Journey of a lifetime begins in the womb. The baby resides for 9 months inside the mother, unaware of what is happening outside in the world, unaware of every single bit, not hearing the chaos, anarchy and the hubbub and the fuss. But the bitter truth is imminent and the baby is finally born to face the world.
In every single Indian family, the post birth rituals are more or less, the same. The child is named by his parents and relatives. He enjoys the first two years and a half in just toddling around and trying to comprehend what is going around him. But just after that, comes the most gruelling and life-changing point in everyone’s life – the schooling. That’s where most of the problems begin.
I must say that I myself had a very good schooling experience as a 3 years old to a complete grown-up at 18 years old. But for most of the people including me, what matters is what happens in between these 15 years that makes the character and kind of a person that we are today.
I still remember my first day at Vandana School. Well, it’s not very easy to adjust to a schedule in which you have to wake up every morning at 7 AM to catch the school rickshaw, especially when until yesterday you were not even bothered about peeing in your pants. But that’s the way it goes. I went to the school to see another 50 such alien faces completely aghast by what we were put into. But what happened afterwards is what has been happening to thousands and millions of children across India – the slam-bang lecture series and homework pushing the children on the brink of breaking down. I got comfortable with a couple of guys who became good friends and I enjoy their company till date.
I was well-behaved and intelligent. Throughout the primary school, I managed to secure the first rank among all the students in the class. Mom would be very proud of me though she never showed it so as not to make me over-confident. Today I think that I should have been more of a playboy at that time rather than studying which could have meant many childhood sweethearts to choose from.
Once it started, years flashed in front of the eyes (the mind barely noticing anything) and off I came to a moment which most people call the ‘Stepping Stone’ to maturity and adolescence. Yes, I was in the eighth grade and to add to it, was glorified by the thought of being in a high-school. Believe me, after all these years, I still relish the fact that at that phase of life, tiny little moments like that tinkled the heart and made me happy.
In a state like Gujarat, where the parents are so psyched about the idea of their child nearing the 10thgrade, it’s very difficult for a student to cope up. Scenario at my home was no different. Here in our state, the parents barely discuss anything but education and future prospects at the dinner table. 6 months into the 9th grade, the tuition market heats up like a share-market in the economic boom. Every single tuition teacher does his best to ensure a healthy student count under his belt.
Well, I still believe that it’s not the fault of the parents to do that since they want their child to have the best coaching in town. I think it’s the fault of the schools and the teachers at school who are not able to drive the point home that a child must learn everything at the school only. Here, tuition classes are the radical educating institutes rather than the schools. School teachers are not interested to teach at schools as they are paid more at their tuition classes.
The point is, ultimately the child only comes at home to have the dinner and to sleep. After almost 7 hours of school every day, he has to attend at least 5 hours of tuitions every day.
A child in the 10th grade, works more than an average mason or an average labourer (without being paid of course). Tuition teachers go gaga over the toppers in their classes as they are the advertising models (with nude minds) which would bring zillions of students next term. In this whole scenario, the average students end up nowhere and are only left with a choice of engraving RIP on a stone and sleeping under it.
As the board exams come near, the tension grows in the households. First comes the turn of the TV to turn off and go to hibernation. The comic books make their way to the ‘Pastiwalla’s home. Every single thing which can hamper the concentration of the studying nerd, vanishes from the house. The house turns into a silent crematorium and the student turns into a dead body, eyes popping out of their sockets trying to grab the black and white paragraphs of the textbooks. Only good thing to happen in those days is that the student gets a Maharaja treatment while he is slogging things out from the books. Treatment includes the constant supply of caffeine to keep him awake in the form of tea or coffee. Every single things the child demands, is supplied to him without even a puff of a sound. The ‘dad’ part is almost non-existent as he’s not allowed to watch TV or even talk to the child, so that the child can concentrate. The cricket matches and the cricketers are cursed heavily for diverting children’s attention from studying. Mobile phones and iPods see the back of the lockers temporarily. Cinemas start to lose money as no child would even dare to go for a movie in those social curfew times. In-short, the period of two and a half years of board is more than just a hell for the students. Losing one mark may be sufficient for the environment of the house to go bursting in fury. Statements like ‘Ek saal padh lo, fir to mauj hi karni hai puri zindagi.’ are the only hopes of the children who are made to act as if they are risking their future every time they waste their time or do something apart from studying.
All for the want of a single benevolent thing: get good marks to secure a good future. But is it true? I mean, does every single board ranker end up in a multimillion dollar firm? Answer is pure ‘No’. To even think like that is utter foolishness. Intelligence has no barometer to measure it. Board rank is the measure of the ability of mugging up some 2000 pages which could be done by anyone sane enough. The Main Thing is ‘Education’. Do we get it or are we ensured of it once we start learning things at school? Many children cannot bear the thought of the humiliation, once they fail in exams. The result: Suicide attempts – some successful (unfortunately) and some unsuccessful.
[Education System was started by the British. We adopted it directly. The Americans also learnt it from the British, but they made their own changes. They made it more of a versatile kind and student friendly, which was definitely a positive change. Main thing is to have Options and Freedom in the system.
Our system prepares numb muggers and mere calculators with bottle-glass spectacles. We want the problem solvers and creative thinkers, and not the die-cast degree holders. The value is of the quality perceived and not of the degree certificate. With the largest population of people under the age of 25 years, our country bears a great advantage to be the super-power in every field.]
Soon the exams got over and up came the long-awaited vacation. We had planned to do so many things with the friends. The iPod and mobile phone came out of the locker to find the world still existent. I welcomed the happy change and the world seemed a better place. It was a well earned vacation to say the least. Parks and theatres were chirping with youth again.
The day the results came out – After all the princely treatment and a little effort, I had finished my 12thgrade in style and came out on top just like I did in 10th. But I still rue the fact that I had to be a part of this rotten education system to prove my capability. I should say, it was more than just easy. Joy of success could not last for more than 2 days as I realised I had missed so many things an 18 year old would like to do all because of the rat-race.
Then begun another seasonal sale scenario – the Admission process for the colleges. Well, any online auction could best represent it in the simplest of manners. It was more than that. The parents of students made their base-camps in the compound of admission committee building. The scene looked more like a ‘Swayamvar’ in which the bride (student) chose the best possible groom (college) in rank with her own percentage. For me, it was more like a pre-decided engagement, as I chose the first best option (because of my enviable results).
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