Principal Nimrat Singh looked across her to the window sill where sat Mahi Iyer, the student counsellor. On Singh’s table she had placed nine folders. These were the students who had been very, very disturbed about the subject choices they had made, been forced to make or who having made the choice were now struggling in Grade 12.
“These are students waiting to go the Noreen way,” said Mahi. “They made subject choices in Grade 9 or had choices made for them. Had little or no idea why they were choosing what they chose and today they either do not like the subjects or have changed their mind about what they wish to make their career.
Singh: It is early in their life Mahi! How old are they? All of 15 or 16. Life is long. Life unfolds…
Mahi: Some of these subject choices are irreversible, Ma’am. Watertight. If you want to be a psychologist and chose business studies then, because daddy wanted you to run his business and you have only now developed the strength to deny daddy…. Then? Therefore what is our role? We seem more adamant about asserting ‘our way, our rules’, completely forgetting that this is all about the student! So, they will pass and get a certificate from the education board. Maybe even employable in a bored sort of way. But value addition?
Singh opened the first folder on the top. It was Ragini Mathur’s. She had written there: ‘I had asked for Music, Dance, Physics and Maths in Grade 9.
But my choice was rejected. Today I am not at all happy with the pointless subjects I am studying! There is Math in Music and Dance. Why can’t schools offer such combinations?’ Singh recalled their exchanges:
Ragini’s parents, the Mathurs, had been annoyed. “We trusted this school to be right for Ragini and do right by her. This is a critical milestone in her life, she was asking for subjects that she needs for building her future. For a school to not be flexible reeks of backwardness!”
Singh: I understand your feelings. Constructing a large senior secondary school’s timetable is not simply a case of filling in a matrix. The time-table determines the movements of many hundreds of people for a year of their lives. And these timetables do lead to various compromises of differing interests and preferences. Therefore, it even assumes a human dimension. Adjusting various subject combinations is very difficult.
Ragini: Difficult! Do you realise how difficult my life is going to be? I have to live a whole lifetime with bad choices!
Ragini, who was also an acclaimed stage artiste, wanted to combine music with theatre, but she wanted to keep a steady line in Science as, right now she was still fascinated by her theatre work. She wanted to be a ‘Dancing Physicist’. “I will draw parallels between Physics and Dance … like ‘rotational inertia and speed’ while dancing,” she had said.
Two years ago, when she was in the 9th grade, her parents whispered her passion away saying it was beginner’s enthusiasm; today they were unhappy. Ragini herself had been unwilling to think of 10 years hence and could only think of her next stage performance at the Pushkar festival. In and through it all, she kept an eye on her Physics dream — distant as it was even then.
But the music and dance teacher, Kumud Rao had pooh-poohed away modernity in music and dance and felt these were not the original intention of the subject, which, she inter-preted, sought to stress traditional form; Ragini’s portrayal of Durga in hip-hop style had shattered Rao.
Kumud: Ragini is not a serious student of Indian dance forms. She may have learnt Kathak but she is not applying it. She is having fun. She can continue to have fun — she does not need to learn, for that! I would like to teach serious students.
And Ragini, confined to the stark Phy-Chem-Bio routine and a depleting emphasis on dance, had turned moody and bitter.
Folder 2: Aiswarya Srinivas. Frustrated with Grade 12 Math, she had written: “I got 95 per cent in the 10th. Now I barely pass!”
Mahi had already told Singh, “There is a vast disconnect and huge gap between the curriculum of 10th and 11th. This needs to be bridged.” As a result, Aiswarya who had been a topper in Grade 10 was struggling in the 11th and on the verge of collapse in the 12th when her parents had also begun to blame her interest in make-up as the cause of her distracted performance.
Singh (to the Math teacher, Anna Gracias): How do you explain her falling grades?
Anna: The 10th syllabus is a river, 12th is an ocean. To draw a parallel with Sciences, in Grade 10, students learn General Science. In the 11th it branches out into Physics, Chemistry, Biology. The crux of their problem is the introduction of CCE — Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation — for up to the 10th grade.
In the 11th grade, CCE stops and the students find it difficult to retain the syllabus for an entire year.
Throughout the year, students up to Class 10, had numerous tests and mini exams on which they are evaluated and these are not repeated for the year-end evaluation. Also included in this is extra-curricular work whose assessment also gets added to the student’s performance evaluation. The marking is also alphabetic grades. The intention was to remove the stress from the child’s learning process. Consequently, student prowess in ‘other than’ academics was being factored into the marking. But Aiswarya’s father Col. Srinivas was agitated with the direction of all this. At the PTM, he had told Gracias, “I do not understand. Why didn’t you prepare the students for this? How could you replace and dilute regular curriculum with theatre or sports? That does not make sense!”
Anna: Students are all differently talented. By this CCE, students who are academically weak get opportunity to show their talent in other areas. It is motivational...
Col. Srinivas: Of course, I agree, but look at her Math condition! She has slumped so badly! What do I blame this on?
