Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

On reducing stress

The move to convene an all-party meeting to review the education system (editorial “Taking the stress out of schools”, March 21) is welcome. Even though we give tremendous importance to professional education, no reform has touched the problem of burden cast on school children so far. More than the curriculum, it is the rigid system of examination that needs to be changed.

In learning, logical thinking and memory should be given equal importance. It is true that competitive examinations cannot be avoided. But they can be made less stressful.

V.P. Sreenivasan,

Bangalore

Long before R.K Narayan launched his campaign against the crushing burden of school bags, William Shakespeare wrote about “… the whining school-boy, with his satchel/ And shining morning face, creeping like snail/ Unwillingly to school.”

The existing system of evaluation tests only the skills learnt through rote. The assessment process should be objective. There should be a reduction of 50 per cent in the volume of textbooks. Unless we make school going a more pleasurable experience, the whining school-boy will continue to suffer from Monday morning blues.

Col. C.V. Venugopalan (retd.),

Palakkad

Our education system lays too much emphasis on theoretical approach to studies. This has led to the deterioration in the quality of education. Reforms should not end with revamping or rewriting textbooks and syllabi. There is much ado about cent per cent results in schools, as a result of which teachers put too much pressure on students. At home, parents push their children to top in their classes, ignoring the children’s aptitude. All these result in the lack of creativity and originality.

Even today, our schools follow the obsolete method of monologue approach to teaching. Classrooms should serve as a platform for discussions on various subjects. Taking the stress out of schools should be a collective effort of schools, teachers and parents.

P.R. Rajeswari,

Dubai

The recommendations contained in the NCF should be implemented at all levels — school (teachers and students), home and the government. The implementation of reforms suggested in any report needs meticulous planning and a change of mindset at every level. The Tamil Nadu government’s successful implementation of activity schools at the primary level is a case in point.

Lt. Col. R.V.S. Mani (retd.),

Madurai

As the editorial says, the primary goal of school children is to get the highest possible marks in the key school examinations to get admitted to leading professional colleges. This is perhaps because education has become a window of opportunities. The very high salaries commanded by professionals in IT companies drive students to mount a concerted struggle to qualify for a seat in a leading professional college. To parents, the success of their wards in this rat race seems to be more important than anything else.

K. Vijayakumar,

Bangalore

The examination system, which seeks to evaluate what students learnt in the course of one year in three hours, is highly illogical. A student who prepares for the examination at the fag end of the year ignoring some portions may score better, thanks to his preparation from the examination point of view. The system, therefore, defeats the idea of evaluating talent and intelligence.

R. Gururajan,

Coimbatore

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