The recent NEET-UG paper leak controversy has brought the spotlight on much deeper concern in the Indian Educational System – “the devalued and much demeaned school assessment system”, which has given way to sprawling coaching culture and exam leak mafia.

As per a national news report, various academics, educational experts and several senior officials associated with the Union Education Ministry, have all pointed to the need to restore the primacy of school level teaching and learning. This can be made possible only by increasing the weightage for school level examinations in the entrance exams.

Every year lakhs of students are shifting out of main schooling to DUMMY SCHOOLING. Many are shifting to coaching from classes 9-10 in their plan to crack NEET or JEE or CLAT or other entrance examinations after 12th. They do so because our education system has rendered the school learning, performance and even the board examination, as redundant.

This is the larger issue that needs to be looked into while dealing with current crisis that has arisen out of NEET-UG paper leak. A student is required to score minimum 75% in class 12 board exams to be eligible for JEE Mains, but only 50% for NEET-UG.

Further there is no standardization among different boards across whole country. In addition to ICSE, CBSE boards, different states conduct their own state board examinations for class 12th. All have different standards.

Educational experts say that this weightage system is faulty and devalues the overall school based teaching and learning process.

Since school level competency and performance has no weightage in the entrance exams, a student enrolls in the dummy school attached with the coaching center just to have minimum percentage required as per eligibility to appear in the entrance examination. Students do not actually ever go to such dummy schools.

Schools which otherwise is to provide and enhance holistic and overall development of the child , hence are rendered as redundant i.e. not actually required for those who wish to crack the top level examinations.

So, instead of overall developing the young minds who can become good citizens in future, they are being trained to pass a particular exam only with 100% focus on clearing the exam. They don’t socialize or hone their talents or do some physical activity or follow any passion of theirs.

For 2 full coaching years, the students are expected to study only the entrance based books. There are also high stakes involved in view of money i.e. the investment being made by parents towards paying coaching fee and the paper leak mafia.

Further, students who are unable to crack the entrance exam sometimes get depressed and some even attempt suicide, because of missing holistic development which can help them face the failures in any phase of life.

No higher institute wants mechanically and heavily coached students. Hence, the recommendations of educational experts that: ‘the school level performance across curricular and co-curricular areas besides projects and internships should be accorded weightage in all entrance exams taken just after school’, should be more than welcome by Ministry of Education and should make ways to implement it fully as soon as possible.

The Government must pay requisite attention to the issues on the subject, the causes and the recommendations by the educational experts.

The young minds need to be guided for overall holistic development through a well spun school educational system with synergy to increase mental aptitude of the students to get into renowned higher educational institutes.

After all, a country would always need good citizens with ability to work for the various issues hurting the country and for the betterment of society as a whole and not only well trained mechanized people, grown with sole purpose of becoming good earning machines.