Dear Editor,
Ever since my childhood, I’ve been taught that school is a temple. A temple where a student is not only taught to mug up the lessons, but they’re also taught manners, values and basic fundamental ethics of life. The basic concept of school, as far as my knowledge is concerned, is to find the best potential in a child and mould the child to give it a precise shape. Basically, nurturing a child’s actual potential to get the best out of it. The purpose of school is not only meant to teach students to score good marks in exams. There are various other areas where the child can brush and develop on inborn skills and knowledge. The education system is supposed to pay heed to such unexplored potentials of each child, as well, because education means all-round development of the child and not just scoring marks during exams from the readymade notes given to them by the teachers.
Now, why do I say all that I’ve mentioned above? It saddens me to know that some of the school authorities in Arunachal Pradesh are reluctant to give admissions to students who have flunked in their exams. My question to those institutes and the authorities is, is failure the end of life of a student? The teachers have to understand that each child is special and unique and is incomparable. Nobody can judge the students on the basis of their academic scores. The teachers are there to teach the students lessons of life, the basic etiquettes of life, morals and discipline, and many more such things. They are teachers by profession and not judges. I understand that it is indeed difficult and not an easy task to be a teacher at first. But since we have committed ourselves into this service, we are here today. I also understand that students are mischievous and are a nuisance at times. But a student’s under performance in academics is not the problem of the student alone; it is the teacher’s failure as well, as the teacher too must have had gone wrong in guiding them to the right path.
Now, when we try to sideline those underperforming students, we have already created a junk room in the society. Those deprived students are then dangerous to the society. Therefore, the teachers and the educationists need to understand and try to find out ways to get these students on par with the mainstream instead of sidelining them and putting a tag on them as failures. Because, when proper encouragement and guidance is not given to such students, failure is bound to hit their heart so hard that they start finding false joy and subsequently ruin their lives.
It’s really sad to even think of taking such a senseless step towards underperforming students. I really don’t understand why our education system is so biased and unjust to students who don’t perform well in academics.
Those single or two digit numbers can never or have never predicted a child’s future. It is a very wrong notion that students who fail can never be successful in life and vice versa. Every child is special with enormous potential in them. But, at times, the teachers and the educationists have failed to look into this preciousness in the child. Our education system has so wrongly inculcated this concept of education that only by getting good marks one can become successful and prosperous in life. It has instilled into the minds of the students that education is all about race for marks and not for skill development and personal growth. What is the use of putting students into the race for good marks in academics but have forgotten to develop on their skills and natural expertise?
Perhaps if the teachers have had given a slight heed into this aspect as well as, then, I suppose, we would have had a cent percent academic performance. The teacher concerned needs to understand the child as per the child’s areas of interest and capabilities and not as per the teacher’s presumptions. Our presumptions can be wrong at times. And if we stay stubborn, we are losing one precious talent each time.
So, my only heartfelt appeal to the teachers and the authorities concerned is that failure cannot decide a child’s future. You’ll need to reciprocate their failure with double encouragement and positive thoughts.
If the school takes such senseless steps of not inducting them or not giving them admissions because you’ll think that they are failures then, the school along with the whole society will be in big danger in the future.
Let’s build Arunachal into a prosperous state by inculcating the good among people and let’s keep encouraging and keep supporting the young minds with good and positive thoughts, instead of discouraging them and discriminating them on the basis of the academic scores.
Sincerely,
Joktang Mossang,
Changlang