Dear Board Exam,
I am writing this letter to you on behalf of the whole student fraternity. These are feelings expressed by the whole student fraternity, hope you read and mend your ways.
The advent of March is like a bad omen for students of class 10th & 12th. The minute the students know you are around the corner, they start getting panic attacks. The minute you arrive there is chaos all around. Your coming is never welcomed with joy, as you are a harbinger of woes for students. Even our parents, teachers and principals are in awe of you.
Your mere presence has a terrorizing effect on each and every one. No one can dare question your authority. Every year before you come, work has to be completed by both students and schools so that you don’t get miffed. The fate of the poor students is in your hands and any kind of faux pas by either the students or school authorities can create problems for both.
As soon as we students clear our middle school we are in for a shock. Entering senior school means saying bye-bye to our good old carefree days. The teachers and the school authorities keep on hammering in us the dire consequences which might befall us if we don’t take you seriously. Our day starts and ends with the ‘Board Bible’. If we students try to take it easy or play the fool in school we are taken to task.
Our life has become hell as you know ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ 24*7 it is only studies, notes, assignments, tuitions, tests and exams. There is nothing in the name of entertainment. We only chant your name the whole day like the beads in a rosary. We are exempted from all normal, fun activities of the school. We also want to be a part of the extra-curricular like the rest of the classes and enjoy school life to the fullest. Why do you want students should keep their noses to the grindstone? Why do you like to be a sadist and take away the fun out of a student’s life?
Take some pity on us as because of you we have become morose. There is no joie de vivre left in our lives. We are buried under the pile of books. Even our parents are scared of you and they too keep hounding us if we take life easy. You write the fate of students, because of you there develops jealousy, competitiveness, depression, anxiety among us students. The happy camaraderie which we shared with our friends turns to ambition, outdoing each other and seclusion.
The minute you come hell breaks loose in our homes, we are prohibited from using gadgets, watching TV, going on social media, going for movies, parties or hanging around with friends. They keep harping all these things that will distract us and we will fare badly. Because of you we develop examinophobia and suffer psychologically, socially, emotionally & cognitively. Because of you we become demotivated, experience blankness, get scared due to other high expectations from us and peer pressure.
Too much study clogs our brains and we can’t think logically. Due to this, we may not perform well. Being a tough task-master you won’t show any leniency while doling out marks. Every teeny-weeny mistake will be blown big and we may score badly.
You tend to test our patience before you announce your results. Some students who fare well are on cloud nine, they are treated as heroes. They are felicitated, given a hero’s welcome by their alma mater and a great fuss is made.
Some students who don’t score well get any happy tidings. No one fusses around them making them feel worthless and at times compelling them to take the extreme step. They commit suicide just because of these petty scores. You make them culprits in front of their friends and family.
I request you please take pity on us and lessen our burden. Let us work at a leisurely pace instead of burdening us with the excessive course. In the lines of Oliver Goldsmith can ‘That one small head could carry all he knew. ’It becomes difficult for us to devour so much at one time and produce it verbatim for you.
Please, give back our happy, carefree school life so that we bloom. Don’t be a spoke in the wheel and curtail our freedom with excessive work. We request you don’t judge us on the basis of paltry marks instead help us in holistic development. Live and let live.
Yours obediently
A hassled student
Dr PREETI TALWAR
