Academic Reforms STUDENTS PASS: SYSTEMS FAIL Ramesh Menon Samira scored 96.

5% in her ISC class XII exams and topped Delhi in Humanities. J oy knew no bounds and there were celebrations around. Jubilations, and congratul ations poured in from all corners, and it was a big high for family and friends. Not so much for Samira, herself. She had a huge lurking fear in her mind despit e scoring such high marks. Being a topper was all right, but what happens with admissions to college was he r worry. The pressure to get into a big league institution (read St Stephens and L ady Sri Ram in that order) was weighing on her mind. The peer pressure and famil y belief that one needs to get into THE college only added to the woes. Samiras fears were not misplaced or unfound. Stephens, an autonomous college of D elhi University, released its first cut off list few days ago. And it was a rev elation like in the past few years. Last year the cut off went up to as high as 100%, prompting Kapil Sibal to make a statement: We corrected the problems last y ear. There will be no problem this year ... why do you worry?. Statistics show th at more than 3000 students scored over 90 percent in the Capital this year. At S tephens, students opting for English (H) from Science and Humanities require 96 per cent and 95.25 per cent respectively. Economics (H), one of the sought after courses in the college, has the second highest cut-off. For Commerce students 9 7.75 per cent is required, whereas for Science and Humanities the cut-off is 96. 75 per cent each. History (H) is preferably the third choice of applicants with the cut-off set at 96 per cent for Science and Commerce stream students and 94.5 per cent for Humanities stream. This pattern would be repeated across all Universities in the country. In the ru sh to have an educated society, one that is literate, our education mandarins ha ve adopted systems that appeal on the larger contexts but fail to deliver. Refor ms in the academic process have led to more leniencies at the school levels in m arks and grading systems. So we might soon have a literate nation, but with zilc h attention to creating a knowledge base. Reforming the education system has bee n high on the agenda of Minister Sibal, but he again stresses the helplessness o f the government in handling the situation The issue is complex. There are layers to it that only the government can overri de, besides the demand supply factor. The marks scored at the school level board exams tends to get irrelevant after the cut offs as well, as its followed by furt her tests and interviews. And on the hindsight besides all this is the larger underlying issue: psychologi cal problems faced by students who are under pressure to perform to score high m arks and grades and a parallel system that makes it redundant with higher cut of f percentages. Scores of students suffer from psychosomatic disorders and need c ounseling. It kills the aspirational levels amongst youngsters. Even with high s corings students harbour huge insecurities and emotional upheaval. Indias knowledge base is what has been lending it a greater advantage on the glob al platform. Education reforms needs to address many facets to higher education in the country and find long term redressals for it with great urgency. Right to Education would mean much more then.