Kathmandu:

It has been three years since I sat for my School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examinations. Being the first born and the first one in the house sitting for the so-called ‘iron gate’, I had got all the attention focussed on me. Every subject teacher came to my house and tutored me, my parents woke up early in the morning to make tea for me, my brother watched TV at the lowest possible volume and made almost no noises while playing. And of course I studied hard to get above average marks.

I was lucky that none of my cousins were giving the exams along with me and I did not have any in-house competition as to who would get the higher marks competition. Thankfully my SLC chapter ended on a satisfactory note for me as well as my family.

This year it is my brother’s turn to star in this SLC drama. I’ve called it family’s SLC because we have all seen it is not only the student who is appearing for the SLC who suffers from SLC fever, but the entire family has to bear the SLC-stress.

Every time I visit any relative’s place I’m asked about my brother’s preparation and I’m advised to wake him up at 4 am because my relative’s so and so had prepared the same way during their SLC. My mother’s sisters and friends never end their phone calls without discussing my brother. The case is same with my dad.

As for my brother, he has not been receiving any phone calls for more than three months because he has to answer questions like ‘How hard are you studying?’, ‘Can you guess how much you will score?’. On the top of that, my brother has many so-called in-house competitors appearing for SLC along with him. The funny part is neither my brother nor those appearing for the SLC consider themselves competitors, but it is the other relatives who are guessing who will score more.

I have also heard that one of our closest relatives locked her son in his room with all his books because he was not studying but loitering around. It turns out that he wanted to feel fresh and had walked around for sometime after his continuous day-night study. The mother also understood his need to stretch his legs but was afraid of what her neighbours would say about her SLC-appearing son not studying but loitering somewhere.

And I can’t help wondering why SLC is made out to be such a big deal?

These kind of pressure on students makes them feel nervous. There are many schools that put on extra stress on students during SLC. We see advertisements of schools with the number of students passing SLC in distinction. I fear these kind of practices will only lead to mark-oriented education system instead of knowledge-oriented education system.

If such a trend continues, a day might come when students are not taught from books

but are spoon-fed guess papers and guides only. And mothers will lock their SLC-appearing sons and daughters in their room and tie them with rope or chains.