Anna gave the example of Ernest Dsouza who was a great athlete, a great basketball player, but poor in languages, Math and Science. Ernest’s averages looked better owing to his sports. As a result, Ernest stayed in school, did not drop out, appeared every morning in his House colours on the playground to play, to be cheered by his proud classmates. Ernest came to school to perform, to be appreciated. Ernest thus completed high school with a breathtaking 53 per cent. He joined a distance learning programme but he was learning! But was this suffering necessary? Later, Mahi told Principal Singh, “We should have separate streams from Class 10, where pure academics is separated from the Arts and PE. This will help core academic students to develop their own momentum and run with the syllabus, I feel....”
Aiswarya’s performance had fallen drastically so much so that she had referred to herself as good for nothing.
Singh (to Mahi): What is your evaluation? Why is Aiswarya slowing down in Grade 11?
Mahi: Aiswarya is a gifted learner. While the other students readily accept and retain information, Aiswarya draws inferences from the information given and gets easily bored if her questions are not answered. She needs to be taught using accelerated methodology and pedagogy. But we have not had the time to implement ‘differentiated teaching’ in a small class size. Aiswarya has turned disinterested. She just meanders into class, drops her books on the desk, and slides into semi-reclining positions in her chair. Indifference is written all over her face and all over the work she does…
But I agree, the culprit is the CCE. This continuous evaluation was introduced with an intention to make school work light for students. Till Grade 10, students have to study only selected portions of their syllabus. Earlier, the entire syllabus of Grade 9 and 10 was tested together for matriculation and of 11 and 12 together for senior secondary. Ever since CCE started, students have to study limited content, AND not with too much depth... Come Grade 11, it is wham! They have to study the full-year syllabus and retain it and that is where they come apart. They have not developed the skill of retention…
This was the real cause for Aiswarya’s sluggish scores. Whereas earlier, she was deep into the subject, now there was no time for inner debates. She had to ‘perform’. No learning was happening.
Mahi: At another level, there is also a disconnect between the curriculum of Grade 10 and 11. Aiswarya learnt ‘Gravity’ as a force in 10th. Simple to understand. But in Grade 11 when ‘Binomial Theorem’ gets thrown into the interesting concept of Gravity, Aiswarya finds it difficult to link it to the real world. The concept remains an ambiguous, abstract, uninteresting text book page for her.
Singh looked at the comments on the sheet in the folder. Aiswarya had said, “Derivatives DO NOT HELP. Reduce the number of Derivatives!! In Chemistry, the ‘P-Block’ has 170 mind-boggling equations!! WHY- We are just 16 years old. Just one year older than Grade 10. Does CBSE think that we get some divine power between April and July to retain so much of information?”
Singh: God… she is so angry!
Mahi: So, Aiswarya is not dealing with slowness of brain but a far higher activity which requires the abstract concepts to be related to real life… more engaging classes and teachers.
But the science teacher said: “How do you expect us to COMPLETE our curriculum on time if we keep answering her questions?”
Folder 3: Sanaya Irani. Her comments were strong. “Chemistry has no logic. It needs rote learning….”
Singh: So, what is bothering Sanaya? She did not want to take Chemistry or was she compelled to take Chemistry for it to match other subjects she was taking?
Mahi: Sanaya is frustrated about many things. She wants to be a city developer, but does not think studying chemistry is relevant. She does not like the 100-plus elements that she has to learn. She wants to describe certain concepts in her own words but she says that chemistry seems to have it’s own vocabulary, and she cannot understand that ‘chemistry language’. So, she has to per force commit it to memory but it lacks sense, she says. She wonders if all engineers use chemistry in their profession. For she believes her kind of work has no use for chemistry. The battle goes on.
Singh shook her head. Concepts have to be learnt as defined because the precision of the language becomes clear only with maturity in the subject. “Why did Sanaya take Chemistry? Do you know,” she asked Mahi.
Mahi: Under parental pressure. Also, she was misled by her high CGPA score in the 10th.
Singh recalled the exchange that the Chemistry teacher Radhika Manohar had with Sanaya, “Yes, engineers need to have a working knowledge of chemistry. In any construction, when you mix cement and water, there sets off a chemical reaction. You need to understand the chemical process.... Did your contractor add more sand to the cement to save money? ….” Singh was not sure that Sanaya wanted to study Engineering. Who had put that idea into her head? A perfectly happy child now wore a huge grouch.
Folder 4: Niha Sharma. “History, Sociology, Psychology have such vast portions!! How do I finish learning?! Why did I opt for Humanities?”
Singh looked up at Mahi and asked, “What was Niha’s objective when she chose Humanities?
Mahi: She chose Humanities thinking it would be ‘candy floss for the brain’ — her words; but the vastness of the subjects shook her up.
History is voluminous. In Grade 11, it is world history, moves from prehistoric times to modern period over 11 vast chapters. In Grade 12, three more textbooks get added covering ancient, medieval and modern period. Now add Sociology’s 13 bulky chapters, and Psychology’s 9. That is the syllabus for Humanities. Beautiful subject but made into a beast.
