In the Picture: A child is helped by her mother as she prepares hand painted cards on the occasion of Teachers Day on Saturday in Goa (Pic: Gasper D'Souza)

The HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal, succeeded in pushing through his proposal to abolish class X exams for the Central Board.  The plan was approved by a high-level body on education.

According to the plan, class X exams will now be optional for students who wish to continue in the same Board. Instead, stress will be placed on comprehensive and continuous evaluation so that education standards do not suffer. Students who wish to switch to State Boards after the class X could take the optional online test.

Not Welcome

The news should have been welcomed by parents and students alike. After all, both have, for long, been subjected to the pressure cooker Board Exam system. It has become a sieve that separates the 'grain' from the 'chaff'. Lives have been lost when crestfallen students have sought the quick way out of the ignominy of failure in the Board Exam.

But, surprise, surprise! Many schools and parents in Goa expressed scepticism over the move. They felt no accountability would be fixed for poor performance.

A parent is quoted to have said, “We will lose control over the child. This system will not work in India where education is still the means to ensure a job.”

School Dropouts and Financial Lures

Now consider another recent report. Educationists are concerned over the drop out rates in government schools, especially among girls. Attributing this to economic factors they have implemented a scheme where every girl child from a family with less that Rs 150,000/- annual income will receive Rs 2000/- per year.

The report states that last year Rs 13,98,000 was disbursed.

I won't get into the merits or otherwise of financial lures for development. But this is bull. Drop out rates are high not just because of economic factors (although this is a factor). The problem with education in India is that the entire system is flawed and needs urgent overhaul.

Singular Goal:

From Standard I itself, students are geared towards the singular aim of passing the Term exams. Everything else is secondary. Why, my 4-year old who is in kindergarten comes home with two pages of written homework daily and has 2 “exams” a year. Sports, art class, singing class, drama whatever are mere frills that adorn the syllabus. The primary goal of education is “pass that exam” else you're worthless.

But parents feel that by removing the exam system, the competitive edge of students will be lost.

More than Removing Pressure

Abolishing the Board Exam is not about removing the pressure on students. Of course training in tackling pressure is important. You don't need the Board Exam for that. These have only served to encourage rote learning in the months just before the exam. All of this, only to forget everything a few days after the exam.

By making Class X exams optional and putting the emphasis on year-round evaluation, the HRD Minister has taken a step in the right direction. But this is a baby step. I hope Mr Sibal does not stop at this. State Boards must follow suit. Unfortunately, the Goa Board has already announced it would not adopt this system.

Re-examine Exams:

Going further, the very concept of exams should be changed to mean year-round evaluation as opposed to single term exams from Standard I. This will ensure rote learning is discouraged.

But there's more by way of overhauling the system. In opposing the optional Class X exams for CBSE, principal of the Navy Children's school at Chicalim said, “Standard X is the checking point for students. That is where they decide which stream they will get into.”

This is the other major problem with education in India. While focus is on exams, individuality is lost. 

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

- from the song Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds

Encourage Individuality:

Students should be encouraged to take up subjects that interest them, right from their early years instead of waiting until Class X. And more importantly, subjects should be presented in ways that will encourage curiosity. After all, curiosity builds interest.

I was never a lover of History in school. In fact, I detested the subject. But later on when I saw popular films like Man in the Iron Mask, Schindler's List and the like I was drawn to study the historical background of these films. Now in the media, I routinely find myself looking up topics on civics, economics and politics. And yet, I graduated in Chemistry in college!

So what are we really trying to “teach” our children?

Leo Babuta, over at Zen Habits has a great post titled “Education Needs to be Turned on its Head”. He terms the current education model as flawed and calls for “un-schooling”:

“Mostly because it is based on the idea that there is a small group of people in authority, who will tell you what to do and what you need to know, and you must follow this obediently, like robots. And you must not think for yourself, or try to do what you want to do.”

The Future Workplace:

Today, more and more people work independently and this trend will continue as companies seek to become leaner and cost effective. More people will freelance for multiple companies. And in doing so, we will need to learn continuously and, more importantly, on our own.

I already find myself spending a major part of my time researching and learning online – on my own, without a teacher or employer.

Are our schools preparing our children for such a scenario? If not, when they are finally out there on their own they will become like little boats without rudders.

Those in power in education must see this reality and step out of the way of children as they continually seek to learn – on their own. This is the innate ability of all children before it is destroyed in the process we call “education”. Mr Sibal, in his reforms should hopefully have this in mind.