Exam blues and the HSC SSC Exam results saga

Exam blues and the HSC SSC Exam results saga

My nephew got 89% in HSC (Science group) and is sulking as he expected more than 90%.  He is such a bright boy and thinks that with these marks he won’t be able to pursue Mechanical Engineering, which is his ambition.  Such is the stress level faced by students these days that even when they are preparing for 12^th standard exams, they have to start thinking of the next level, as they prepare for several Entrance exams.  To add to his woes, he could never aspire for an Engineering Seat in Maharashtra as he is not eligible for a domicile certificate despite spending his majority of years studying in Ahmednagar and Talegaon, a town near Pune.  I can never understand this absurd rule where a student is considered a foreigner by the state in which he is studying because he falls technically short by x no. of years.  This made him try out Entrance examinations at the national level.

Such level of stress make students vulnerable and robs their innocence at an age where they should be enjoying their life and aspire for better things in life.  The structure of education in India is complex and never clear.  Too many boards at the school level like the ICSE, CBSE apart from the State Board and no consistency in the school and college syllabus makes matters far more worse.  Adding to the woes is the low and conflicting level of teaching staff.  I am talking only about the private schools.  Regarding the situation in Government schools, the less said, the better.  There has been a lot of expert views in this topic, but some issues require more common sense rather than any major policy decisions.

One such issue relates to the production of attested photocopies of mark sheets for admissions to colleges, various courses and various jobs.  This results in great demand for gazetted officers, who give signatures attesting the photocopies of the certificates as if they own the certificates.   Why can’t have an unique code in the marksheet that can lead to a database where you can verify the correctness of the marksheet at any point of time.  Just like a PNR No. check done for Railway tickets.  All this hassle behind attestation will go away, and the student need not feel overly concerned with the preservation of the original marksheets.  Today, Mutual funds deliver e-statements that can be opened online anytime with a Password that leads to a PDF document.  Even SC/ ST certificates can be made online. 

        Don’t you think this is possible?