UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF GOVERNMENT’S NEGLIGENCE TOWARDS GRADE 12 EXAMS
The pandemic has shaken our country and the world in an unprecedented manner. The past six months has been uncertain, difficult, and gut-wrenching times for all of us. In one way or another, every single person has been affected by sudden, absolute, and recurring turn of events this year. Among the most affected groups are grade 12 students just at the verge of adulthood, hoping to move onto the real world this year.
Grade 12 examinations were due to be held on May with results being published around late-August. It is late August now, and students still don’t know if their exams are even going to be held. Here is why a delay in concrete decision by the government is affecting us all.
The problem with the government’s approach is that it has no approach at all.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF GRADE 12 EXAMINATIONS
Grade 12 examinations are the final school level and consequently the most important examinations in any country. Grade 12 results determine the students’ performance in not just the last year but also their entire school life. As a result, it is the assessment colleges use to admit students, jobs use to assess applicants and pretty much what decides children’s future and the path they are going to take.
THE URGENCY OF GRADE 12 EAMINATIONS
SEE gets too much credit in Nepalese society, everyone who has passed it knows that. Grade 11, it’s just a transition phase so there isn’t any urgency in that either. But every day that grade 12 examinations are delayed, a day of the life of every student is lost. Seeing where things are now grade 12 results will probably be delayed another 6 months at the very least. In total, that’s a year of a student’s life lost for no other apparent reason than the inefficiency of the government.
THE PROBLEM WITH THE GOVERNMENT’S APPROACH
To be fair, the government understands at-least the importance of grade 12 exams. That is probably the reason for such a long delay considering SEE and grade 11 decisions have been made. They want to conduct examinations but have no safe way of doing so.
But the government fails in recognizing the urgency of the matter. They have kept on dragging this issue like it can wait a year or two, it cannot. Universities, especially foreign universities, won’t wait for the lazy Nepal government to finally reach a decision. For grade 12 students planning to apply abroad, they have no idea whether to work on their application or to study for an exam that may not even happen.
For students planning to not attend college at all, they are losing months, possibly a year they could have spent taking on a job and building up their work experience.
And for domestic colleges too, they have no basis of admitting students, resulting in practically no standard for admission. The government’s refusal to make a decision is pushing back the entire education sector by a year.
The problem with the government’s approach is that it has no approach at all.
THE MENTAL TOLL ON STUDENTS
Can you imagine being in the middle of a pandemic and still having to face with the uncertainty of what your life is going to be. Can you imagine looking forward six months, and not knowing if you’re going to be in college or still studying for an exam. And can you imagine the frustration for having to study the same thing over and over again, and not knowing if you are going to be rewarded for it. The mental toll on grade 12 students is unimaginable, especially when everything around them is uncertain, this completely unnecessary added burden is frustrating to say the least.
THE STUDYING DOESN’T HURT ARGUMENT
Sure, you may say studying doesn’t hurt. Just prepare, “bhayo bhane bhaihalyo”. That is not how it works, Sure if it were an ideal education system maybe it would. I study something from the +2 syllabus now, I’ll forget about it a month later. In essence, students have to keep on studying things they already know just to not forget the “rote learning” method that our education system applies.
The students will be re-reading the same thing over and over again for an exam that may not even happen. Those six months could have been spent doing so much more. Six months is enough time to learn a new language, do a solid internship or learn an entirely new skill. There are so many opportunities the students will be missing out on.
TO CONCLUDE
Make no mistake, this is a huge government failure. This affects a large young population and the effects of this will be lasting. It may not be obvious now, but a year lost for hundreds of thousands of people is not a small thing.
In the end, students just want a decision, whatever that may be. It has been six months. And yet, there is not even a speck of certainty in lives of so many students waiting to see where life takes them. They just want a bit of certainty. A bit of assurance that their life isn’t going to be in turmoil a year from now.
