School should start late in the morning

This is regarding the two articles “School should start late in the morning” by Haris Javed, and “My grades don’t define my intelligence” by Madiha Shamim, (YW, September 17). In both the articles two educational matters affecting students were well discussed.

The viewpoint that school should start late in the morning in order to allow kids to have sufficient sleep is logical and reasonable. It is obvious that students with insufficient sleep cannot comprehend even simple lessons.

However, the suggestion that if the school started late it would give kids time to perform many other things isn’t reasonable. Kids should do their tasks before bedtime and not leave it for the next day.

In the second article, “My grades don’t define my intelligence”, the matter discussed is affecting so many students and their educational progress.

How can human talent, potential and abilities be confined to the artificial criteria of grades, scores, marks and exams?

Students’ scores in exams can neither show their abilities nor define their understanding of the subjects studied.

Such scores mostly show only how students answered questions in their exam.

So if an intelligent student could not do well in an exam because of health or any other reason, the marks obtained would be less, yet the student’s brilliance or intelligence doesn’t decrease.

Therefore, marks and grades in exams or tests aren’t the proper criteria for judging students’ abilities and potentials. There should be

other standards to judge one’s capabilities.

Every student should be allowed admission in further classes after passing an exam, without any constraints on the basis of less marks or lower grades. Why can’t all students be treated equally as aspiring students despite differences of grades and marks in exams?

Without any constraints, all students should be given equal opportunities of getting education at all levels, for making an enlightened and better educated society.

Ashraf Naushahi,

Karachi

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, October 1st, 2016