When my school could not Produce 100% Pass percentage in Class X !

When my school could not Produce 100% Pass percentage  in Class X ! __________________________________________________

                                                                   By: Jugal Kishore

Students, parents and teachers -all eagerly wait for the declaration of result of class X and XII as they open channels for children to opt for different streams in Class XI and opportunities to join Higher Institutions of learning after Class XII. Teachers also eagerly wait to know the outcome of their efforts done on their students  during the academic session.

 In Class XII, we not only produced 100% but also added 10 % increase in the Performance Index of this class. Performance index is the average score of the class. From last year’s 56, we reached 65 this time.

 Another feather was added in our cap when a student named Miss Astha Attrey became the Second Regional Topper in Class XII (Commerce Stream) by scoring 95.8% marks. 10 students out of 64 scored more than 90% marks in Class XII.

I knew well in advance that our result in Class X will not remain 100% this year. One of our students remained absent in one Examination. And he remained absent WILLFULLY. You will be surprised to know, why? Simply he wanted to teach a LESSON to his father! Now a days children teach so many lessons to their parents  but this  was a shocking one.

Two days  earlier he had burnt his Admit Card when his father did not agree to fulfill his demand. He knew fully well that his father had money in his bank accounts and after continuous  pestering  he would get his demand fulfilled.

 Children have different ways of getting their demands fulfilled. One of my sons would become silent and would avoid making eye contact. They are also very intelligent as they know fully well as to whom to approach for getting their demands fulfilled- a  grand mother, mother, uncle or father.

 The demand of our student was a little cumbersome. He wanted  to get a MOTORBIKE,  that too, before the start of his Mathematics Examination. He was damn adamant that he would write Math- Examination only if his demand was met.

No wise parent would agree to give a motorbike to a child who is under 18 years of age. Hence his father did not agree to his unjustified demand. Father was upset. He spoke to the school counsellor. She visited their home. She tried her level best to counsel him. He was becoming hyper in his behavior and complained that his father had enough money in his bank accounts then why  he didn’t he   listen to him. This impasse was brought to the notice of Class Teacher by the Counsellor who also rushed to this student’s home. After a lot of talk-he agreed that he would appear. Unfortunately-I was neither taken into loop by parent nor by the Counsellor/Class teacher. But in the heart of his hearts he had decided not to budge. He ultimately did not write his examination next day and remained absent. He would be such a hard nut-I had never anticipated.

This throws umpteen learning opportunities to all stakeholders viz parents, students, teachers and school administrators.

It seems that family and school  could  not  properly  motivate him  towards studies. Secondly, he was in the company of such boys who had motorbikes and were not under the control of their parents. Father could have made a check on the company he kept and he should not have disclosed the details of the amounts lying in his different bank accounts. If you fulfil all the demands of your child-she/he may start taking the things for granted. Thirdly, had he  been  handled  at the right time by the  parents and the school, the things would have been different. When I say school, I mean all the schools he studied in. He was admitted in my school in class IX.

I have a deep pain in my mind about his loss of one academic year and my loss of not producing 100% result in this class. During the preceding 10 years I had always produced 100% results in both  X and XII classes.