The Merit List

There is a subject that has been questioning our minds for a long time. Maybe since the time when we joined a school. Just like an army is trained for years and years to face a war situation, the students are trained for 10 years of their schooling to face the board exams, which often are described as a ‘necessary evil’. This results into changing the mere definition of a Merit List into a paradox, that though exams are not a very good means of judging the potential of students, they are perhaps the only way of doing so. As a student myself, I always wondered if exams really are the only way of judging the potential of students ? Even if its not the best way to do so ?

Thanks to the media, you must have heard or read about the growing number of suicide cases among students, the primary cause is the examination oriented Indian education system coupled with a heavy-hand domination by teachers. Are the chits of papers and those numbers more valuable than our life ? Students, in order to achieve their goal i.e. a respectable position on the merit list, become book worms and miss the simple joys of life and sometimes their friends too. Seeing their condition, the saying, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ starts making a lot of sense.

I think there should be no merit list, because the ones only to succeed in 10^th are those who follow the principle in Marathi that says “Ghoka ani Oka” which translates to ‘just learn by heart and write it all in your answer sheet’, and that to in JUST 3 hours. What an achievement !! After all, the marks that we achieve are most of time based on the personal bias of the teacher or judges.

The problem has its roots connected with the guidance from parents and their economic structure which doesn’t allow them to give importance to personal interest. Let me explain this, a student may not like theoretical learning, thus getting low marks in exams, but he or she maybe a practical minded person. And another student may not be able to make quick decisions because he is not practical minded, but has secured the merit list with his theory. If these two students were to apply for a job, the latter would always be preferred.

A close but gloomy example that I would like to mention is that of a girl from our friends circle. She used to study 25 hours a day and was a definite candidate for the merit list. Her mom left no chances of scolding anyone who created any kind of disturbances. Finally she scored a whooping 91% marks. Gosh !! Anybody would have jumped with joy ! But this girl cried in agony for she missed the merit list by 3 marks. The next year was spent without studying because she was in a state of depression. I further add that the merit list is responsible for developing an inferiority complex among students. It also leads to irony, jealousy, unwarranted competition among the students at a premature stage, when their vision is not focused on a practical approach to life.

Though I know and agree that the competition is heating up day by day and our students have to be nurtured to face the same, I feel that we are losing more than what we gain. We are gaining an OPPORTUNITY to get a well paid job. I say opportunity because just like the girl I mentioned earlier, you can’t be sure of the end result no matter how much you have worked towards your goal. Evils like politics, bribery, corruption or sheer bad luck are always going to pull you down. Hence to gain an opportunity, we are losing out on small but very important things in life like practical knowledge, basic physical fitness, mental balance and most important, a peace of mind. All this, just for some flashy numbers on the most important piece of paper respected in our country, the Merit List.