Examination or war?

Examination is a process to assess a student and measure his or her knowledge, ability, aptitude, and progress. Regress of learners, teachers and policymakers of the education system can find out the points where possible amendment should be done. It helps us to realize whether the education system is on the right way to build up a better future.

Recently the trend has become to compare any exam with war. But how logical is it to make comparison an examination to a war? I am afraid of it. If you consider it only as simile and metaphor, it will be your mistake, perhaps, as this comparison can harm green and immature human brains. Sometimes terms of ‘figurative of speech’ can bring strong meaning, it is known to all. But if these impacts to run people on an unwanted way, it should be avoided–since there are huge differences between literature and real life.

‘War’ is a word in the dictionary everybody knows this and it may a good term for making comparisons when we talk and express our feelings with another, but the term is not so normal as we think. This contains very cruel meaning in deep. An examination is not so serious and dangerous as war. War is related to rights or revenge, and sacrificing blood and life. The examination is related to assess pupils’ learning and knowledge stage. But media has been using the term ‘war’ as synonym ‘examination’ in Bangladesh. Admission test to enter into higher education has been highly considered as a war for long, but now, all kind of examinations is compared to war without inner-processing.

Media describe examination in such a way that every examination or test is synonymous as fight and war; it keeps the boys and girls under heavy psychological pressure.

There are some people or guardians who follow a theory like “do not put your child on the ground, they may be destroyed”; that means these parents are so much aware of that their ‘children will do nothing’. They love to provide their children readymade things, even though without need. I can say they are over-conscious about the offspring’s demand. That is why one of the major parts of the green and unripe portion of the nation may have been unripe forever because they cannot understand what should be needed for their betterment and what they should avoid. This type of careless care of parents can make a child autistic or psychologically and physically backward or imbalanced.

There are other types of parents who try to keep their children on chair-table for most of the portion of a day. They seem if kids study a lot, they will learn so much which can bring best results. This kind of results will bring hilarious social status for them, and people will applause them by giving big hands, they believe as well.

You will find other types of parents who are not concerned about their children. They are as careless as they are not aware of lenient children’s eagerness. But they want their children will make happy them by obtaining good marks in examinations. Sometimes they manage black way to manage good result for children. But when their expectation goes to vain or becomes failed, they blow up their child by calling bad names or flogging. Can you imagine what is being happened?

Once I asked one of my teachers how he observed and monitored his children’s study. The respected teacher replied that he never created pressure on his children so much to do well and get the top of every class. He believes in learning, not in getting higher or highest marks. But my teacher wants his children to study well; as a dad, sometimes he has to follow the strategy of soft-threat, in a short discussion he made me know these.

The goal of the education system of a country cannot be offering better grades to the students in the exam. One of the major objectives of education is to make the best citizens by providing suitable and time befitting knowledge to the learners. Bangladesh’s National Education Policy-2010 says the same in 30 points aims and objectives.

Education activists, educationists or education specialist, education researchers, and who think about education never say the result of highest value in numbers should be achieved, they all want the implementation of pure and solid education; then why do we run for making glorious results without proper learning?

It is expected that institutes will try to become more successful than previous years. In recent years we see some schools and colleges are aiming brilliant ambition, trying to make the institutions successful as competitors will feel jealous or their number of students will increase by seeing the results. In this case, their purpose is to serve economic interests.

You will be shocked that the majority of these types of institutes do not do this in a legal way; most of the times they make deal or oral contract with examination centre or venue institutions to help their examinees in the halls. In return, the second party gets some dirty money. Sometimes attached officers in charge have to make company with them. So it, the situation is so dire, who will heal it?

There are so many people around us who always expect glorious results from the students and ignore who are not able to make them satisfied with their results. Sometimes, some who make better results, one step away from best, do not get appreciation or claps from society, even from their family members. These are not obviously good signs for our future generation. National stream of education of no country wants this result based valueless education, but it seems that authentic education is overthrown to result based education in Bangladesh.

And this wicked culture has been acclimatized by a large number of Bangladeshi little and teenage learners and they are taking any examination as war as media and some of the common people have made them understood. That is why boys and girls run after results; they believe only a good result can make a bright future and try to get good results by any means. Real learners are aware of if they want to make good results, the study is a must. But sometimes they keep themselves in the race in a destructive way, even though they know that it is one type of crime.

No examination should be compared with war even though it is rhetorical. An examination or test evaluates how much a student has learned and where the gaps in their learning; it aims at correcting students. Teachers can evaluate them through a successful examination as educators. It also can say and measure how much fruitful their teaching methods and strategies are as well.

I request the people of all classes not to compare examination with war and pressurize students to get higher marks in the examination. A good result does not always mean the entire thing is good. Learners should find themselves interested in learning and attending fair examination without extra pressure.

(An edition of this article is published in the Daily Observer titled Do not run after good result on Wednesday, 27 February, 2019 )