Humanities clear winner in HS this year

KOLKATA/SILIGURI: The performance of Granthan Sengupta, who topped in the HS with a score of 496, is the best from humanities in recent memory but he is not the only one to shine from the stream this year. There are five others from humanities who have made it to the top-six, sowing hopes of careers beyond engineering, medical or reasearch in science subjects.
For Granthan, it wasn’t easy to pursue his dreams.“When I scored well in Madhyamik, everybody, including my teachers, wanted me to take science but I was determined to study humanities because I wanted to become a history professor,” he said. Ditto with Cooch Behar’s Joydeep Bhowmik, who ranked fourth, and South Dinajpur’s Nayonika Roy, the sixth rank-holder. wanted to pursue with humanities because of their sheer passion for English. “I want to become a professor in English. I love it,” Joydeep said.

Passion for humanities might be reason for this ‘historic performance’ but academicians believe this is possibly not the only reason. A change in evaluation pattern, introduction of MCQs, very short answer type questions (VSAQs), projects and question-cum-answer booklet pattern have increased the opportunity to score more marks in humanities. Others believe that good students are opting humanities nowadays, and this is yielding better results.
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that she was happy with the results of the students from Madhyamik board and state HS Council, as they have done excellently. “I congratulated the toppers and talked to some of them to know about their aspirations. It is a new trend that many toppers are willing to study subjects like history, English and law.”
“The success of humanities students reflects the studentfriendly evaluation pattern. In every arts subject, 20 marks are allotted to projects and it is internally evaluated. Though it started four years back, MCQs and VSAQs are being evaluated on a question-cum-answer booklet. As a result, students are almost getting full marks. In a 80-mark question paper, almost 50% is allotted to the question-cum-answer booklet,” said Saugata Basu, the secretary of government school teachers’ association.
“Earlier, students with average or below par intelligence opted for humanities. To ensure parity between curriculum, science syllabus has now become vast and books are voluminous. In comparison to humanities, science text books have almost 30 times more pages. As a result, many students decide to give up science and opt for humanities,” physics teacher Arindam Nandi. Another teacher from JU pointed out that many move to humanities since they prefer not to take national engineering or medical entrance examinations, which is organized by the central boards.
“It’s a presumption that science is for bright students. I think the changing trend is encouraging. It’s a recognition of the fact that students can go on to have great careers in different fields, instead of becoming doctors or engineers. Now there are many openings and career options, which is perhaps encouraging bright students choosing humanities,” said Nilanjana Gupta, a teacher of the English department in JU.