The SLC is still Nepal's most famous educational landmark. Many people still ask their neighbors and gossip amongst relatives the SLC score of so and so. If not reputed for moving with the times, the SLC is still a reference point about which a student, and more gravely, a person, is judged. Let's hear what prospective students and students who've already surpassed the landmark from Purnachandi High School have to say about the dreaded and often misinterpreted exam. Participants:
Rabina Shrestha, Bachelors 1st semester
Kripa Sharma class 9
Akriti Bhandari, class 10
Aarati Khadka, class 10
Prajwal Acharya, class 8
Ruben Awale, class 8
Suman Lamichane, class 9
Tejnath Poudyal, class 10.
 ANUP PRAKASH Aarati  Tejnath  Suman  Rabina  Akriti  Ruben  Prajwal  Kripa |
For prospective students, how much pressure is there to perform well in the SLC examination?
Aarati: I don't think there is much pressure today. But that depends personally on one's family.
Kripa: Yes, but doing well in the SLC is something to be proud about and it also makes our parents proud. I would say that I put pressure on myself to do well.
Suman: It is called the Iron Gate, so there is some pressure. Parents obviously put pressure on us for our own sake. For instance, if we do well on that examination, we get to choose the college we like, and more importantly, we get to study in the field that we wish to excel in.
Prajwal: Only studying can make us do well in the SLC. So naturally we feel the pressure from parents, we are more focussed on the SLC than in other activities.
Rabina: Having passed the SLC, I don't think that SLC should be so over hyped as it is today. However, I still think that there should be some amount of pressure as it makes students do well and prepare well. Ruben: We're just in the eighth grade now, even still, we already know about the SLC because it is popular in the Nepali home, we talk about it from a very young age. That's why there can be pressure.
The courses taught in the ninth and tenth standards do change, but do the teaching strategies change along with that?
All: No, we all feel that the teaching strategies have not changed accordingly.
Rabina: The methods of teaching need to change with time, in the same way as the changing courses.
Tejnath: Only the 9th grade's course has changed. The important courses from 9 are being put in the grade 10 syllabus, besides that not much has changed. But there is a little less pressure for us because of the less volume in the syllabus. I also feel that as long as the teachers understand the course, they will be able to teach us properly.
Kripa: We only know that the course and syllabus has changed. We do not yet know what the changes are, we have just heard rumors. We don't have the new books required for the new course yet. The main theme of the chapters will always remain the same.
There is always much fuss made out about the prevalence of cheating in SLC centers. What is your opinion on this?
Akriti: I think cheating is a habit. If you start cheating now or in the SLC, then you will be tempted to cheat at every opportunity and bound to get in trouble.
Aarati: Cheating in the SLC is dangerous. In school, many students get away with a warning or scolding if they are caught cheating, but in the SLC there is the risk of failing the entire thing just because of cheating in something minor.
What do you think is negative about the SLC?
Suman: If a student is talented or interested in one area but weak in others, then he has a disadvantage because he might not do well on the SLC and thus find it difficult or maybe even impossible to display his talents to anyone else or get a job he desires.
Prajwal: One thing about SLC is that if you do not get a good score or grade, then you may not get a good job. There is still too much emphasis placed on the SLC results.
Do you think SLC should be administered? Should an exam only be administered at the 12th grade?
Aarati: I absolutely believe that there should be SLC examinations. We might start forgetting the basic things we've learnt in those years if we do not study them for the SLC. There are doctors and engineers that do not know the basic knowledge of a child, that shouldn't be allowed to happen.
Kripa: There's a certain thrill about the SLC examination. There's always been some sort of excitement about passing the SLC in grade 10. I think many people will lose the excitement if it is moved. Also, SLC is actually like a test to see a student's maturity, so, having it in grade 10 makes it seem like a rite of passage into adulthood.
Tejnath: Passing the SLC is a sign of independence. It also opens up a lot of job prospects. Also, rather than having to wait till the 12th grade to give the exam, we can just finish it in grade 10 and study other boards like the A-levels.
What subject do you think is unnecessary?
Rabina: Having given the SLC I feel that Social Studies has a lot of unnecessary topics. Geography and rote-learning the maps of continents isn't useful later on in life.
Aarati: I personally feel Nepali is not very useful. I mean, we already know how to speak Nepali fluently, what is the use of learning about poets and authors? Also, when we go abroad later on, English will be of more importance, so I think English should be focused rather than Nepali.
Ruben: Right now, computer is only taught until grade eight as a subject in our school. I think computer should be made a compulsory subject in SLC because learning about computers and learning how to type is far more important in the modern world. We should not be stuck with doing accounts; we should have the option of learning computers in grade nine and ten. All jobs consider someone's knowledge of computing.
