Exams are a quintessential part of every student’s life. Sometimes we tell it as a test, class test, quarterly test, fortnightly test, or examinations like the board examinations. Exams are the do or die moment in a student’s life. It not only tests the knowledge of a student, but how much the student has understood and grasped the concepts and the learning the student has done. Since from the day a child enters the education system at the age of 3, like in nursery school, there is not too much pressure to learn. And it’s more of a playtime, but these days parents force children into a lot of other activities and exams, academics, from a very tender age. And children are not able to cope with the expectations laid on them by the parents, teachers, and the society. The whole education system has become commercialized. In this essay, I would like to talk about the benefits and drawbacks of the examination system in our country. So when we discuss the benefits of exams, it helps a student to stay on track. What the student is learning, if and the exams test the student’s patience, understanding, commitment, discipline, emotional intelligence, how to handle stress and pressure.
Exams also help to increase one’s self-confidence. For example, if a student has prepared very well for their exam and he scores excellent marks, then it helps to increase the self-esteem and morale of the student. And the karmic theory of working hard and reaping the benefits of your hard work. It is like the fruit of hard work is very sweet. Exam is beneficial for the teachers as well as they come to know how they have taught in the class, what is the average level of the students, who has understood, who has not understood, what are the weak points of the students on which they have to work hard on, which are the strengths of the students, and how they can improve their teaching style and method. In India, we have UPSC exam, which is the most difficult exam of the country. And through the exam, we get the best civil servants who work dedicatedly and tirelessly for our mother country. If there were not exams and tests, we would not have people from any of the professions, whether it be government or private. Interviews are also a kind of exam. In fact, every moment and every second of our existence on Earth and this planet is an exam in itself. Exams should not be a threat like a natural calamity or desire. In fact, each one of us should consider exams as a learning experience or an experience to learn and move forward in life. As life is a cycle and nothing is ultimate. And destiny is also determined by our karma and our duties. Hence, we should always strive to be in the present and do our best. And there are many times students complain they have not studied well for their exams. But it is the duty of students to appear in every exam no matter his or her preparation and should strive to attempt the exam to the best of his capabilities. And one should not take the marks too closely to his heart and take it as a personal thing. And there are so many books, YouTube videos, contents available that help students and people from all age groups cope up with the pressure of exam.
Exams have another benefit like exams create a pious and pure atmosphere, like students have to get rid of all the distractions and they have to do a kind of penance, it is just like a modern penance which sages did thousands of years in mountains and near rivers and fallen jungles and forests. Hence, it helps us to discipline our mind and our body, like we know during the exam season children do not eat fast food or junk food as it can harm their health. So if we consider life as an exam then our life would be extremely beautiful, like we would be careful every step we take. We all know from Hindu Mythology that God always gives some sort of exams, tests to his devotees. And if they pass through the tests, they would be given boons and a lot of grace and wisdom from the Gods. If we talk about the disadvantage of the examination system, so we find students don’t study regularly, and 80% of the students study a day before examinations or a week before. So it’s a very bad habit that our education system does not test continuous evaluation, like what a student is learning on an everyday basis. So there should be a holistic development program, where every parameter of the student would be considered and evaluated. So it should not be a final exam of 100 marks that will determine his future. It should be his behavior, decorum, discipline, mannerism, etiquette, along with his academic, extracurricular achievements that should be taken into consider and should be given on overall marks. Then only our society can move forward.
Our PM conducts Pariksha Pe Charcha program before the board exam begins in the month of January. And a lot of sessions have not conducted successfully in the past. But the real problem is most of the students do not go and watch out the interactions. And they do not take away from it. And that is the negative point of our education system which only tells us to get good marks, good percentage, a good job. And we should only bury our head inside books. It does not tell us to do real world exposure. Like if I need to get good marks in exam, I have to mug up, I have to rote learn a lot of terms and phrases. And contains prescribed in NCERT book or some other textbook. But where my own creativity and understanding will come if I do not write anything apart from the language of NCERT book what is being printed. So this rote learn has to be stopped if a child, student, an individual wants to grow in the society. I also think there should be a mandatory marking system for sports and physical fitness that should be added in a student’s report card and even the board exams. We find a lot of students who do not exercise or hesitate to exercise because of burden of their studies. So exam creates so much stress that it deteriorates the health of students. So parents and teachers should ensure that a child does not neglect his health. So there should be regular PT periods even if that is board exam so children can learn how to play along or longer balance in their studies.
Disadvantages of examinations can be the recent leaks and all the frauds happening in our country like people give bribes to leak the question papers and the whole system, the structure of examination, competitive recruitment is on the verge of being collapsed. So we should, it’s not only the debate of offline exam on OMR sheets or CBT mode exam, but the root cause of why exam is being created a monster and the reason for frustration, anxiety, stress, and so much of chaos in our society.
Disadvantage of examination also leads to the sprouting of coaching classes like mushrooms. I have been a blind observer of the atrocities done by these coaching institutes like demoralizing and humiliating students, extracting a lot of money in the form of tuition fees, harassing children, creating unrealistic expectations, highlighting the topper and banish the photos, and discouraging children from going to normal schools and colleges. So the coaching industry is the real education giving industry in India at present. Also, we find a lot of coaching learning through YouTube or through online like Zoom or Google Meet. So coaching industry is the real backbone of our education system. But it is also, it’s like a parasite. So coaching is like a parasite. It hollows the student from within by minting a lot of money. So there are so many teachers who do not get into regular profession like a teacher or a professor and they start their own coaching. So it’s good for independent teachers who are really passionate about teaching and studying. But if you’re paying so much for your child going to school, and you have to pay extra for the child for going to tuition or coaching, so there is no whole system functioning in a proper way.
In the light of the above discussion, we can conclude that Exams have both the positive and negative sides, like the two sides of a coin, or like day or night. Fire and ice are so many analogies and examples that are like the world exists in duality. Or we can quote Octavio Paz’s famous poem, Emotions, where there is a binary of position in almost everything. So is our exams, it has two phases to it, but it’s in the hands of our education and society. Parents, teachers, the students, like how they approach the education system, the examination system, and how they learn, how they improve themselves, and how they lead their lives. It’s not only about money and marks, but the overall well-being of the students. So it’s better to stop victimizing and start taking action against whatever flaws or faults we find in the system. Try to rectify it on a personal level. And if a single person tells that, like, I will change, I want to change this, then maybe a few days or months or years later we can find a bigger change in the society.
By: Garima Misra
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