The Sibal Revolution - Blessing or Curse?

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Kapil Sibal seems to have embarked upon a route that might change the face of Indian education forever. On the face of it, the new reforms do promise relief for young minds stressed with the ever increasing burden of expectation and the pressure to perform. It will certainly ease the trepidations on an exam day and on the dreaded day of results. As it is, the race for higher percentages has already begun to undermine the actual purport of knowledge acquisition. The minimalization of the importance of the class X exams, the first big test in a kid's life, and the clubbing of percentages under the broader system of grades will go a long way in alleviating the pressures of modern-day education as also in preventing students from getting into an ugly rat race of marks.

Notwithstanding its obvious advantages, Sibal's innovative new reforms does have their flip side as well. There is hardly any doubt that, along with the moderation of stress, the fire of competition too would cool down significantly. As a consequence, the motivation to climb the pedestal of academic success in schools and colleges would mellow down considerably as the pedestal itself would be removed from the system. This may, to some extent, pose some difficulty in extricating the specks of brilliance within a sea of average to mediocre talent. However, no system can be severed of its innate weaknesses, and Sibal's scheme is no different in that respect. It is only a walk down that road that will reveal it true efficacy, or, for that matter, its inadequacy.

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