Can we make an education system which will retain the smiles on the faces of our children?                                                                                                                                 - Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

After a long time, the awaited results have come for the Students of Class X of CBSE schools. Along with that came the issues and problems that each and every student has to go through it in order to continue their senior secondary education. 

Students have to choose the streams in order to pursue their senior secondary education. But one might be thinking about what's an issue with this.

Most of the CBSE schools in India are not giving the liberty for the students to choose the subjects which they want to learn in senior secondary education. For instance, the most common stream is 

1. Science stream which consists of Computer Science/Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, and a language
2. Commerce stream which consists of Accountancy, Economics, Business Studies, English and an Optional subject based on school policy
3. Apart from this, We have Humanities Stream

So What's striking is that most of the CBSE schools including Kendriya Vidyalayas seem to have not followed the CBSE scheme of studies of the board. CBSE has been offering liberty for the students to choose any combination of Subjects for senior secondary education. CBSE Class 11 Stream Selection: Can students pick any combination of subjects? Check details here

Another subset of problems that arises along with the above-mentioned one is 

• Admission for streams on the basis of marks - For instance, KV schools are offering streams on the basis of marks like Science stream requires 60% of marks, Commerce 55% and Humanities for students who has declared successful in the examination. Like said before, freedom is again snatched away on the basis of marks. KV Admission Guidelines 2021- 2022; Refer Page no.18
• Not offering admission for Students with lower marks - It is veracious to say that the schools are not able to serve the students who scored low marks. Not necessarily the students have to be  50% or below, even the students who scored 70% are not provided admission. If the schools are able to have them till their 10th class, Why can't they have us for the next two years ? ...Shortage of Classrooms ? We are even ready to take classes in the corridor, school ground, or prayer hall...
• Negative impact on Student and their family - We have to admit that Schools are simply another home for students... they create endless memories there and most importantly, to learn something new... But kicking them out will push them to depression. Apart from having a negative impact on students, the above-mentioned behaviour will force parents to beg the school administration to secure admission for their children.

There is a high possibility that either you or the ones you know have gone through these awful circumstances. You might have wasted many years of your life by spending on things you haven't really loved or have a passion for.

The reason for unemployment is the same thing. People tend to choose their higher education by the factors of current employability, family and relative suggestions... Now think that you are provided with the freedom to choose subjects which you have a passion for, at a considerably early stage of professional life, we could reach the stars.

The solution for the problem is pretty much simple: to make it mandatory the schools should allow students to choose any combination of subjects without streaming. 

CBSE and Schools should consider students' voices and suggestions, who is the biggest stakeholder of the educational ecosystem because many times we are able to identify and tell them what we want. 

Another request is to implement NEP 2020 as soon as possible, But there are certain obstacles that are faced by certain schools in order to implement it. For instance, KVs are unable to implement them because students cannot be taught with their mother tongue till the 5th class. But still, they can exclude certain obstacles or even amend the policy, thereby allowing them to follow more innovative practices. And this could even be done by including students' voices.  National Education Policy 2020 | KVs unlikely to change medium of instruction

I believe that Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will stand by our side and support us from heaven. 

The Links which are provided below might be useful:

National Education Policy 2020

NEP ’20: Students to get freedom to pick subjects

CBSE Curriculum; Refer senior secondary curriculum

Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's Vision about Education