Humanities Teacher: If they make these choices mindlessly or with an intention to wager…
Mahi: Students will do that! Ok, so she thought Humanities was a cake walk. And now she is struggling. We have to help her! Thirty-eight bulky chapters to be tested in a three-hour exam — you do not find that absurd? What is the objective of an examination? Think of the process of studying three books in an academic year of nine months, nine months of which 6-7 hours a day gets spent in school and 70 per cent of that time already devoted to other subjects. Is this meaningful?
Should we not make a detailed presentation to the Board and show them how impossible this syllabus is?
Singh: Presenting to the Board of Education will be of no use. The ones who can make a difference are those at NCERT — they formulate the framework, the policies, the programmes, the educational strategies, curricula, pedagogical schemes and evaluation methodologies.
But Mahi had a bone to pick. When in a unit test Niha wrote about the war of Panipat, she said, “The Marathas carried their families with their armies; was this why they imposed huge taxes, to pay for the cost of their support?” the teacher had been very annoyed and admonished Niha saying, “India does not need you to rewrite history!”
A peeved Niha had countered, “But at least answer my question?” The history teacher threw up her hands to Mahi in frustration, “Why do these kids go beyond the brief?”
Mahi now quoted Socrates to Singh, “In Phaedrus, Socrates argues that the written word seems as if it has intelligence. But if you question the written word about their content, they have no power to protect or help themselves. They say the same thing. We experience this most in our profession, don’t we? Textbooks cannot answer back, object, counter, rebut! Hence the teacher, the living, walking talking teacher! Textbooks are a representation of an idea; for a student to make it her own, she needs to engage with it, beat it, reject it…argue it. The classroom has to enable all that…
If not students are learning what teachers want them to learn. Where is the real learning?”
Folder 5: Hedel Dhingra. At the PTM the other day, Hedel had walked in, her face like a volcano.
Hedel: I took sciences because my parents forced me. I hate school! I hate all the teachers.
Singh had known that Hedel had been forced to choose the sciences. In Grade 9, when the school had told her father that his daughter did not have the aptitude for science, he had become very aggressive. No one could make him see reason.
Hedel’s dad: We have a large business in chemicals and drugs and naturally our children will have to inherit and run it. Hedel needs science. She will be ok. Our older one too was rebellious and all, but she is sailing fine with science. Hedel will too.
Mahi: Hedel shows a certain finesse for business and commerce….
But father Dhingra would not hear of it. Through Grade 10 and 11, Hedel pulled along with the subjects she hated. Now in the 12th, Hedel was sulking, restless.
Then there was Lakshmi. Her folder read, “I don’t want to be a doctor or an engineer or a chartered accountant. I want to do retail and marketing. Why can’t my parents understand? They are enrolling me already for IIT-Jee and I don’t want to take Sciences, I want Business Studies!”
The psychologist who assessed aptitudes had noted, “She wants to be directly relating to and with the end user; she wants to be in the service industry; she wants to construct solutions and solve problems, find answers for people! Her parents need to be explained to. It would be a shame if she becomes an engineer!”
That was two years ago. It had been impossible to make her parents un-derstand. Lakshmi was forced into sciences. Her performance in physics was lower than it needed to be pre-pared for the Boards. A few months to the Boards and Lakshmi was a wreck. “Why don’t I get married instead?” she asked her horrified father.
Aruna Nagpal (Physics teacher): I understand the student wanted different subjects, she did not get it. All that is fine. We are in the here and now. Here is where she needs to step up her effort in Physics. Seventy per cent is dangerous. It will pull down her average. She needs to get to 99 per cent, 100 per cent. Have you seen colleges in Delhi? The cut off is 100. How will Lakshmi get admission? What will happen to her?
Later, Mahi sat with Lakshmi and said, “My grandmother would say, by remembering yesterday’s dinner, you cannot fill your stomach today.” Lakshmi who had been sobbing, now chuckled. Mahi said, “A career in retail and marketing is a very good one. Go for it. Right now, deal with the resistance you are facing. You need to make Physics your friend. My cousin Naren studied Mining Engineering because he was crazy about minerals. Everybody worried for him. At the campus interview, he got chosen by an ad agency! Will you believe that? Point I am making is, his engineering passion could not give him a career in engineering industry. And what he made his career, he knew nothing about. That means despite his most boring profile (and they both laughed), the ad agency found him to be a very interesting fellow! Give the future a chance. Don’t keep scolding Physics. Oh, by the way, Naren won a huge Cement account simply by virtue of his deep understanding of processes during his presentation! So, finally all experiences add to us!”
And to Singh, Mahi said, “Why do we talk to students about marks, marks, marks? Noreen was rejected by the system for her 73 per cent because it wanted only 99 per cent. Does anyone care about Noreen’s sense of failure? Is the system greater than the student? All these students, they are unhappy with the choices they have had to make. And now the system it seems penalises them for making ‘bad choices’ ”.
And then, she said, “Is it a wonder then, why some people use Physics to break locks or chemistry to end a life cleverly….!”
To be continued...Read Case Analysis: Rehmatullah Sheikh | G. Gautama | Pranita Lelecasestudymeera@gmail.com
