Reduced to a grade

We have all seen it. Maybe we have lived it. That moment when a report card feels less like a summary of our learning and more like a final judgment on our character. In Pakistan’s high-pressure academic world, this feeling is all too common. We have created a system where the grade itself is often used as a weapon. This is quietly damaging our education system from the inside out. We expect our teachers to be disciplinarians as much as educators. In an overcrowded classroom, the quickest tool for control is not a counselling session; it is a threat to the grade. This is amplified by our system’s obsession with numbers. The Matric and FSC exams reduce a student’s entire journey to a single, three-digit number. But this approach, while it might seem to create order, comes at a terrible cost.

The immense pressure of grades in Pakistan is a well-documented driver of a severe youth mental health crisis. Our goal should be to build a system that assesses learning accurately and builds resilience. A grade should be a progress report, a piece of information to help a student grow.

Airaaf Ali

Sukkur