92% or A+

A revolutionary change to the Indian education system has taken place with the elimination of the class Xth board exams for the central education system. It is being considered as a partial fulfillment by the HRD ministry under the first 100 day agenda set by the new government installed in India after its thumping victory earlier this year. The first question which arises in everyone’s mind is- how will students be evaluated ? and the answer is just 6 letters- A+,A,B,C,D or E. Yes, the life of a student now will be dictated not by percentage but by grades; grades which will be a representation of a student’s demeanor, knowledge and co-curricular activities- in short his/her overall development.

Over the years many attempts have been made to revamp the current education system, from compulsory primary education, to free education for the economically backward segment of the society to restructuring the education curriculum. As commendable as these efforts might be, somewhere down the lane they encountered speed breakers and road blocks which stalled the effort. It will be looked at anxiously next year, when this new effort by the government is implemented across India.

As a norm of physics, every action has a reaction and as much as the government tries to market this reform positively it will have its initial (hopefully) negative implications. Looking at the positives of this reform, it was intended to – ‘de-traumatize’ the current education system and reduce the pressure and stress on students. The thought of an examination bring shrills down the spines of many students and add to this the word BOARD, and imagine the state of the students. I am sure many of us can relate to this having been there a decade ago. Replacing the timely examinations with continuous evaluations of students during the course of the academic year is a step in the right direction. Students will be judged on their overall performance in course, sports and classroom interactions. This gives an opportunity for those reticent first bencher's to learn to express themselves and put aside their introvert characters. This measure also gives way for the athlete to gain credentials by excelling in an area he/her is comfortable with. A creatively gifted individual who previously had the opportunity to expressive his talents only during the stipulated 45 min of class period, can now utilize this creativity throughout the course of the academic year to gain extra credits. Overall, it does not matter anymore if you know complex chemical reactions or understand quantum physics or know all the countries capital, but more about how do you express and utilize the knowledge you pose to understand. Under the continuous evaluation criteria, students will be able to apply their learning’s thought practical assessments, which I personally believe is a better way of learning that sitting on a hard wooden bench for 6 hours listening to a monotonic lecture. This process of evaluation also allows the flexibility of setting up a progressive curriculum where every stage of evaluation is inter-connected. That is to say, a curriculum is split into 4 phases where the teaching of phase 1 will be required to understand and apply the concepts of phase 2 and an understanding of phase 1 and 2 is required to progressive into phase 3 and 4. With this process, a comprehensive evaluation at the end of the academic year is eliminated reducing the burden on students. At every phase of the evaluation a student will have a better understanding of his/her strong points, resulting in a comprehension of their interests and passion. Who knows, we might see a reluctant engineer become a journalist, a confused doctor become an actor etc. For every contemporary student the end result of an examination is getting a high percentage, whether it is by studying long hours before the exam, memorising every word in the text book or even spending time writing those illegal resources on transparent papers, or post-its etc. But now with the word examination eliminated till the 10th grade, students will spend more understanding concepts rather than mugging them and practicing rather than writing their 'secretive notes'. I have come across many, and at time also guilty of memorizing the contents of a book and outputting it on the answer sheet without an iota of reasoning to what was being written. As they used to call it in school- garbage in garbage out! Over all I see this reform bringing about many positive changes in the education system which not only involves the school board but also teachers, students and parents.

On the flip side, this reform measure has its dark patches which need to be addressed before active implementation. One big issue which I see is the disparity in grade allocation for respective score percentages. Under this new system the interval between minimum and maximum for a grade is considered irrational. A student scoring 90% and 99% are under the same grade bracket of A+. I believe that this disparity must be reduced to a small range introducing intermediate grades. In this day and age, every student knows the value of 1% and is ready to put that extra effort to earn that percentage, but with this grading system, the 1% is now changes to 10% which is inversely proportional to the effort and competitive spirit of a student. This concern also has a conjunctive relation to the admissions process where a decimal difference can make or break a student’s chances of admission into a reputed institution. Where will the institutions draw a line now? If there are 50 seats in an institution and the admission criteria is set to grades higher than A, what will the institution do if they get 150 A+ applicants? Where is the infrastructure for these 150 applicants? Digging deeper, if the institutions decide to take up an elimination process by conducting an examination, what’s the purpose of having the grading system? Something for the ministry and institutions to think about! Moving on to other concerns, consider a student who opts out of the 10th board but due to unforeseen circumstances has to relocate and to his misfortune the best institute in the region accepts only scores secured during a board exams for admission. Where will the student go now? The very fact that this reform has not been communized between different educational boards will hamper the flexibility we enjoyed of changing schools after our 10th grade. One factor which I fear the most is personal vendetta and favoritism between a teacher and a student or to put is subtly, discrepancy in evaluation. Internal assessment gives way for personal vendetta and favoritism towards a student to be settled during evaluation. The disparity of what a teachers thinks is worth a high grade may change between teachers from a neighboring class or even a neighboring school. A school in a small town might not have all the facilities to evaluate the performance of a student as par as a school in a big city. Where did reasoning for communizing the education system go now?

