Noble objective alright, but at what cost?

YEAR AFTER year, the students arriving at the XII standard, the ominous final year of the Plus II, get the fright of their life, scared about a whole 12 months of unbearable mental torture, duly forewarned by the past victims. Of course, this extraordinary torture has established itself as an unavoidable social evil.

This year, thanks to all the hype and hoopla of the press and cable TV channels, highlighting the achievements and awards of the high rankers and their schools, most of the schools have embarked upon a high-tension race or craze, to secure more top rankers, high percentage first classes and cent per cent passes. Aiming high targets for one's school and students, no doubt, is a laudable social objective for the schools, their H.M.s and teachers. None can deny the nobility in this objective. This, indeed, is a noble race for noble achievements in a noble field, that is, education.

However all this nobility is closely followed by commercial tones, with their high achiever schools putting self- advertisements in the press and setting their eyes on new all round highs in school fee, donations and costs of books, notebooks and uniforms compulsorily sold by the schools themselves. And there are enough parents who hopefully assume that their boys and girls would straight away get state ranks or high ranks, as a matter of course, by the mere act of getting admitted into these lucky schools. The innocent children are not responsible for their parents' presumptions and the schools' pretensions. But they are the victims of this noble cum commercial race for excellence.

This year, the severity and duration of mental and physical torture has assumed unprecedented, awkward extremes, right from the very beginning of the year. Along with the H.M.s and teachers, even the parents under compulsion have now ganged up to execute this collective torture of young students, as though the act itself is a noble and moral duty, discharged in the very interest of students. They do not seem to be aware of the potential harm or hazard inflicted on the brains of the students, likely to result in mental illnesses like chronic depression or neurosis by a stretch of 17 hours of monotonous mental work, without a natural understanding of the subject. This is no exaggeration.

Sheer inability to understand and follow the subjects in the classrooms drives the students to take tuitions both in the morning and late evening, before and after school hours, with teachers encouraging the practice. Even intelligent and diligent students are compelled to take tuitions in this totally negative environment of our present educational system and establishment. Some overzealous teachers give voluminous homework to students, leaving practically no time to read and attend to other interests. Such teachers are generally covering up their own inadequacies in meaningful teaching of the subjects in the classrooms. And the teachers equipped with this basic understanding of their subjects, and the ability to impart their knowledge to the students are generally liberal and compassionate in their attitude. They refrain from giving mindless, monotonous homework.

With excessive demands for more and more mental work, the system suffers from lack of natural digestion, nutrition, rest and sleep. With the disturbed rhythm, the brain is unable to focus on study and yet compelled to work. This amounts to double load on the brain.

The cram culture has come to stay with us, permanently for all time to come. It has become such an obvious obsession with our educational system and establishment that our Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee could not but refer to the malady of ``teaching by rote'' without learning, in his address during the silver jubilee celebrations of a local school in Chennai, on July 4. Many of our present teachers, examiners and valuers are themselves the products of this cram culture, ordained and evolved by a negative system and establishment in our education. We can't blame them for the following mysterious facts. Four instances of their tragic comedy is given below for your interest.

1. There are students who have understood the subject due to good teachers. In the school examinations, they write the answers in their own original version. However they are advised by senior teachers to desist doing this in public examinations. Original answers are most likely to be under-valued or devalued, since most of the valuers prefer verbatim reproduction from either the textbook or the popular printed notes, for their own reasons and practical convenience. These students with independent understanding and expression are deliberately forced to cram the printed books.

2. Even mathematics has long ago been brought under the regime of this cram culture. Students appearing for the public exam say that they are asked to cram the printed versions of some sums and their answers with all the steps as they appear in the textbook. The doubting student who asks about the possibility of the public examiner substituting coconuts instead of the mangoes printed in the textbook, is assured that such variations won't occur, as per the established traditions in public exams.

3. In computer science, the students have been ordained to cram the printed matter in the prescribed textbooks for the purpose of school and public exams. Here comes a real problem. It is a perfect example of ``reverse education'', for many students who have already learnt the basics and some advanced courses in computer science in their summer vacation, in various private institutes of good repute. Students complain about the lack of competent teachers in computer science, with the required up- dated knowledge. State governments and private schools may easily and instantly install hundreds of computers. But what about competent teachers equipped with the needed skills? It is better to filter the appointments through an established private institution. It is better to wait for a new generation of competent and knowledgeable teachers in computer science. Otherwise, we would be responsible for spoiling generations of students in computer science and wasting precious time. It would be better for our state government to seek impartial experts' assessment of the needed potential in teaching computer science in our schools before landing on universal computer education on a massive scale.

4. Once upon a time, our textbooks in science and other subjects were self-explanatory and self-sufficient in themselves for a meaningful and sequential understanding for both teachers and students. Now, students complain that even scientists and scholars would find it very difficult to understand our textbooks in maths and science, particularly chemistry, which seems to have been specifically drafted to be crammed verbatim, leaving nothing for sequential understanding by any chance.

A parent hammered the nail on its head. ``Our exams are not for one's understanding and knowledge of the subject. The vast majority of students are not enabled to understand the subjects meaningfully. The exams are just memory contests, awarding points and prizes, for mechanical ability to cram and vomit.''

Apart from the unbearable curricular routine of the school, comes the additional, unexpected load of extra-curricular activities under the head of ``culturals'' - doing errands and volunteering in one's school culturals and forced to participate in sports festivals, and ``project works'', on relevant and irrelevant subjects. Mahatma Gandhi once remarked that there could be no God or religion for empty stomachs. By the same logic, where comes the so-called need for development of the cultural personality of the student who has been deprived of his own personal time, let alone the free time ``to stand still and stare at life''? All these imposed project work, culturals and sports, definitely induces one negative factor, that is, deliberately shattering all focus on studies. But sadly, for achieving this, the student would have spent a lot of time and energy under self-motivation and self-discipline.

While the teachers go all out to motivate the students to concentrate and focus on public examination, ironically, several modern H.M.s, go all out to de-focus the minds of students from their targets, by arbitrary imposition of extra-curricular activities. The students need a free mind to recover their normal rhythm of life. The least that all the authorities in the department of education, the H.M.s and the teachers can do, is to immediately stop imposing homework in all subjects, all project works and all extra-curricular activities. Next, crowded and over-lapping revision tests and exams must be avoided. The revision tests must be well spaced to give enough time for preparation. The H.M.s and teachers must recognise one fact of life: That the boys and girls are normal human beings with human limitations in health and capacities.

Let us not wait for mishaps to happen, and then have post event analyses, assessments and ameliorations. Let us have the heart to anticipate untoward events and avoid them well in time, by precaution.

G. KRISHNAN

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