Best-five the easy way out?

MUMBAI: The implementation of the Best-Five policy generated much debate in academic circles, but for many students it was a blessing, providing them a reason to give ‘feared’ subjects the cold shoulder. Subjects students felt weighed them down varied across boards and schools, but most were relieved to be able to get rid of their Achilles’ heels.
“There are various categories of students and their likes and dislikes in subjects are as diverse.While one set of students despises languages, many find subjects like Maths and Science difficult to score,” said Rekha Shahani, principal of Kamla High School, Khar (W). But she expressed surprise that of all the subjects, many students found English the most difficult subject to score. “Now we also have 20 marks for practical exams in almost every subject, still students find it difficult to score,” added Shahani.
Interestingly, asked which was the most dreaded subject, most school principals failed to pinpoint any one. For instance, some ICSE students were wary of compulsory subjects like Maths and Science. “Every student is different and so are their fears, often arising from some experiences. By overall I have noticed that students are a little wary about Maths and Physics as in some cases, these are the two subjects that bring down several students’ total average scores,” said Paul Machado, principal of Campion High School, Colaba.
While different students might fear different subjects at any given point of time, there are instances of entire batches of students hating particular subjects. “I think it’s more of a mental block but somehow, I can’t get myself to study Hindi. And I have noticed that almost everybody in my class shares this feeling,” said Karan Mehta, class X student of St Mary’s (ICSE) School, Mazgaon.
Some principals added that the problem lies not just in the ability of students to understand a subject but also in the teaching techniques used. “It is very necessary for a teacher to make their subject as interesting as possible for students. Many of our students complain about coping with History and Geography because of the vast syllabus,” said Deepshikha Srivastava, principal of Rajhans Vidyalaya, Andheri (W). She added that since the CBSE curriculum doesn’t have any language compulsion on students, there’s very little fuss around languages.