The Tyranny of Marks

In Kashmir, academic prossure is warping childhoods and wracking mental health. Behind every topper's name on a wall, there are students quiatly falling apart.

- Arshid Qalmi

In Kashmir’s tuition-laden evenings, where streetlights blur into the glow of cram-school signboards, a quiet emergency is taking shape. It has no curfews, no slogans, no headlines. But it’s real, and it’s claiming young minds every day.

At the centre of this crisis is a single figure: the student score.

In classrooms and homes across the Valley, children are being measured, compared, and judged by the marks they secure in exams. High grades mean praise, pride, and future prospects. Anything less, even an 89%, invites questions, disappointment, silence.

The stakes are clear. In a region with political instability and limited jobs, academic success is seen as the safest way forward. Parents, often with the best intentions, tie their child’s worth to board results and entrance ranks. Careers in medicine and engineering dominate aspirations. Failure is seen not as part of learning, but as a personal flaw.

And the pressure begins early.