Photo: Amran Hossain
It's results day!
And what exactly does results day mean?
Did you think it's a day when exam results come out? You are gravely mistaken.
Results day is the day that proves what kind of a human being you
are. Whether you are amiable or insolent, your results will tell us.
Whether you are capable of a future or will live on the streets, your
results will tell us. Whether you are a man of God, or Satan's spawn,
your results will tell us. In Bangladesh, results day is the day you
find your worth in the world.
This year, three SSC examinees have committed suicide after the
release of their results. Many more have admittedly gone into
depression. The pressure becomes unbearable once the results do not
match the expectation of society. “From a very young age, students in
our country face the 'nothing except an A grade is acceptable' pressure
from school and parents. This inflicted pressure causes an excessive
release of neurotransmitters in their brains, which change the
structures of their cells and neurons. This change in structure is what
causes agitation, depression and a severe drop in confidence level,”
says Nishat Fatima Rahman, Assistant Professor, Early Childhood
Development, BRAC IED. In many families and schools, weak students are
prone to becoming a subject of mockery, as they are constantly told off
if an A grade is not attained.
Most routines of school going children involve 8-10 hours of
studying, which requires them to be confined in a room with no human
interaction. “This creates severe problems in children's mental health.
At a young age, they need to go out, explore, interact, in order to
grow. But their growth is being stunted the moment they are handed so
many text books that they are required to memorise all day long,” says
Prof Nishat.
The obsession with results par excellence has lead to
more than just depression and suicide. There are students and others
across the country forgetting their moral values for good results.
Question papers are leaked before every board exam and despite
investigation; the Government fails to prevent the heinous act. Facebook
now consists of pages called 'Porikkhar ager rater proshno nin' which,
if literally translated, means 'Final questions the night before the
exam', which proves that question papers are expected to be leaked on a
regular basis. Even the page titled 'Bangladesh HSC Board 2014
Suggestions and Questions Help Line/Center' has revealed question papers
before the exams. Leading newspapers along with eminent activists and
academics around the country, including author Professor Muhammad Zafar
Iqbal of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology have compared
the leaked papers to the actual papers and found that 95 percent of the
questions match.
This trend of leaked question papers has become so popular that it
has even seeped through to the innocent minds of PSC examinees, mere 5th
graders. Despite complaints though, the Government denies the
incident.
“There is a lot of politics in our education system,” says Professor
Shumon. “One's education and knowledge have now been summarised into
results. If you actually dig deep into our education system, you will
find a lot of flaws. Teaching methods, schooling techniques, all of it
needs improvement in our country. But that will need a lot of money to
be invested. So what happens then? Grades are given away. At least that
way, it will seem like the students are doing well, even though we know
they aren't.” The abnormal rate of GPA 5 in SSC and the abnormal rate of
failure in HSC every year is evidence enough that there is a major flaw
in the system, which is why we see that many who passed with GPA 5 in
SSC, fail in their HSC. Or sometimes even those with perfect scores in
the board exams do not get admission in any universities.
The problem primarily starts from a very early age, for students.
“From class 1 all the way to Master's, our students are burdened with a
massive amount of content. Children of kindergarten carry 5-6 heavy
books everyday and get into the habit of memorising,” says Prof Dr
Wahiduzzaman, educationist, and Vice Chancellor of Noakhali Science and
Technology University. “And you will see, the pressure on children, the
happier their parents! Guardians nowadays do not care if their children
are mentally and physically healthy, as long as they bring in the
results,” he continues. According to him, teaching methods need to
change drastically. Wahiduzzaman also believes that the tradition of
memorising must be eradicated in order to get children to use their own
thoughts to produce answers. “The trend of memorising leaves children
clueless about what they are studying. They may write the correct
answers, but most of the times, they don't know what they are writing.
Many teachers like sticking to old traditions, and force their students
to memorise. This must stop. The creative system implemented by the
Government in the board exams may finally make a difference in this
regard.”
Photo: Palash Khan
On the other hand, a student of Viqarunnissa Noon School and
College studying for SSC exams, Asfia Azhar (not her real name), says
“it's creative only because they say it is. There is nothing creative
about it. We are provided with guide-books for creative questions, and
once again, asked to memorise answers.” Along with this added pressure
of memorising answers and making sure they are word for word from the
books, there is the enforced 'coaching' tradition. “There are compulsory
coaching classes that the students of class 5 and 8 are required to
take. These classes take place after school for around 2 and half hours,
and it almost has no additional effect. It is just extra pressure for
us students. There are also teachers who make us fail on purpose if we
don't attend their private coaching classes.” This malpractice from
teachers is an open secret, says Professor Wahiduzzaman. “I think the
best way to eliminate this problem is by increasing teachers' pay, and
giving more respect to the position.”
The societal pressure that comes with education is something that is
engrained in our culture and traditions. “I have been to many places
around the world. And I would say that our race is inherently
intelligent, when I compare. If we can give our children the space to be
themselves, we could do more good to the world than we hope for.
Parents must let their children play, run around, and be involved in
extra-curricular activities and give them space to develop their bodies
and minds themselves. Teaching our children morals, and letting them
explore themselves and their talents, is what will make them strive.
Parents need to understand that,” says Prof Wahiduzzaman.
The cold hard truth is that, no matter how many GPA 5s or Golden A+s
are produced every year, until the system changes, we will not see much
improvement in the education sector, thinks Prof Shumon. “Education must
be readily available for all. In our society it is believed that
without a higher education, you are nothing. In other parts of the
world, this is not the case. People get good paying jobs with basic
education. We need to let our children find their own paths instead of
forcing them on the one we think is right for them,” he adds, “parents
need to stop investing their whole lives and dreams in their children,
and citizens, policy makers, teachers and ministers need to ensure that
there is no politics involved in a child's education or future.”
The only way to stop this problem is awareness. “There is an urgent
need for parents and teachers to study child development. There is no
reason to believe that every child is equal. Comparing one student with
the other needs to stop, by parents and teachers both. Mocking young
children and mentally abusing them just for results must stop too. This
is no way of obtaining good results. Every child needs different
individual attention, because growth processes and learning capabilities
differ from child to child. We must learn what kind of method to apply
on which kind of child. We can't use the same method for all,” says Prof
Nishat. “There should be courses available on parenting and child
development given by either the Government or NGOs. Most of the times,
they don't even know the amount of harm they are inflicting on their
children. So without the knowledge of child behaviour and development,
our children will always suffer,”
As a child growing up in Bangladesh, the one phrase we are most used
to is 'what will society think?' This particular phrase establishes
society's role in our life as a body that is meant to scrutinise,
criticise and objectify our every move. It is, on the contrary, the job
of the adult members of society to understand and support our children,
harness moral values, and make them confident enough to reach for the
sky on their own. For now, our children are trying to soar without
wings.
