lunes, 15 de julio de 2019

The burden of perfect 10 | The Indian Express

Written by Ashok Thakur, S S Mantha |Updated: July 15, 2019 3:48:51 am

The writer a former education secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, is currently Honorary Professor at Panjab University, Chandigarh

SS Mantha is former chairman, AICTE and adjunct professor, NIAS Bengaluru

The burden of perfect 10

Unrelenting emphasis on the highest possible marks points to deeper structural problems in education.

college admissions, DU admissions, Delhi university cut-off, college high cut-offs, India education, India higher education, HRD ministry, Indian express — The truth is that the “perfect 10” phenomenon is symptomatic of a larger malaise that is engulfing the education system of the country — a system that rewards rote learning and perpetuates coaching culture characterised by overdependence on class notes, and gives a complete go by to reading the standard text books. (Illustration by Suvajit Dey)

With the college admission fever on, the expectation of securing cent per cent marks to match the unbelievably high cut-offs continues unabated. Scoring a perfect 10 now seems to be the norm for the toppers. Brought up in a generation that believed that there can be no perfect answers and 60 per cent marks meant first division, this is all too bizarre. Does it signify that millennials are more intelligent? Whereas some may be inclined to think so, a closer look reveals that this reflects a worrisome situation of the nature of our education system and is not at all a cause to rejoice.