Is Exam More Important than Our Life?
It was the first day of the new school year. The morning assembly was about to begin and a student is crying fervidly while surrounded by a group of students. Upon inquiry it was discovered that she had failed the year and was repeating the previous grade.
During our school years, the most dreaded word one could imagine is the word 'FAIL'.
No matter how confident we are in our performance there was still the unconquerable fear of hearing or seeing the word 'fail' on the day of results. Parents were always encouraging and never strict – they were never overbearing when it came to our performance in exams. In spite of the relaxed environment we hailed from, we still managed to do very well.
Unfortunately parents in Pakistan, placing enormous pressure on their children to do exceptionally well, or achieve the highest rank or grade is a common behaviour found in most families. This brings us to the growing trend of student suicides which is raving in Pakistan. There have been quite a number of them this year by students who succumbed to the pressure of exams or failure in them.
A sixth-grader allegedly committed suicide inside his house in Nazimabad, Karachi in May 2012. The officer said he apparently committed suicide by hanging himself by the ceiling fan out of fear of his parents as he had failed at school.
In Abbottabad, a teenage girl committed suicide in Kaghan Colony in June 2012 after failing her Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations. Mehvish had appeared in the SSC exam, however, when she found out that she had failed, she became so dejected that she locked herself in her bedroom and shot herself in the head with her father's pistol.
Since failure signifies the loss of self-esteem, cessation of social connections and unfulfilled expectations, it is perceived as a lifelong and extremely stigmatizing situation by young minds. Unfortunately, the exam system in Pakistan may be to blame for the phenomenon.
The structure is such that most students will likely 'take it easy' all year around and then study intensively before their finals. This puts too much pressure at a single given time and if one considers uncontrollable factors such as illness and environmental constraints whereby a student may not be able to do well in the final paper, and then it is certainly not yielding an accurate and fair result.
In western countries like the US, London and Canada, the system of assessment is used.
Assessment, which encompasses testing as well as evaluation, is an on-going process, a year long observation of a student and his abilities which includes extracurricular activities and classroom participation. Although, most parts of these systems are now adopted in Pakistan as well.
In these countries, there are hardly any suicides due to pressure of grades or failing, (maybe because no one really fails) but rather due to bullying or other forms of discrimination or racism. Contrarily, the students in Pakistan have resorted to ending their lives due to the immense burden on them to achieve results they feel they are incapable of or from the stigma attached to failing.
Some may argue that this relaxed atmosphere and curbing of parental demands may cause the students to become lax concerning their studies; parents must be involved in each step of their child's education.
However, there are other ways of reinforcing good results; motivation, encouragement, personal time and studying with them are some strategies that can help do that. Self-esteem and confidence must be pursued for the child as higher self-esteem has known to bring in better results.
Several students' were always worried about obtaining the 'First Position', or 'Highest Percentages'. Some parents declared early that it must be the first position and nothing else. And the students were always under considerable amount of stress!
Although, parent's intentions are in good faith when they put the burden of such expectations on their child to make them perform their very best, however, in the case of seriously naive children, it may have devastating consequences, or produce personality defects such as low self-esteem and depression.
Students can also read our earlier post on 'Mind Mapping to Pass Exams', as passing the exams require a particular skill set which is easy to learn. Review the post will show you step-by-step that how to prepare for those papers where your future is determined.
We wish best of Luck to every student for their exam success.
Thank You!
Best Regards,
              |
No comments:
Post a Comment