When demands are for the impossible

They intruded, not gate-crashed as before, into the compound of the secretariat and demanded their reward. But unfortunately, this time the interim authority was in no mood to entertain their request. The law enforcement agencies made it sure that the protesters were not shown the mercy they received earlier when a couple of hundreds of them arm-twisted the ministry concerned to get what they asked for. But there is a difference between the earlier demand and this latest one.

Earlier, the protesters ---higher secondary examinees to be precise---demanded for cancellation of examinations for the remaining papers that could not be held because of the more than month-long quota-turned-anti-discrimination movement. This time the examinees who failed even after the generous subject-mapping method of result preparation have pushed for what they called 'discrimination-free' results. They rejected the results prepared and asked for a fresh evaluation that would have no provision for failure. In fact, automatic pass.

Ideally, any candidate selected for examination on passing the previous class or level is theoretically qualified to cross the hurdle of next class or level. But it does not happen for various reasons. Yet never have failed students in the country's history made such a demand as the few hundreds who barged into the secretariat to do so. Here their precedent has been the driver of their motive and move. If a couple of their peers can prevail on the authority, they thought, they also had a chance to succeed. Even on the previous occasion, the ready acquiescence has come under severe criticism. The vast majority of examinees had no participation in that protest and many of them made it clear that they did not subscribe to the idea of not appearing for the remaining examinations.

In fact, it is time for instant gratification. It was a movement spearheaded by students and the examinees among them demanded an instant reward. Some of the examinees who joined the movement have admittedly gone through a trauma. Young susceptible minds are prone to suffer the agony from their first-hand encounter with police brutality that left their fellow students dead or wounded. For comparison, it would be fair to cite the candidates who sat for exam in 1972 immediately after the liberation of the country. At that time the secondary and higher secondary examinees had to sit for examinations, albeit for half the marks for each paper. The trauma they suffered was no less, if not greater, but they did not avoid the examinations.

This time the examinees had full preparation for their examinations. So cancellation of examinations for the remaining papers was ill-advised. The date could be shifted by a month or two but examinations would have done the examinees a whole lot of good. Now the failed students have pushed the matter much too far and the law enforcement agencies had to go into action. Short-cuts in education bring no benefit for learners. On its own, the education system followed here is flawed on several counts. If whatever positive is there is also subjected to such laxity and compromise, it does more harm than good to the learners themselves.

By all means the young learners in this country deserve sympathy because they have been treated like guinea pigs for one after another experiment. Only a couple of years ago, in the name of reform to education, the entire syllabi and evaluation process were changed with no groups at the secondary stage. Now, that curriculum has been abandoned in favour of the earlier system of option for students to select groups from class IX. How sad, the country could not put in place a stable and sustaining system of education even after 53 years of independence!

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