By: Vijay Garg
The decision to cancel Class XII board exams (especially CBSE) will be considered the best of all options available at the moment. This is a very bold decision, which also shows the sensitivity of the country. We all know that out of around 1.5 crore 12th class students, many will be in decision-making positions at various places in the country in the next few years. So their future must be secure. As we are now fighting the Buddha against the invisible enemy of Corona, whose character is still not fully resolved, there can be no greater goal than the safety of children.
Yes, kids will be worried that if they don’t take the assured traditional exam, they will probably face problems. They may find it difficult to get into universities, or they may find it difficult to crack competitive exams. But gradually children will understand that all these difficulties in front of security are minor, and that they have many options to use this time, which they should discuss together.
Everyone knows the difficult circumstances the country has gone through in the last few months. Due to Corona, people were unhappy, families were in trouble and society was upset. We also saw negativity, where some people were merely criticizing, and positivity, where people helped each other personally, socially and institutionally. Taking lessons from this, children should get out of their worries. They should not only help others but also try to get out of negative tendencies. They should make good use of this time to learn how to deal with the biggest problem that suddenly comes up. It is time to learn the tricks of ‘Conflict Resolution’. Children should learn the skill of coping well with stress, pressure. They should understand the importance of this decision of the government. However, they also have the option that they can appear for the exam after the situation becomes normal, so there is no point in stressing too much now.
Now the question is, how will positivity come in children? Many children believe that till now they have progressed only in the realm of textbooks and school examinations. For the first time in life they can get out of this bondage. For example, the next few months can be spent reading books of different genres. If the students of science want, then social science books can be read. An academic degree is of course necessary, but an understanding of history, heritage, geography, social relations, etc. is also required. Anyway, free reading is very enjoyable, and 12th grade kids will probably have the first time in life when they can enjoy reading different genres of books without any bondage.
Children should also learn the importance of ‘Life Long Learning’. Today the whole world believes that there is no other way without it. We may pass the examinations, but the knowledge that we will get, how much it will be useful in our life after the next two-four years, that understanding is necessary. For example, 40-50 years ago, if someone used to learn typewriter, then he Skill used to be useful to him for many years, but today we do not know whether the software of the computer which is in our hands will be of our use even for six months or not? Children should understand that this pace of change will continue to grow. They will always have to learn something new while improving their skills, only then their life will be able to move forward. Children now have a chance to know what and how they can learn in this skill development process.
Children these days must have also seen how the society is helping each other. This spirit of cooperation and service is invisible, but important. We can clearly see that the country which talks about discipline, advocates for life, is sensitive to the children and prepares the way for their development, that only progresses. We should remember this lesson for life. We have to learn not only to live together, but also to know about all cultures and countries.
After the cancellation of the board exam, now the results will be declared on the basis of internal assessment. Even our children should not worry about this at all. CBSE and all other boards have experts who know what can be done in this adverse situation? This has happened many times in the past, when due to one reason or the other, the copies of the examination were destroyed. Then, the children were assessed using scientifically based methods. Our experts will figure out such a way together this time too. It is possible that even in the rules of the entrance examination of the university
Make necessary amendments. Therefore, leaving behind all the negativity, children should earn new lives and move forward in a positive direction.
We also have to understand that the dynamism of education determines its usefulness and leads human beings towards its goals. Such things have been taken care of in our new education policy. If this had been implemented, we would have been able to do continuous evaluation of children easily. But unfortunately, not all our schools have such a system. If there are proper proportion of teachers in the whole country, society has faith in the system and teachers are not engaged in any other work other than teaching, then surely evaluation of teachers will be acceptable to all. The theory says that the real evaluation of a child can be done by the one who teaches him. Hopefully, taking lessons from the current unusual circumstances, we will be ready to face such situations in the future.
Author is Retired principal Govt Girls Senior Secondary School Mandi Harji Ram Malout Punjab