Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Iron Gate and its Fear...


School Leaving Certificate or S.L.C. was the biggest fear during my childhood days. Everyone used to scare me saying its not like any other usual exams. It's the 'iron gate' so if you will pass it you will move on to a very glorious life ahead and if you won't then your life will be ruined. So the exam was like a sword over my head. When I reached grade 10, this exam haunted me even when I passed my pre-send up exams and send-up exams with good marks, I was too afraid to face the iron gate. But finally the day arrived when I had to go through it. And when I actually faced it, then I realized it was not that difficult. It was like any other usual exams. So why were every one frightening me? And now I feel that S.L.C is not the only step that would lead me to a bright future there are several other steps that I had to move on to and which are even harder but nobody warned me about it and no one prepared me for it, neither my teachers nor my parents because every one was so focused on those papers of S.L.C. exam.
And now when here is the S.L.C. fever everywhere, I heard from some of the tenth grade students that they found S.L.C. so easy because they got ample opportunities to cheat from their friend's copies and even from the guess papers and books that they were successful to take inside the exam hall. So what Is the use of that certificate which we achieve even without knowing the real subject matter? We, being a guardian or a teacher always want to see our children to have a very good percentage in S.L.C. We want to see them being enrolled in a good college and have a better professional life with the marks of S.L.C. but we forget somewhere to give them the knowledge that there are so many other things that they have to learn to become happy and successful in their lives. And there are many important lessons that we must learn beyond our academic pursuits, particularly for the enhancement of our professional career, which we all longed for.
Yes, S.L.C or academic excellence is important but let us not scare our children so much with the S.L.C. ghost that they even forget the moral values of the exam and scribble the answer papers with what they don't know but have attained only by cheating because most of the students think that if for some reasons they are unable to perform as per their parents, teachers or their own expectation or they don't get the distinction their lives will be ruined. Because of which some of them even take their lives if they don't get as per their expectation.  That's why they think it's better to cheat and pass it.
S.L.C. examinations are hyped to such a degree that for a child, failure in it is the end of the world. The stress is immense. That's why sometimes the students can't perform well as per their preparation or their expectation just because of the pressure. But a student's ability can never only be judged by the report card or marks that he achieves by sitting in the exam hall for three hours, in addition to exam grades there are other important factors to be cared of to rank a student like their contribution to school life, membership in sports, community work and also their attitude towards education. Along with these there are some essential qualities which a child must learn from his school life like discipline, perseverance, empathy and self control. So its our duty to make our children prepared for life outside the school gates not just the some one who gets trapped inside the exam hall. 

No comments:

Post a Comment