Pushing them too far?

Parents cannot escape blame, says Anita Joshua.

It is a perennial issue. But for all the debate that it generates annually, during the examination and admission time, the issue of pressure on children has seldom provoked a sustained dialogue in the country; even within educational circles.

Yes, newspapers and television channels these days are preoccupied with the mad scramble for college admissions. Like they were last year, and the year before... But once the academic year gets under way, all is forgotten; to be raked up next year.

When this is the nature of discourse, it can hardly be expected to usher in any kind of change. The system, no doubt, has yielded on some counts. But, what Yash Pal, the Chairman of the National Advisory Committee — set up by the Narasimha Rao Government in 1992 to suggest ways to reduce the academic burden on school students — said a year later still holds true. Submitting his report, Prof. Yash Pal said in a letter to the Human Resource Development Minister that he was unable to "persuade myself that the `state' of our school education is an independent variable — that it could be altered without altering a lot of things in our social set-up!"

A walk around any neighbourhood will substantiate Prof. Yash Pal's contention. Playschools have mushroomed in practically every nook and cranny, and the age at which children are being packed off to these teaching shops that function in cramped drawing rooms has been progressively decreasing. Why? All because their parents live under the mortal fear of their children not making it to the best school their money can buy.

Initiated into the rat race at an age when they have barely learnt to walk, the expectation to perform — and perform well and out-do others — shadows children right through with many a parent turning them into little showpieces they can flaunt. And, some of the biggest names in the school industry are no better.

Despite the Central Board of Secondary Education doing away with the practice of announcing national/regional/city toppers, many schools are quick with claims of success stories when the board examination results are declared. Why, some schools even spend a considerable amount to advertise this. Similarly, parents of high-scoring children are known to pull strings just to ascertain their wards' `national' position. This, in fact, is a perfect example of society refusing to change even when the monolithic system has budged.

Though the system is far from perfect, it must be said that efforts have been made by the educational set-up to ease the pressure. The introduction of a host of vocational courses is a case in point; both of a system trying to open avenues for the ever-increasing numbers entering the education mainstream and a society that continues to cling on to established preferences when it comes to courses of study.

In fact, the academic burden on students and related problems have preoccupied the Government set-up for some decades now, and has seen the setting up of several committees. There was the Ishwarbhai Patel Review Committee in 1977, the National Council of Educational Research and Training Working Group in 1984, the National Policy on Education Review Committee in 1990, and, of course, the Yash Pal Committee.

Needless to say, all made recommendations, but still the country is faced with a situation when different levels of education work at cross-purposes. Though various boards have evolved a grading system to put an end to scores where competition often comes down to one mark, it is yet to be implemented because universities are reluctant to change.

And since such issues rarely attract any public debate — it does not even feature in university and college election campaigns — successive generations have been left with little choice but to go through the great Indian education mill, which, despite all its failings, has produced a fair number of success stories.

Even this may be a thing of the past soon; given the over-arching desire among education administrators to turn a knowledge-based society into an information-overloaded society.