School's in!

I share the horrors that exist in the mind of Mr. Kapil Sibal, as they indeed do in the minds of millions of our nation's children, about the very thought of "Board exams" for school children. I am not sure how my teacher friends will react to this. However, I believe that this is the way to go. I think that education has no option but to be "learning" oriented and NOT "exams" oriented. I am not going to state my case with cogent, or not so cogent, arguments. I think the world around us abounds with thinkers who are far superior in this domain than I am, with all due modesty. It is only fair that they have their own experienced and knowledgeable takes on this issue. What I shall do instead is to highlight the schooling system in which I had the privilege to study....the system that has shaped my thinking.

Although I am not going to talk about the Board Exams ( in any case,in our days, we had one and not two such exams for high school leaving! ) I shall share with you our school system of academics and leave you to decide whether the produce of the system, i.e. ex-students, are well rounded in their knowledge and personalities or are mere "crammers" who retain very little of what they were exposed to. In other words, whether we, the products, have gained adequate knowledge about the world and the environs in which we live or merely imbibed enough to pass the trauma of the board exams.

Our school had no annual exams. Instead, throughout the year, we had to appear for tests on Friday afternoons. Significantly, the tests were not called "examinations" but "competitions". Every Friday from 1.30pm to 3.30pm, we had to take a test in a designated subject. This was clearly mentioned in the class routine. At times, like in the winter sessionwhen the number of school days were limited, we would have a "comp" on Tuesday afternoon as well. This way, all the subjects were easily covered in the course of the term and none of the boys were pressurised to study like maniacs at term end to "prepare" for "exams", whether terminal or annual.

If I subscribe to the view that the boys, as a rule, finished school high up on the learning curve, it is because they had studied in a relaxed environment, without any pressure from the system. I must mention a couple of other features which made our school quite unique.

Firstly, school was shut on Thursdays. This offered an entire day to prepare for the comps, to those who were so inclined.

Secondly, homework was strictly limited to just one subject per day, albeit everyday. This too was fixed in the class routine. As a result a regular study habit, rather than a frenetic one, was enough to handle all the "competitions" that the school could throw at us! There was never a need to frantically indulge in last-minute heavy- duty cramming to pass the test.

Thirdly, out of the two study periods that we had every day, the second one from 1.00pm to 1.30pm was strictly for reading story books available from the exclusive library that each class had, within the classroom itself! I am confident that the reading habit that was inculcated in us by this system was responsible for not only improving our language skills in a most interesting manner, but it also broadened the horizons of our ganaral knowledge and awareness.

These systems, in addition to others, definitely made it easier for the students to assimilate whatever they were taught; since they learnt things in a relaxed atmosphere, never under pressure and not under duress. What our school taught us was that one could acquire knowledge, information and concepts without having the fun taken out of the process. If our Union HRD Minister is meaning to offer the nation's children a trauma-free system of education then I can confidently say "way to go Mr. Sibal!" I know it can happen.

I have been, of course, referring to St. Xavier's School, Kolkata! Nihil Ultra!