Gone are the days when students could heave a sigh of relief after their Board exams and not look at their books again for a month. Week-long trips to the hills, movie-watching sprees or workshops to learn new skills are unimaginable these days.
In the 21st century, students seem to be finishing their Boards only so they can start studying for their next exam!
Ipshita Seth finished her CBSE exams on March 28 and left for Darjeeling with her family the next day. But she had to return on April 5 as her tuitions for Class XI were starting that same day. “If my vacations were longer we would have extended our stay but there was no way I could have missed tuitions,” says the resident of Purbasha complex near Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals. Her school, DPS Ruby Park, reopened on April 18 and she has no time to dream about vacations now.
Shivansh Jhunjhunwala finished his Class X Boards in March-end and his school — Hariyana Vidya Mandir (HVM) — and tuitions both resumed on April 11. “Then school gave off for summer vacations from mid-May but that brought little relief as tuitions are still on. Before the Boards I was studying five hours a day and now I have five hours of tuition a day,” shrugs the resident of Ujwala complex, near City Centre 2.
Those having taken the Class XII exams are busy preparing for competitive and college entrance exams. “I had wanted to watch The Conjuring 2 after my Boards but that’s wishful thinking. Neither I nor my friends have time,” says Nilanjan Gupta, who topped his school HVM with 96.8 per cent marks. “I’m preparing for Presidency University’s history entrance test in July and so have made peace watching World War II videos on YouTube instead.”
Give me a break
The apology of a break seems to have become the trend. “Everyone asked us to slog it out in our plus-two, saying we could relax afterwards. But finishing the Boards was just the beginning of a summer full of chaos and pressure,” recalls Priyasarshini Purkayastha of BC Block, who gave her exams last year and is now an engineering student at Techno India.
“After the Boards we have to rush to different parts of the country to sit for competitive exams, counselling and college admissions. We don’t even get a breather after two years of intense concentration.”
Nonetheless students have been trying to make the most of the scanty vacation. Ahana Ghosh, a La Martiniere For Girls student, has been baking cupcakes and cookies after her Class X. “I also started painting and swimming. I love both but had given them up after Class VII due to the pressure of studies,” smiles the BE Block girl.
Amartya Khan drew for four days straight after completing his last Class X exam. “I love drawing and playing the guitar but hardly had time for them in the run-up to the Boards. But in a few days school and tuitions resumed and now I can only draw once in three or four days and play the guitar not more than once a week,” says the boy who lives in New Town’s Utsa Luxury apartments.
Suvam Das of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) says he’s better off since he’s taken humanities in his plus-two but pities his friends who have taken the science stream. “I want to be a chef and spent the break learning how to cook from my aunt. I have almost aced chicken biriyani,” he smiles. “But whenever it comes to catching up with friends, the science students back out. Their tuitions started a week after the Boards and they have them daily.”
Ipshita says the last time she got a decent vacation was when she got promoted from Class VIII to IX. “We had got a month and half off. But I wasn’t allowed to go out with friends back then. It’s only now that I’m allowed to go out but ironically now I don’t have the time,” she says.
Price of perfection
Then again most of the students are hardly complaining about the situation. They seem to have accepted it as the norm. “Yes, we hardly got a vacation but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” says Ipshita, who has taken up science. “I mean it’s a choice between a two-year sacrifice and a life-long one.”
Amartya says that if his tuitions hadn’t started soon after the Boards he would have started studying on his own. “I was already browsing my elder sister’s old books to assess the syllabus. Chemistry is my weakest link and I started chemistry tuitions before all others — in the first week of April. Science students have to be serious from Day One,” says the boy who has uninstalled Whatsapp from his phone after reaching Class IX.
But Ahana has been learning something in her Class XI psychology books that she wants to share with her batch mates. “The brain needs rest in order to take in so much information. This rest comes in the form of daily sleep and occasional holidays. But I see many of my friends over-exerting themselves. Some would go to the beach and still only think of ocean currents! That’s a physical holiday, not a mental one.”
Then there are those like Isha Tomar, who have consciously steered clear of the pressure. “I knew from Class XI that I wasn’t interested in engineering or medicine. That took a lot of pressure off my back and I could focus only on clearing college entrance exams for economics,” says the CJ Block girl. “So after my Boards I’ve had time to celebrate with my family. But my friends are still buried under books.”
Then and now
Payal Kapoor Killa, who had sat for her Class XII Boards 15 years ago, recalls spending a long stress-free holiday before joining St Xaviers’ College. “But times have changed. My sister Palak completed Class XII this year but continued studying after the exams. I hardly got to spend quality time with her. The competition now is maddening and I feel sorry for this generation,” says the CL Block resident
The principal of BVB Rekha Vaisya recalls how her generation had got three whole months of holidays after their board exams. “I have been attached with this school for 30 years now and while initially I remember Board exam candidates looking fresh after vacations, now-a-days even students of Class II look stressed round the year,” she says. “Pupils are now so stressed that they don’t even laugh freely.”
Parents share her concern but are victims of the system themselves. Ahana’s mother Sarbani Ghosh feels students deserve a longer break after studying hard for so long. “Then again we also have to keep in mind the vast syllabus in Class XI and XII,” she says.
But Rakhi Nundy, who gives Bengali tuitions in AA Block, says the sooner the tuitions begin the better. “Students tend to take Class XI lightly thinking they would make up for it in Class XII. But that is not possible and moderate pressure is good for them in the long run,” she says.
Ashis Adhikary, who imparts physics tuition in Baisakhi, concurs. “I started the Class XI session as early as April 2 or 3 with good reason. Since examiners are asked to mark leniently these days most students get above 90 per cent and everyone thinks they have the aptitude to pursue science. It’s only after a few classes that I get to know whether a student would be able to cope or not and if we start tuitions early the students can re-think their decision without much time loss,” says Adhikary.
Jhumur Mandal, an AE Block resident who teaches English at Modern High School for Girls, says their school reopens pretty quickly but that the students aren’t bogged down with studies right away. “Since teachers are busy with Board exam paper corrections, the outgoing students come and take classes. It’s a welcome change for students before they get back to the grind.”
Suparna Bose, a resident of FC Block and mother of a Class X pass out, says she didn’t let her son touch his books the whole of April. “The entire month my son played football in FC Park. I wanted him to relieve his stress before starting the new session,” says Bose.
“There is no let up for science students once the wheel starts rolling in Class XI. Those who fail to cope drop out or fail. The only way that the pressure can be eased after the Board exams is by shifting part of the Plus II syllabus to Class IX-X,” feels Madhurima Sen, who teaches English in Bidhannagar Government High School in BD Block.
Are you for or against a longer break after the Board examinations?
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