As much as we draw pros and cons on this reform, the silver lining lies on the fact that a step in the right direction was perceived and implemented. Parents, students and teachers are crying out loud for a change in the system, but I rather look at a revamp of the system. Today’s young India is competitive, dynamics and hungry for success which is recognised and appreciated all around the world. Now wonder President Obama compares the intellect of Indian students with those from his own back yard, while talking of a educational revamp in America. Any future reform intended should be perceived, with these qualities continuing to remain as an integral part of our education.

Disoriented

A day will come when every social network will have the options: straight, bi-sexual, gay or lesbian! Or even the options male, female or transgender! In view of the current progressive global revolution for the LGBT's, many counties around the world are easing their law against same sex relationships. Recently 3 major states in United States legalised gay marriages, in India the Delhi high court decriminalised homosexuality. Many gay activist considered this as a move in the right direction. It is really a right move? Is this what some hand full of people in world were waiting for to throw the skeletons out of their closets?

These verdicts showed two sides of a coin in the global community. One who came out in the streets in jubilation and the other who came out in the streets pushing these skeletons back into the closet. Lets trying getting into their shoes and view each aspect from their side of the coin.

Lets talk about the jubilant group who finally can say it out loud that they are gay and gay. For years we have heard stories about LGBT's and their secret clan. The secretive gay clubs, the close door affairs etc were treated as taboo for many years. Once considered as a underground society has now risen to the surface and are walking 'hand in hand'. A society comprising of people like any one of us with a distinct difference of sexual preference. People who share similar emotions, experience similar pain, talk, walk, eat like any one of us, but still over the years have been considered as outcasts. Why the difference? just because they express their affection differently, just because a guy will look at a guy differently, a girl rubs the back of other girls. All species on the face of this earth have their own unique way to express their affection. We have fought many a times discrimination's against color, nations, caste and language, but somewhere, we not only overlooked but also continued the silent discrimination against LGBT's. Today in many countries they have been given the right to speak up, voice their opinion, start a family, and also participate in governing elections. We walk down the busy streets of New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney but are never able to distinguish people based on their sexual orientation. These people are not different in any ways from us, but we still treat them as outcasts, look at them in disgust and poke fun of them. We have voiced our concern when housing societies discriminate based on caste and religion, but continue to refuse leasing or selling houses to people of varied sexual preferences. Where did the voice against discrimination go now ? Religious and ethnic groups cry foul when they are depicted differently in feature films but these very people laugh till their stomach hurt on gays being depicted comically. Where did the sense of sensitivity go ? Governments and political parties carry out demonstrations and exhibit their physical strength to express their views on protectionism towards local citizens, but stay muted when a local is axed from his/her job purely based on sexual preference? Where did the objective of protectionism towards your own people fade away now ? Would we act the same if one of our own- a friend, a brother or a sister confessed of their orientation? Would we outcast them, would be make fun of them? For decades these people have lived silently in love and pain among us hoping that one day they to can walk arm in arm with their loved one without the fear of being a social outcast.

For many it it still very hard to understand the logic of being attracted to the same sex and this cognitive challenge has formed the second face of the coin. From the time homosexuality came to the forefront, many religious clans have considered it against the will of God. Their argument stand that, God made a man and a women for a particular reason, so going against Gods creation was considered a taboo and a sin. Today many Christian, Islamic, Hindu and other religious bodies in the world are fighting against this unnatural turn of events. Many are even calling this a plague effecting the balance of nature. On a religious point of view, God speaks of progression in living beings by the uniting a male and a female. This basic principle is destroyed among LGBT's who cannot carry forward their progression defying both science and religion by natural means. Socially, the relationship between a man and a women has always been considered as an accepted norm and an inherent part of life. Biologically a X and Y chromosome can pair with each other or with itself but when these chromosomes take the human form this simple concept does not jive with science or nature. So, what do these STRAIGHT people have a problem with, apart from causing imbalance in the course of nature? Can we be ever comfortable in the presence of a LGBT? Can be allow out children to school or college knowing that his teacher or instructor is a gay or lesbian, without the fear of them being an influence on the child? Can we be comfortable working with a colleague who confesses to be a homosexual and expresses his friendship physically with a pat on the back or a hug? Will we be comfortable when a gay or lesbian friend asks you for dinner or lunch purely with a platonic intention? Over all it creates a very awkward atmosphere for both sections of society where one tries to accept and the other tries to respect one's sentiments.

As we all try walk this tender line, balancing natures principle and modern practicality, I tried to flip the coin and analyze in my own way what all the ruckus is from both sides. At the end its how you and I perceive the debate between being straight and accepting homosexuality and being homosexual and living under the shadow of heterosexuals. We all live under one huge umbrella held by our creator and irrespective of our religion, caste, ethnicity, language and sexuality, we have to continue to live together to make this place called earth work.