Are schools equipping students for higher education or merely training them to ace exams?

Early educational decisions should expand future opportunities, not restrict them before students fully understand their potential. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto A first-year Commerce professor asked students to prepare a simple trial balance. The lecture hall fell silent. Many were unsure where to begin. But these were students who had scored over 90% in the higher secondary exams. The problem was not intelligence but preparation.In school, Accounting was treated as theory, a subject to be memorised, rather than as a practical discipline to be understood and applied. Students learnt definitions, principles, and formats but did not develop the conceptual understanding needed to record transactions or solve real accounting problems. However, higher education assumes practical competence that they were never encouraged to build. This scene can be seen across Commerce classrooms nationwide, revealing a growing disconnect between exam success and university readiness.Intention vs. realityAmong the significant reforms introduced by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is the introduction of Focus Areas in higher secondary education to help students prioritise selected subjects according to their interests. The intention was to reduce unnecessary academic burden and encourage deeper engagement with chosen disciplines, but the emerging reality suggests that the implementation of this approach deserves careful review. Across colleges, educators increasingly report that many first-year students lack the foundational knowledge required for higher education.Commerce students frequently struggle with Business Statistics, Economics, and Financial Accounting because their mathematical and conceptual foundations are weak. Science students entering Engineering, Biotechnology, or Computer Science often lack sufficient exposure to the complementary disciplines that modern innovation demands. Humanities students experience difficulties with research methodology, analytical writing, and critical thinking. Consequently, universities spend valuable classroom time re-teaching school-level concepts rather than introducing advanced knowledge. Bridge courses and remedial classes have become increasingly common, not because universities have lowered their expectations but because incoming students are arriving less prepared than previous generations.This raises a fundamental question: are schools preparing students for higher education or merely for board exams? The purpose of higher secondary education should extend beyond producing impressive mark sheets and cultivate conceptual understanding, analytical ability, and intellectual confidence. Unfortunately, many students still succeed by rote memorisation rather than mastering underlying concepts. High exam scores, therefore, create an illusion of competence that disappears when students confront unfamiliar academic challenges requiring application, reasoning, and independent thinking.Choice made earlyThe challenge is intensified by the age at which students make these choices. Most select their focus areas between 16 and 18 years, when career aspirations are still evolving. A student who reduces exposure to Maths may later wish to pursue Economics, Finance, Business Analytics, or Data Science. Another student who limits scientific learning may discover an interest in interdisciplinary research after entering university. By then, rebuilding the missing academic foundation becomes difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Early educational decisions should expand future opportunities, not restrict them before students fully understand their potential.This system also risks widening educational inequality. Families with financial resources can compensate for this through private tuition, coaching centres, online courses, and individual mentoring. Students from rural communities and economically disadvantaged backgrounds depend primarily on what schools provide. When foundational subjects receive less emphasis, they have fewer opportunities to bridge learning gaps independently. Rather than creating equal opportunities, the system may unintentionally deepen disparities in higher education and employment.Broad foundationThis does not argue against specialisation itself. While encouraging students to pursue their interests remains essential, meaningful specialisation should rest upon a broad academic foundation built through conceptual learning, rather than selective omission. Strong education systems ensure competency in Maths, language, scientific reasoning, communication, and problem-solving before encouraging greater specialisation.India’s aspiration to become a global knowledge economy depends not only on expanding educational access but also on strengthening quality. Schools must nurture curiosity, conceptual understanding, creativity, and lifelong learning. Policymakers, teachers, universities, parents, employers, and students should work together to ensure that flexibility does not come at the cost of a strong foundation. Education should empower young people with choices that broaden their futures, not decisions that limit them before their journeys have begun.The writer is an Assistant Professor, and a Research Supervisor at St. Thomas College (Autonomous), Thrissur, Kerala. Published - November 14, 2026 01:35 pm IST