s the problem. We do not question this gigantic hoax that passes for education. We are happy if our children can memorise a few pages. We do not ask for more – from our educationists, politicians and school leaders.
A good way to cover the board exams would be to do some deep analysis. What has been the career path of the board exam toppers of the past? What sort of financial success they attained in life, compared to the non-toppers? How many of them have taken the path less travelled and contributed to making the world a better place?
It is possible that some board exam toppers indeed did well in life. But it may be because they had some additional skills – greater problem-solving ability, better communication skills, more street-smartness. Their success may not be due to the skills that the board exam system tested.
But it may be too much to ask for deeper analysis. Media must give people what they want to hear. But in a way, they also shape what people want. As a result, we remain in a never-ending vicious cycle. Nobody asks the real question – what did this education really give us?
Today, after the board exam results are announced, let’s not give in to the frenzy. Let’s ask ourselves – does this really matter?
Let’s focus on learning the real skills needed in life. And let’s ask our governments to reform the exams so that we can really have an exam whose toppers are worth celebrating.