Boarding on the Board with Entrance Exams

The National Education Policy (2020) highlighted the need for immediate attention to both cognitive and non-cognitive aspects to promote holistic student development and equip them with 21st-century skills. It brought a lot of changes in the education system; multidisciplinary courses are introduced, vocational education is offered at a very early stage, research and innovation are encouraged, and physical and emotional well-being are given utmost importance. 

Although efforts are taken seriously at the policy level, students encounter lots of challenges from the environment. In the current competitive scenario, attaining a successful career path has become the primary reason for stress, anxiety and depression. As the board exams are going on, students are at the peak of all these emotions. In a Mental Health survey conducted by NCERT in 2022, 87 per cent students at the secondary level (IX to XII) and 74 per cent at the middle stage (VI to VIII) were found to be anxious about studies, examination and results. Psychological, social, environmental and life situations are found to be the significant factors influencing mental health and well-being. In India, the number of suicides during 2023 (1,71,418 suicides) has increased as compared to 2022 (1,70,924 suicides), out of which 8.1 per cent of the suicides are committed by students (National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, 2023). As per UNICEF, Half of all mental disorders begin by age 14, and 75 per cent by the mid-20s. 

Intelligence Quotient (IQ), which is influenced by multiple variables such as genetic factors and non-genetic environmental factors, is found to have a positive relationship with one’s academic achievements (Singh et al., 2016). It is an obvious fact that students with different IQ levels writing an exam under the same board will perform differently. But parents, students, and educational institutions are all chasing a target. The target is to get a seat in a reputed institution. Now, stress increases exponentially when a student has to face boards as well as entrance exams. 

JEE, NEET and CUET have become the main concern of stress for the majority of students. Every year, the number of students appearing for JEE (14,15,110 in 2024, 11,13,325 in 2023, 9,05,590 in 2022) is increasing; but only top 2.5lakhs (approx.) get a seat in prestigious institutions like NITs, IIITs and CFTIs. Likewise, out of 20,36,316 students who appeared NEET UG 2024 exam, only 11,45,976 candidates have qualified. Cut-offs are increasing every year, and students are under tremendous pressure. The race doesn’t end here. Although there is no minimum criterion to write all these exams, there is a minimum requirement of 75 per cent in the 12th Board for those who have qualified JEE to join a premier institute, and 50 per cent in the 12th Board is the minimum criterion for NEET. In CUET, the cutoff is mostly around 98 to 99 percentile for the top universities.

The nature of the exam for both the Entrance and the Board is different. While Board exams are subjective and based on a defined syllabus, Entrance exams are objective and covers vast syllabus. These entrance exams are perceived as a test of luck rather than knowledge and efficiency. More often, students get biased by the environment rather than pursuing their own areas of interest.  This leads to bias in career selection, by Parents, Career Guides, coaching classes, peer pressure, etc. A survey done in Karnataka by Pienyu et al. (2024) found that 86 per cent of adolescents face high academic stress, 87 per cent experienced high perceived parental pressure, 28.5 per cent had moderately high anxiety, and 57.7 per cent have low general well-being. In India, 1.4 per cent of suicide is due to failure in exams (National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, 2023). 

NEP has given a lot of emphasis on counsellors at schools, especially at secondary and higher secondary levels. As a result, Counselling services are provided before the Board exams. Undoubtedly, MANODARPAN is also playing a vital role. As per the government. guidelines CBSE schools need to appoint a full-time counsellor if the student strength is more than 300 in classes from IX to XII. This raises the main concern. On one hand, the student-teacher ratio is very carefully managed by schools where a common subject is being delivered to a class. On the other hand, a counsellor, for whom each student is unique, is burdened with a disproportionate ratio. For effective counselling, emphasis has to be given to the counsellors as they play a vital role in connecting all the stakeholders.

A survey by NCERT on mental health found that only 24 per cent of students at the secondary level share their stress with parents, and 49 per cent share it with friends. But friends might not be able to handle the stress in a proper way due to their lack of knowledge or awareness. Unless the number of counsellors is increased, it is not possible to address the challenges of every student. All stakeholders: students, parents, govt., counsellors, career gurus, coaching centres, etc., need to understand the delicate phase of mind which these students are going through and act appropriately. This will lead to the proper implementation of NEP and help in nation-building.