Bef travay souval manze !

Each year after the proclamation of the HSC results announcing the laureates and the runners-up in the soi-disant star colleges, I say ‘so-called’ because they get only the cream of our school population and not the students of mixed abilities, we witness the same « mascarade » with the students jubilation, « petarade », the college management, the Rector and the members of the staff, especially those who have worked the strictest minimum in class on the front line to reap all the credit for the performance of their students, as if they were the sole architects behind the school’s performance. Without them the school would have never churned out such a performance.

This is undiluted indecency on the part of the Rectors and the members of their staff to take all the credit for the performance of their schools. The contribution of extra coaching to boost up the performance of the learners after school hours is completely glossed over. It is an acknowledged fact that the star colleges get the cream of our students. Their IQ‘s are high along with a retentive memory. They are definitely a class above par rapport to their counterparts who have been less fortunate. The teachers who work with these students are fully alive to the situation. They know that they have in front of them a class of learners with a high grasping power. It is similar to they are riding horses in a race while their counterparts in other colleges  are riding ponies which they  have to whip and push to make them pass the finishing line while the  horses are doing the job for them.

Besides, they know that most of the learners take tuition after school hours. And those who are on the competitive track take two or three tuitions per subject. Therefore their burden is greatly eased. The students who are competing will tell you that what they get in their star school is highly inadequate to keep pace with their classmates and be competitive. What they get in class in only one third which is amply insufficient to be in the race. For the other two third they are compelled to have recourse to private coaching. It is obvious that the donkey work (le gros du travail) is done by the tutors after school hours. The teachers who work with these students are fully aware of it. So they do the strict minimum knowing that their work has been eased off.

Star colleges are only the name. What the learners get from these colleges is highly insufficient. As a result they are compelled to turn to private tuitions to supplement their studies. Who is the laureate who has succeeded without private tuitions? All the laureates and the runners-up have taken private tuitions to achieve success. All the brilliant students who have fared well in their studies have supplemented their schooling with additional coaching.

Once a journalist asked the head of the Q.E.C after the HSC results what was her secret for the remarkable performance of her college at SC and HSC levels. We can characterize the question of the journalist as utterly absurd and stupid. What secret! When you take the cream of the students who are imbued with a keen competitive spirit to succeed, it is obvious that you will get the best results and have the lion share of the scholarship. This is the secret of the success! The day these so-called star colleges succeed in making some students of mixed abilities get through their examinations to become laureates or runners-up without extra coaching, then they will deserve the label of a star school and can take all the credit of the school performance for them. But that is a dream!

Here it would not be out place if we digress to underline the thanklessness of the laureates in their declaration to the press. In their moment of ecstasy and elation, they completely forget the contribution of their tutors to their success. Their tutors who have worked body and soul to bring them to scratch for their examination and their eventual success are completely relegated to the background. They just shower all their praises and thanks on the school management and its staff.

Therefore, it is high time that these so-called star colleges acknowledge the contribution of private tutors in the landscape of their HSC results. Otherwise it would be undiluted intellectual dishonesty on their part to reap all the credit for the work which has been done by others -  BEF TRAVAY, SOUVAL MANZE !