PANAJI
The SSC exam results and the close to 100 per cent pass percentage have created mixed feelings among the student-parents’ community across the State. While some have expressed happiness over the result, others are unhappy.
Speaking to The Goan, Ponda-based Dr Adwait Desai shares, “My son was in SSC this year and scored 94 per cent overall. The assessment system has been unfair to other students considering the year was zero when it came to studies. Students who want to re-perform must get a chance.”
Dr Meenacshi Martins, a psychiatrist and an artist from Porvorim, points out, “Children have suffered enormous stress on account of the pandemic and switch over to online education system. The entire experience has been painful. The quality of life in later years hardly depends on the 10th std results or anything remotely associated with the exam, but it is a huge milestone in their life.”
A businessman from South Goa Manoj Sinai Talaulikar feels that the whole academic syllabus is meaningless. For him, learning is important. By learning, he doesn’t mean science, geography or maths. “By learning, I mean learning to live,” says Talaulikar.
Ashwini Dukle, an entrepreneur from Margao, is not at all happy with the mass passing of SSC students. “As a parent, I feel it’s unfair to the students who were working really hard. Students were trying their best for the finals. It’s like some students after answering prelims study hard based on their prelim results and give their best for the finals. The average students who did not study at all have benefitted from this mass passing,” feels Dukle.
As a citizen, artist Maendra Alvares is alternately alarmed and worried. “I see this as a severe disintegration of an already waning society. These youth are going to be our world leaders, the movers and shakers of tomorrow,” says the BigFoot founder. He adds, “Our teaching is not student-oriented. There lies the danger. This result should never be considered as a commentary on academics.”
“It is time for a radical change. Education should also involve subjects like nature, minimalist living, planting, growing, garbage segregation, composting, hygiene,” he suggests.
Nitisha Prabhudesai, a parent from Margao, says, “Online teaching is going on in an excellent manner but the child relies more on videos sent rather than textbooks. Actually, mass promotion affects a studious child and his/her efforts are not appreciated, but looking at the current scenario it was not feasible to go for exams.”
Another parent, Arya Raiturkar says, “Passing is important but more important is covering the year’s portion on time and learning. The students are dealing with pressure. In this situation, understanding new concepts becomes difficult. All the kids don’t have the same grasping power. If the foundation is not strong, the entire future of the child can collapse. We should go for new study methods, including digital.”
Vidya Kamat Pathan, Centre for Study of Mythology and Culture (Dona Paula), calls this decision extraordinary and thinks that it will throw some challenges at students while coping up with higher studies. She says, “Since Covid 19 was an extraordinary situation in our history, all students passing SSC exams was also an extraordinary decision taken by the State School Board.”
She suggests a body (of educational institutions, teachers, parents, etc) that can assess and decide which students require extra attention to cope up with next year’s syllabus. “These are again extraordinary measures that require extra efforts from teachers, parents and students. I believe that our education system is going through changes and till the next system settles in, the interim period will require a great deal of effort from all stakeholders,” concludes the culture enthusiast.
