How do we deal with academically weak kids?

The stakes are biased in the favour of academically brilliant ones. But is there a way?

Thread

A few days ago, I wrote a thread on naysayers who discourage academically bright kids. This thread is from the PoV of experienced naysayers, not the priviledged ones.

Academic performance doesn't dictate success in life. Don't discourage a kid based on his percentage.

As long as there is an education system that judges people on specific subjects, there will be students rhat will perform less than expected. So how do we empower them without the government intervention or some grand scheme that will take a few decades to implement.

Simple solution: Give them a subscription to the Employment News. It costs 8 rupees a week, approx 500 rupees a year and make sure they read it every week.

Every week ther are 50+ pages of advts for government employment from cultural ministry to defence.

Time and again, AASU starts a movement about people coming from other states to work on central government jobs. Why the hell Assamese studnets dont apply to those jobs?

They dont know about them. It's true. Ask a kid from a village if he has heard about Employment News?

Information is power. I didn't know how to get into an IIT when the nearest IIT was 40 kms from my home. Except IAS and NDA, i had no knowledge about competititve exams till I came to Guwahati for 10+2.

Once a student starts reading Employment News every week, she will be exposed to the plethora of jobs in different sectors in government. And then even an academically okay student can dream about cracking some of the exams.

If we successfully make them understand and we too understand that not getting 80% is okay and still jobs will be available, it will make us and the students more confident. They can choose paths that they didnt know about. And they can dream too. Dream, in my opinion, is the key

Forget about IAS/NDA, there are exams like SSC and banking where academic performance is not a heavy factor. My friend has completed NSD graduation whereas he failed in polytechnic exam repeatedly.

A few of them joined Indian Armed Forces as sailors and photographers and some of them went on to become JCOs by internal exams. Not everybody needs to be a doctor or an engineer. We need everyone from a driver to a businessman. The country is not run by only engineers and docs.

And when we will see that being a driver in Army pays 50k per month, students can choose what they want to be. Instead of a boring MCA, someone can actually become a designer after BFA/MFA/MDes. They can be a fashion designer.

Instead of being a reluctant engineering student, they can be a banker. The lowest salary in central government jobs is 18k per month, as much as an elementary TET teacher in Assam. Why are we keeping them in the dark?

We dont need job reservation for locals, instead we need more local people applying for local jobs wirh preparation. Coaching indistries in other states are legenday, a similar ecosystem will grow in Assam if we make students interested instead of deriding them for percentages.

While I spoke about government jobs, small industries are also there in Assam. Even there, people from other states are coming and I don't blame them. Im also working in another state. Instead we need a silent revolutionof academically mediocore students applying to jobs.

Instead if hankering after bahira poisa and paying political members for lowly jobs, they can actually compete for a lot of jobs. Want to get rid of the bunch of boys smoking behind the cigarette shop in the evening, gift them an Employment News.

If you have any student in your family, start a subscription for them while they are in class 9th or 10th. They would be exposed to a whole new world and will start dreaming. And who knows, one day they will change the fate of their families.

I have seen a generation of people getting into debt which they took to bribe for a promised job. The proviledges naysayers are the ones usually inspiring them. Instead, they can start preparing right after 12th for multiple avenues.

So dont worry if you didn't perform well academically or your kid/nephew/brother, instead of deriding, give them hope. Not false hope but in the form of an Employment News subscription.

There are other examples too. They can be in politics, they can pursue artistic endeavours. Not everyone will become SRK, but they can lead a respected life by planning their career based on their skills. Cultural ministry offer scholarships for artists too.

And who knows, may be they will buy an inverter and a washing machine too. Mom won't demand a smartphone but they might be able to afford one. And the father will buy the medicines he needs rather than the ones he can.

The back pains will recede, a tin roof will replace the makeshift tarpaulin roof, and may be the kid will one day travel in a flight instead of train and the mom can rightfully boast about her.

A new shirt, may be a South Indian Saree for mom and also a Nehru coat for the father. He can stop working for a few days, and there will be money in the Jan-Dhan account.

The brother can have another pair of uniform that Dada bought from a mall. Mom no longer need to get pinched by the old needle while repairing his decade old school bag that she got from the rich family in the village?

The father will probably learn how to use the ATM card, and deposit 500 rupees a month in the post-office every month. May be he can buy the LED bulb after all. Konpai is making money now, isn't it?

The kid sister will smile again. She got another pair of salwar this Bihu, and Dada said he's getting Mugar Mekhela for her Bihu dance performance next month. Dada might also send her to a better school, he said, if she gets more than 80% in class 4.

And these dreams, they can all start from a 500 rupees subscription. Something everyone on Twitter can afford to gift to a kid who didn't get a first division in this board exam.

So, go talk to the bookstore. Ask them to stock up on Employment News and make sure you gift them to kids, who wants to dream but can't today. Tomorrow, they will. And a small village home will light up one day, with an LED, no less.

The humming of a washing machine might not mean much to us, but mom said her back pain is no longer there. She is planning to buy a mixer grinder too, but is a bit reluctant because the other lady said that the spices don't taste as good from a mixer.

The father is of course not very pleased that he no longer gets to go to the recharge shop every evening to recharge 10 bucks and also take a drag of a cigarette, because Konpai did a 399 pack recharge that works for a month.

He still goes out, and when the call comes from mom, he admits that he just came out for a drag but promises her he won't do it again tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a better day, though. Konpai is coming home with loads of gifts. And the father is not just out for a drag, he's also looking to buy a duck. Lora ghoroloi ahibo, xaak paat khuamne aru !