By Aparna S.
May 13, 2025: Soon after board exam results are declared each year in Kerala, streets are adorned with brightly colored congratulatory flex boards showcasing top scorers’ names, percentages, and photos.
While these displays celebrate academic achievement, they mask a deeper issue: the pervasive grading bias embedded in the Indian education system that distorts how success is defined and impacts students’ well-being.
Grading bias and its consequences
Grading bias refers to overemphasising numerical or letter-based assessments as the primary measure of student ability and success.
In India, this bias fosters a culture where rote memorisation is rewarded over genuine understanding, creativity, or critical thinking. Students are judged less on their aptitude or conceptual grasp and more on how well they conform to exam patterns, encouraging surface learning rather than deep comprehension.
This system creates intense pressure, especially from parents, epitomised by the “Sharmaji ka beta” syndrome, a cultural trope where children are constantly compared to a supposedly more successful peer.
Academic success is conflated with moral virtue and family pride, burdening children with unrealistic expectations that often exceed their emotional maturity. This pressure sidelines curiosity and personal growth, replacing them with coaching centres and a relentless race for marks.
Impact on students’ confidence and mental health
The grading culture also affects teacher attitudes, with many educators inadvertently reinforcing the equation “good marks = good person.”
This can manifest as snarky remarks, unhealthy comparisons, and even body-shaming, which damage students’ self-esteem and confidence, leaving lasting psychological scars.
The system marginalises students who excel in non-academic areas such as arts, emotional intelligence, or divergent thinking, as these talents are rarely recognised in conventional grading.
The psychological toll is significant. The relentless focus on grades leads to stress, anxiety, burnout, depression, and tragically, even suicide among students.
Despite these consequences, the system remains largely unquestioned until a crisis occurs. The glorification of toppers overshadows the struggles of thousands who suffer under unrealistic academic pressures.
Narrow Definition of Success and Its Long-Term Effects
Academic cutoffs and ranks often dictate students’ career paths, with engineering and medicine seen as default options, regardless of individual passion or aptitude.
This grade-driven approach produces professionals who may be academically qualified but disengaged or unhappy in their careers. Even high achievers are not immune to the pitfalls of this system.
The inflated confidence from grade-based celebrations can lead to unrealistic expectations about future success, resulting in disillusionment when real-world challenges demand skills beyond memorisation, such as communication and problem-solving.
Socioeconomic factors
Research also reveals that grading bias can be influenced by social factors such as caste and socioeconomic status. Studies in India have shown that teachers may unconsciously favour students from higher castes or socioeconomically advantaged backgrounds, awarding them higher marks and occupational expectations, while disadvantaging lower caste students.
This bias exacerbates educational inequalities in an already competitive system where even small differences in grades can have consequences for access to higher education.
Studies from other contexts, such as Sweden, indicate that over-grading (a form of grading bias) can have protective effects on mental health, particularly among female students, by boosting self-efficacy and motivation.
This complex relationship suggests that any reforms to grading systems must carefully consider potential mental health implications to avoid unintended negative effects.
Holistic educational paradigm
The current grading culture in India privileges conformity and numerical success over curiosity, creativity, and holistic development.
To truly empower students, education must evolve beyond rigid marks and percentages to assess effort, diverse intelligences, and life skills.
This shift would help replace superficial celebrations with meaningful recognition of fulfilled, self-aware individuals who understand their worth beyond report cards and are prepared for a complex future.
(Dr Aparna S is a consultant psychiatrist and an Assistant Professor at the Believers Church Medical College Hospital, Tiruvalla, Kerala. Views expressed are her own and not of an organisation or company.)
