Stress is good

This refers to the Second Opinion, “Scrapping board exams is silly” by Mr KA Solaman (July 1). Mr Solaman has rightly said, “a little competition and stress is needed to prepare students for the big bad world.” Also, “stress for a school student is the same as that for a college student”.

Moreover, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal’s proposal to replace marks with grades will neither help reduce students’ stress nor be able to assess their exact performance. The proposal, if implemented, will also cause confusion at the time of college admissions.

Finally, I fail to see any mention of compulsory physical training for school students in the reforms suggested by the Minister. It is common knowledge that academic performance takes precedence over physical fitness of students in India. An average Indian parent tends to groom his or her child to focus more on studies than playing sports. Schools also tend to fall in line with the parents by providing very little time for sports and physical education in a student’s daily routine. It’s time the Minister focussed on this aspect of education too.

JS Acharya

Hyderabad. Source: The Pioneer, New Delhi 2 July 2009