Why are Students Expected to be Best When the System is Mediocre?

We are expected to be ‘best among the best’ who land up here. Else, our fate is sealed.

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

We, the students of Delhi – having solemnly resolved to undergo (di)stress at the threshold of our college admissions – do hereby declare that it is unrealistic for our fellow, enlightened advisors to advise us to relax and face our board exams. Yes, we know that it will not matter how we fare, a few years hence, but it does feel disadvantaged to be studying in a school in Delhi right now.

Most Delhi students aspire to get admission in a 'top' college in their own city. The fact is, most cannot, since 'top' colleges are a 'handful', and aspirants, a 'hamper-full'. If you can afford the move, you understandably shift your gaze abroad. If you cannot or do not wish to, you look around locally but compete nationally.

To add insult to injury here, Delhi is deserted by NCR, which enjoys the advantage of 'domicile UP' and 'domicile Haryana', when it comes to admissions to state universities. Otherwise, they enjoy the exalted status of 'Delhi-NCR' for all practical purposes.

Therefore, we, the students of Delhi, with uncertainty staring us in the face, add to our worries merely by being residents of the national capital but are expected to (f)ace the Boards without stress.

Year after year, it is the same story. We are expected to be the 'best' among the best that land up here. Else, our fate is sealed.

The point is that we, the students of Delhi, are not too excited about the mediocrity our educational institutions offer us, and want the 'best' for ourselves too. Did we not give it our best shot? How fair is it then, to first limit our options, and then expect us to go stress-free to the exam centre?

And if it is not, isn't it time to stop playing Nero while Rome burns? Snigger if you may, but it is a grave situation for us.

Every single nerve is fraught with fear, not because we are not well prepared, but because our system is not well prepared to receive us.

The need of the hour is to invest in increasing the number of good institutions and improving the quality of those existing. Till such time, we, the students of Delhi have no option but to approach the Board exams with stress, because it has been thrust upon us by those who advise us to refrain from it.

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