Exams

On Tuesday, the government released the results for the National 10th standard exams and everyone was in a well-deserved frenzy. 100% of last year's Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan tenth standard students passed and this is no little achievement. Only the private English Language Medium School sometimes sees similar results. This single test can determine not only whether the student will be accepted into a good school for 11th and 12th standards, but also if/where that student attends college, and what he or she studies. Most assume smart students will go into science, while more mediocre ones will try arts or humanities. The teachers at the KNB try to keep the best History and Art students from immediately becoming physicists, but it's hard to go against a society which wants all of it's bright young achievers to become doctors, scientists, IT specialists, and engineers.

A steady stream of past 10th standard students and their parents return to the school to thank their teachers, celebrate with the current students, and discuss the next step. Some hand out sweets as a way of sharing their joy. For many of the poorer and scheduled caste families, their children have just earned their way to better opportunities than their parents or grandparents ever dreamed of. Some will find good jobs in Phaltan or other local towns, others end up in Pune or Bombay, and a few --like Madhura's sister-- will do grad school in the states.