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| Sunday, 18 December 2005 |
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Features |  |
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Are girls cleverer than boys? by Sumana Saparamadu Are girls cleverer than boys or are they more studious and better crammers? This thought occurred to me on reading the results of this year's Grade 5 scholarship examination. A girl from the Deraniyagala Primary School in the Kegalla district had come first in the island and two other girls from Horana Takshila (Kalutara district) and Wattegama Balika Kandy district) had tied for second place. Besides the island first and second places, district wise and provincial wise too more girls than boys had come first and second this year. Quick in the wake of the results there appeared in various dailies pictures of high achievers, individuals or groups of students, with their class teacher and principal. Here too were more girls than boys. Year 2005 is not an exceptional year. In 2003 too a girl had scored the highest marks. In 2000, a girl had tied for first place and two others had tied for second place. The Year Five Scholarship Examination is the first hurdle in a child's school career. It is a very prestigious exam. To parents it is a great pride and honour to have their child's name among the 5 island-firsts, to achieve which the child is coached, drilled from Year Three when the child is barely 8 years. To come first or second even in the district is an achievement for parents to crow about and a plus mark for the school. Recently it was reported in a daily paper that a mother had placed a red-hot iron on her daughter's arm because she was not concentrating on her studies and the Scholarship Examination was just around the corner. To most mothers, I guess to some fathers too a mere pass is not enough. Their standing in the community is made or marred by the marks the offspring gets. A mother was heard saying, "How can I face other mothers, if you don't get even 170 marks". This I learned is the usual cut off mark for entrance to the most prestigious National Schools. The aim of some primary schools is to get as many children in Year Five to pass the scholarship exam, with marks high enough to enter a National School. The top 10 get a two-week trip to Japan. This has been happening since 1989. I remember the headmaster of a primary school in Gampaha boasting that every year almost all Year Five students pass the scholarship exam. This school seemed to be a factory producing "passes". This year Debarawewa Kanishta (Primary) Vidyalaya proudly announced via a Sinhala daily that one of its students had come First in the hambantota district obtaining 184 marks out of 200 and second in the Southern province. He is in the top ten who will get from a chance to go to Japan. Another student from this same school, a girl, had come second in the district. Debarawewa Primary has a record for producing high achievers. In year 2000, a boy had tied for first place with two others. All this and more have been achieved with meagre resources, said the Principal. Interviewed by the local reporters to the dailies, the girl who came first in the island this year, A. G. Suparna of Deraniyagala Kanishta Vidyalaya said that she didn't go to any tuition class. She was attentive in class and did all her homework regularly; so there was no need for extra tuition. Her class teacher was also her mother, and she was reported saying that she didn't give extra lessons to this girl. However! This is what all children who top the all-island pass list say: No Tuition, was attentive in class, followed teacher's instructions to the letter and did each day's home work without fail. Children who top the list, more often than not are sons and daughters of school teachers; sometimes both parents are in the teaching profession. Being teachers they know more about the exam than, other parents, get advice from teachers who give tuition, rather drill them, and buy books that will help them. Aids to the exam with model questions and answers are aplenty in book shops, even in road-side stands. The Grade Five scholarship exam was hailed as a great opportunity for intelligent students of the rural and urban under class-children of farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, small-time traders, etc to enter National Schools or other more privileged schools and get an education along with the "elite". But does this happen? Recently I met with 28% last year's (2004) scholarship winners who had scored well above the cut off point to get a place in a very prestigious girls' school. Only two were daughters of farmers. The rest were children of middle-class parents-teachers, school principals, nurses, clerks in government service, men in the army or police, small-time businessmen, the usual main-street shop keepers. One told me very proudly that both parents were tailors. Living in a town on the South Coast frequented by tourists;, making garments for the tourist market would be a lucrative trade. One girl is the daughter of a lecturer in a college of Education and the mother of another is a dental surgeon. So, on the means test most of these girls are not entitled to the stipend, a mere Rs. 5,000 per year at Rs. 500 for 10 months. Until January this year the stipend was only Rs. 2,400 per year. These girls come from far away towns and villages in the Hambantota, Monaragala and Ampara district, from the northern end of the Puttalm district and remote villages in the Ratnapura district. Three or four are from the Galle and Matara districts why do parents residing and working in Kandy, where there are many good National Schools send their daughters to National Schools in Colombo? It is that the standard of education is higher in Colombo or is it for the prestige and polish or what? |
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