Ignoring Exam Failures Raises Alarms in Jammu and Kashmir Education System

After the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE) announced the 12th annual (regular) examination results, all attention was moved to the achievers, notably the top scorers.

Amidst the congratulations and celebrations for the successful candidates, a stark reality has surfaced: none of the stakeholders have spoken about the kids who did not pass the exam. This rising tendency has grown difficult for the young student population, especially for exceptionally mediocre achievers or those who fail the exam on their first attempt.While stakeholders and society lavish praise and attention on the top scorers, individuals who fail the exam are shrouded in obscurity.The implications of this societal attitude are profound, especially in the context of child-rearing. The crucial question is, 'Are we equipping our students with the resilience to handle failure?'

BOSE recently announced the results of the class 12th examination, which yielded a pass percentage of 74%. Out of the 93,340 students who took the exam, 69,385 passed. Girls outperform boys in all streams, taking the top three positions in Science, Commerce, Home Science, and Arts. The pass rate for boys was 72%, while girls scored 77%.

On the day of the results, while stakeholders celebrated the achievement of those who passed the exam, a female student in south Kashmir's Kulgam district died of a heart attack moments after the results were announced.Later, a male student from Srinagar committed suicide after failing the exam. Such events serve as sobering reminders of the enormous pressure and competition that students experience nowadays. The parents have pushed the youngsters into a rat race at such a young age. The celebrations and jubilations for the successful candidates represent the social truism that "success has many fathers while failure has none".

According to experts, the overemphasis on class 10th and 12th grades as life-defining benchmarks has resulted in a corrosive atmosphere of cutthroat rivalry among students."Post-results, the air remains filled with celebration and added stress for those who could not make it. Such an environment has dire consequences, pushing some students to extreme measures," said Prof Arshad Hussain of the Department of Psychiatry at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar. 

He advocated a change in mindset and suggested screening films like '12th Fail' in schools not to glorify success but to sensitise students to failure and the resilience it demands."The movie has aptly and sensitively dealt with failures. The concept of restarting and rebooting after failure needs to be taught to every young person and that is the essence of life," he said.Noted academician Zahoor Ahmad Chatt, former Chairman of BOSE and former Director of Colleges J&K said that instead of celebrating toppers' success, the focus should be on encouraging average performers."Celebrating positions does not encourage or motivate the average performers, it rather discourages them. Our focus should be on failures and average performers," he said.Chat said that, as per the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, marks and positions must be abolished, and grades must be awarded in exams."Issuing merit lists and celebrating the success of merit holders should be discouraged," he added.

Experts suggest that the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education should prioritise fostering average performers and resilience over celebrating top scorers and failures.