The Dark Side of Kashmir’s Grade Obsession |
By Peer Mohammad Amir Qureshi
Each year, when the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) releases Class 10 and 12 results, the Valley comes alive with celebration.
This spring, 79.94% of Class 10 students—116,453 in all—passed their exams. Girls topped boys, with an 81.24% pass rate compared to 78.74%. In Class 12, 74.83% of students succeeded, with girls again leading at 77.72% against 71.95% for boys.
Families poured into sweet shops, almonds vanished from shelves, and neighborhoods hummed with pride. For students who worked tirelessly, often through power cuts and political uncertainty, it was a moment to savor.
But as the festivities fade, a hard truth remains: in Kashmir, where grades are everything, high marks don’t always mean a bright future.
The region’s obsession with exam scores hides a deeper crisis: an education system that churns out certificates but leaves too many young people stranded.
For every student clutching a top score, others face the pain of falling short. Thousands didn’t pass their JKBOSE exams this year. Many now wrestle with self-doubt, fear, or a sense that they’ve let everyone down. Are they failures? Hardly. They’re teenagers navigating a system that slaps a single number on their worth. A low score at........