Bengaluru: Exam time is here and students are gearing up to give their best shot. It is the most dreaded time of the year for them, as their score will have an impact on their choice of college/ subject and eventually their professional life. The number of suicides after the results are a testimony of the flawed education system and the amount of pressure it burdens a child with.

So, when our PM in Mann Ki Baat talks about it being a celebration, it doesn’t resonate with children. In his speech, especially for students appearing for class 10th and 12th board exams, he said, “Exams should be a time for celebration. It is an occasion to show what you have learned. It is for you to decide if it is a pleasure or pressure. One must take exams like a festival. We give our best during festivals.”

But when a system only emphasises on marks and not your learning, it is hardly a celebration.

“Our education system doesn’t allow you to fail. It is a rat race, where you have to come first or second. The only purpose is to get marks. You are supposed to mug up and vomit out,” says Adrija Thakurta,a student appearing for class 10 boards.

The movie “3 Idiots” was an apt representation of our education system. “Indeed, we don’t have world class research, we don’t encourage our kids to ask too many questions. We only encourage bookish knowledge, therefore students are not great at practically implementing their knowledge,” says Shubhamita Chakraborty, teacher, State Govt. With cut-off marks as high as 99 to get admission in city colleges, it is a struggle to not chase marks.

But it is great for a PM to have a viewpoint other than what the system indirectly propagates.

“Exams have very little to do with the success and failures of life. The real thing in life is the knowledge you acquire. Marks and marksheet are limited, knowledge is what matters,”he was quoted saying.