It was shocking to read the news. “Girl ends life, 10 more attempt suicide.” (January 25th 2013, Greater Kashmir)
Amid all those coaching center (self-appraisal) advertisements in  (Greater Kashmir 25th January), I found something sad and heart wrenching. It was about the suicide attempts by young Kashmiri boys and girls after their results were declared a few days back.
What the hell. How could someone value some exams more than one's life? Does failing in some exam mean that you don’t deserve to live? Certainly not.
Suicide is surely not a solution. I am talking of the solution but let’s first find a problem. The problem according to society is scoring less than 33% marks in some subject (physics, chemistry, mathematics, accounts) and if you fall in the category of less than 33% then you (according to them) don’t deserve to live and those above 33% deserve a life for they are more superior than you because they mugged up and reproduced it on the answer script. Does this 33 % really mean something?  No, scoring less than 33 % does not make you a failure. You won’t be a less human by 67% if you have scored only 33 %.
I scored some 75% marks in my 12th exams for science stream and believe me; I don’t know the ABC of chemistry. I was never interested in knowing molecular mass of oxygen, atomic number, covalence and many more jargons. I crammed, retained all this in my mind and reproduced this on a blank sheet of paper just for the sake of passing and not for the sake of learning. This so called exam was not the test of my knowledge it was the test of my capability of reproducing what I had memorized.  I left the exam hall and it all  vanished from my memory. I managed to score more than 33 %. Does that really mean I am more knowledgeable than those who score less than 33%? If I go by the so called intellects in my society, it does. But if I go by what my heart says then the story is different. The real problem are the aunties  in your  family and neighborhood  who read too much in your results, your  father’s colleague  who talks so much about his son,  the Gulle Kak’s grandson, ABC’s  son , XYZ’s daughter. In short everyone adds to our worries. Our society pushes a kid to the wall, forces him to soak up the unwanted pressure. The poor kid is forced to carry the additional weight of expectations. He is forced to live tailor made dreams of those who could never dream. He is chocked up just for the sake of some figures. His dreams, aspirations and interests are overshadowed by the number jinx and they go unheard.

I joined Kashmir university a year and a half back and more than 75% students in my class (except me) were considered as the most academically sound students  of KU . Over the last one and a half year in KU, I and my classmates have failed miserably time and again. The thing that keeps us going is the belief that these exams are worth nothing. If you really believe in yourself you can make things happen beyond exam halls and classrooms.

(Mir Shahid Ul Islam
is Management student at The Business School , University of Kashmir)

Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST