Why does a student fail in an exam?
The presumed answer to this question is mostly, ‘he/she was negligent and didn’t prepare well for the paper.’
And it’s true.
On most occasions the only reason why a student fails in an exam is because he/she didn’t study. And why he/she didn’t study is a different thing. Often this situation is followed with remarks from parents like, ‘you are not smart enough’ or ‘you have no interest in studies.’
Right from the primary to tertiary level of education, the situation in India is the same. Failure is automatically attributed to being ‘a loser’. No one wants to understand why a student doesn’t want to study.
The one dimensional nature of our education system leaves little scope for those who don’t fit in. People don’t understand that sometimes ‘not fitting in’ is a quality rather than a shortcoming.
We at RFI always believed in this, and our campaign #MyCareerMyChoice proved it too.
The overwhelming response which we got throughout the course of our campaign consolidated the fact that we are not the only ones who think like this. The stories of individuals who chose unconventional paths like music, arts, drama, cooking, photography, etc, struck a chord with many youngsters who also have different passions but got tied down by the stereotypical mindset of the society.
Today, when lakhs of students sit for engineering/law/medical entrance examinations, most of them don’t even know whether they actually want to join these streams or not. And when they do it without interest, failure becomes inevitable to many, and that becomes hard to explain to everybody around. Success is only determined by the marks you score. Whereas in reality, success isn’t one dimensional, there is so much more that goes into determining it.
The push (pressure) given by the parents is not always enough to take you through a course. Jokes on getting a back in an engineering college are pretty famous, but if you look objectively, these backlogs are an after effect of the lack of passion and interest one has towards the course. Students and parents have accepted it as a part of life without doing a deeper analysis about how different things could have been if they were doing what they love.
The number of students failing an exam will only reduce if they are made to give tests which they actually want to pass, and not the ones which they write to get a degree. You cannot expect a student to give in his/her 100% in something which doesn’t appeal to him/her.
Most of the stories we covered were of individuals who were initially into conventional careers and were not doing great, but eventually left it to reach great heights of success. The chances of being successful automatically increase the moment you decide to pursue what you love. After watching 3 idiots or taare zameen par we do have the momentarily realization of this reality, but it automatically reverts back after seeing those huge advertisements of coaching institutes in newspapers.
Great people say, ‘failure is the first step towards successes’, but in India things work a little differently. Most of the students don’t even step into the field they like, let alone be failing in it.
If you have ever failed in an exam, it does not mean you are inferior to anyone. Failing an exam is a wonderful thing, but only if it is the one you desperately want to pass. #DoWhatYouLove
This post is a part of our awareness campaign #MyCareerMyChoice. To read more posts from this campaign, please click here.
