By Anamitra Goswami
From a long time, we’ve heard students across the country complain that the system in place doesn’t test really intelligence but instead emphasises rote learning. We’ve also heard them lament the “limited” career prospects that exist in our country. But have we ever dug deep enough to realise that the system is nowhere near the root cause of the problem?
CISCE and CBSE have both radically changed their curricula in recent years to adapt to the rapidly evolving educational landscape. More and more application and practical knowledge-oriented papers and test series are emerging, whereas earlier, exams were strictly based on textbook knowledge rather than real-world application. Granted these papers still haven’t become fully intelligence and practice-based, but they’ve reached a standard where we can now rightly say that rote learning is no longer the biggest issue in our system.
Moreover, both CISCE and CBSE have introduced a wide range of new subjects in their curricula, enabling students to pursue nearly anything they might be interested in today. In fact, as of 2025, CBSE offers approximately 211 subjects. So where does the problem really lie?
The problem lies in the unwillingness of students to take psychometric tests for their own benefit, the parental pressure that still persists today, the anxiety students feel when considering anything even slightly unconventional, and the sheer level of competition in India, which deters students from pursuing anything outside a few glorified career paths.
We live in the information age. We have access to a plethora of resources that didn’t exist before. One of the most valuable among them is the psychometric test. A psychometric test, in essence, aims to help you understand what truly interests you. It assesses your abilities across various fields to identify the area most likely to bring you success and happiness. Unfortunately, despite having such a valuable tool at our disposal, many people choose not to use it and instead follow paths influenced by others.
The biggest influencers when it comes to career choices are, without a doubt, our parents. Parental pressure—despite being one of the leading causes of student dissatisfaction—still persists to a great extent. Many parents share the belief that if their child is “smart”, he or she must pursue science. What they fail to understand is that aptitude varies from subject to subject. For instance, if a student scores 98 percent in their 10th-grade board exams, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll thrive in the sciences. That student might instead excel at crunching numbers, keeping tally, and managing business affairs. In such a case, they’d be far better suited to a commerce-related path.
Then, of course, there’s the question of interest. Many of my own batchmates want nothing to do with the sciences, and it shows in how poorly they’re performing in the subjects they’ve been forced into. A student interested in their subjects will always outperform someone who isn’t—even with less effort. Interest is one of the most crucial factors in determining how far someone will go in a particular field.
Another growing issue is the marketisation of the competitive landscape, which has glorified certain career options to such an extent that students feel left out if they don’t follow the crowd. Coaching centres and private institutions aggressively market their programmes for monetary gain, pushing students into specific fields.
We must raise awareness about these silent killers. Otherwise, we’ll keep blaming the wrong things—and our nation may never truly progress.
(Anamitra Goswami currently studies in St Joseph’s Academy (grade 12), Dehradun.)
