Hooray, so your exams have been finally canceled, no need to study anymore, no stress from relatives, parents, and Sharmaji’s son, no tension of grades, no more sleepless nights anymore, is it really like that? But you’ll still get a score or some sort of a grade right? What you’re experiencing right now is a sudden momentary burst of emotions, this momentary sense of joy is temporary, when you try to look behind all the fun and partying, the reality might scare you, cause you might be the first batch of students who will never give quite probably the most important and deciding exam of your entire life.
Are the students to be blamed for this? No, not at all. Is the government to be blamed for this? No, the only thing that can be blamed for the current scenario is the situation. The world in the last 1.5 years has progressed in probably the most unpredictable manner possible, volatility has found a new meaning in these times, almost all institutions that appeared rock-solid have been shaking from their very root.
Online education has been a rollercoaster altogether, if someone would have told me 2 years ago that there will come a time when everyone will attend school via online software from their homes, I would have laughed at you pretty hard, and probably I would have considered you to be insane.
The Positives:
Well, you’ll probably be the first generation of Indians to have graduated high school with almost zero or no effort and stress, a period that is considered to be the most crucial and stress generating period in your school life has been conveniently avoided, that’s a pretty nifty little achievement right there, huh?
You will not have to suffer all those dreadful all-nighters and sleepless nights stuffed with insomnia, you won’t have to deactivate all your social media accounts and post an Instagram story that says “off till boards” and dedicate yourself to long hours of studying, you will not have to give up all your social life for 3 months straight, you won’t have to give up all your hobbies and stuff you liked doing for studies, neat right?
You will save yourself from all the comparison competitions and measurement marathons, Sharmaji’s son and Vermaji’s daughter probably wouldn’t trouble you this year as much as did during your 10th boards 2 years ago.
The Negatives:
You’ll probably miss the lifetime opportunity of working really hard to prove yourself and get a score based on your merit. Lots of students plan on getting a better score in their 12th board and improve themselves, especially those students who’ve performed poorly before by working hard in order to prove themselves and to ensure a good college. It might even appear very unfair to some people as the scores will be calculated on the basis of the previous year’s marks.
A lot of students, especially from the commerce and humanities streams depend solely on their board exam scores in order to get into prestigious colleges and universities, with this option being snatched away, they might be feeling helpless, as their last opportunity has been taken away by the pandemic.
The board exams are not just exams, so to say, it is an experience in itself, missing out on it, might make you lose touch with this experience, this period of time, a period when everyone is working their ass off, will probably never come back again in your life, this experience of being in complete control of your life’s path and directing yourself towards your desired goal provides people with an extreme sense of confidence and clarity. Missing out on this might seem irrelevant today, but later it might pinch you when all your juniors and seniors would be discussing their board exam stories, and you would have to stand there clueless with no idea how does this experience exactly feel like.
You would miss the lifetime opportunity of scolding your kids and grandkids by saying “are padh lo abhi board exams aa rahe hai, main apne time mein 28 ghante padhta tha” cause your advice will be ignored the way Indians ignore the zebra crossing on the streets.
What can you do?
Accept your fate, relax and look forward, what’s done is done, stop feeling guilty, you can’t change it, it was not your fault, this is just a temporary situation, it will pass away, focus on how to move onwards from here, plan and strategize clearly about what will be your plan of action from here, learn as many skills as you can, as the future is going to be for people who can create value, marks will become pretty irrelevant anyway. Look inside and discover what makes you curious, you’ll never look back again.
Today’s quote is:
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” ― Albert Einstein
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