Unusual examiner

In South Africa, Bapuji established the Phoenix ashram and there he also ran a school for the children. His effort and purpose behind this was to provide true education and not the false one, to the children.

His method of giving marks in examinations was always unique. Even though they were all students of the same class and the questions asked to them were also similar, the children who wrote the better answer would get less mark, and others who wrote not so good ones would get more marks.

Due to this method of Bapuji, children would get quite confused. Bapuji would explain to them his method and logic in detail and would also provide the proper understanding: "I do not want to measure that some students are cleverer than the others. But, what I really want to know is, how far each student has improved from where he was standing before. If a clever student keeps comparing himself with a stupid student and shows off his arrogance, then his intelligence will be blunted. He will then put in less effort in his study; and he, who does not progress in study, will ultimately deteriorate for sure. So, I will give more marks to only those who are meticulous and work really hard and who improve constantly."

Bapuji always kept a watchful eye on a student securing more marks to see whether he is continuously progressing or not. If he keeps boasting about securing more marks than the other less bright students, then what good it will make of him? All these ideas, he constantly tried to impress upon them. And the loving Bapu was always ready to pat the back of a student who obtained better marks next time than before and made a progress.

What Bapu really wanted to explain was this. We are not in a competition with others to show ourselves higher or lower than others. The main thing is to observe how much progress has been made from where we were before. That is true education. Bapu explained this idea to all by making a small, but very important change in the education system.