In order to encourage and congratulate the students who had scored high marks in an examination, I organized a program of award giving in the school assembly. Nearly 50 students received the medals for scoring 90% marks in the previous examination. Those students were immensely happy and promised in future to score 95% and above marks in the coming exam.
That afternoon there was a YSM meeting. And I attended it. I was happy that one of the members raised the topic of the day’s award giving program. I felt that it was an opportunity to insist that all YSM students must get the award in the next exam.
In my presence the animators guided the meeting excellently. Students analyzed the feeling of joy and the value system that motivated those students who received the awards in the morning. It was praise worthy that students had high goals in their lives. Our schools and education systems usually encouraged and appreciated pupils who had high dreams and concentrated all their attention on achieving their target.
Suddenly a YSM student raised an issue. In her class, out of 48 students only 3 students received the medals. But 15 of them usually failed in one or two subjects. Most of those students were from poor families and their parents were illiterates.
A student from the 6th standard reported that some of his class mates studied 5th standard in “a one-teacher school”. They did not have the basic knowledge of mathematics or spelling of ordinary English words. YSM analyzed the feelings of those backward students, when the top students were congratulated. Their discouragement was natural because they could never hope to get the award as they were handicapped by the social system and the educational standards. If Jesus were to be there, he would stand by those weak students, they said.
YSM members in the 9th and 8th standard asked my permission to give in their free time, special coaching to those who were weak, specially in the 6th standard. YSM meeting decided to take all efforts to see that all the students of their class pass with good marks.
Surely we should encourage the students to score high marks, in order to enable them to achieve their life ambitions. But the top priority of a YSM cell as well as the school must be to bring up the weaker students and to build up confidence in them to come up in their lives. Thus YSM students helped me to clarify my value system.
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