Exam time is around
Desh Bir
February is heading towards a close and exam fever is gripping the young folk gearing to sit in the end-of -the-year exams. Tests or exams or ordeals are always a phobia even for adults, not to speak of youngsters alone. Even the mightiest of us sulk away from facing a test. If there were no exams, no child would ever be branded as a failure. If at all exams are to be there, they must come with a 50/50 option.
As the first day of exams approaches the youngsters can be seen turning pale, trembling and muttering prayers in the hope that some miracle shall happen. How imploringly do most children wonder why Google Assistant is not available in the examination hall? Life on the campus seems to be working out perfect, but then come the exams. The horizon seems overcast with gloomy possibilities. What if at the right moment the right answers does not come to the mind!
It is all a nightmare! Even the best prepared do fumble. After all, everyone is not born to score the highest awards. To youngsters it seems that cousins are created only so that parents could compare our marks with theirs. Even those who write their exams very successfully, in fact only know things, at least for a few days.
Mathematics is the most dreaded and monstrous subject. All brains cannot develop affinity for a dry maze of numbers. The best philosophers might have scored a zero in Mathematics at school. It is perhaps rightly said that 3 out of 2 people have trouble with Fractions.
The children who hate exams often complain why there exists no APP for that. They curse the inventor of this process of harassing the innocent youth which takes a huge toll on the smooth and jovial tenor of their lives. Life for the young is a dream. Why let puny exams get in the way of one’s dreams? Their wish is to save the stress for bigger things in life.
The boys and girls who know how much more meaningful life is compared to the silly thing called exams believe that not everyone who takes extra paper during finals writes extra sense. For these innocent folk life means much more beyond mere exams. They want to tell the callous school system: They give me questions I don’t know. I give them answers they don’t know. They think that they know the best answer to the examiner’s poser. The two-word best answer is “Don’t know”.
Failure in a dreary affair like exams is just a matter of chance. The only people who never fail are the people who never try. The poor, luck-happy guys who never bothered themselves with the exertions of cramming the answer wait for the mega rare , extra sweet relief- the much anticipated last exam. The most unfortunate thing for them in the examination hall is when the student sitting next refuses to share his answers. To them it seems that education is essentially war. It is devoid of joy and humour, creative play and aesthetic celebration. It is their perspective and there is need for the elders to understand it!
(The author is a Retired Principal, Govt. College, Hoshiarpur (Punjab)
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