Low marks is not NO marks

One can achieve success after failing
Today, almost everyone emphasises on marks attained in school and college. This has lead to undue importance being attached to marks. Colleges have cut-offs which has lead to extreme competition. Even organisations have percentage cut-offs. For example, while recruiting new employees a famous software firm has a minimum cut-off of 60%.

So, emphasis is given to other factors like how well a person knows the field of study and how they present themselves. Nobel Prize winner Prof Venkataraman Ramakrishnan, failed entrance tests for IITs and a reputed medical college. This only teaches us that one can achieve success even after failing.    
—Bikramjit Maitra, HR consultant

Confidence, aptitude is equally important
Of course, Academic results are not an indicator of a person’s brilliance. While recruiting, we look at the way a person behaves in an interview. We evaluate his confidence level and aptitude. We take a person’s overall personality into account and don’t consider marks alone. Academic excellence is given undue importance in our society and everyone is obsessed with marks.

The main reason behind it is that there are very few good institutes and everyone wants to bag a seat there. Hence, this leads to enormous competition which adds to pressure on students. The academic system needs to be changed wherein marks are not considered the only factor for someone to
achieve success.   
—Manashi Kumar, GM- HR

Even dropouts have achieved their goal
For selecting candidates, we don’t require to set very high cut-off scores. The candidate should have basic knowledge required for pursuing further studies. We have many examples that even school dropouts have achieved their goal and are successful. During recruitment, head hunters reject a number of candidates due to their marks.

However no one can judge a person on the basis of their marks. We have a closed mindset regarding lucrative options. Hence we end up looking at only engineering, medicine, management, banking and government jobs. If we look at jobs in other sectors, then there are number of avenues open for all.
—Prahlad Kakkar,  ad-man

Don’t judge kids on a single parameter
Stress is generated when you enter competitive life. Children are facing it at such an early stage because parents expect them to work wonders. School education is important, but we shouldn’t have a single parameter to judge top grades in the examination. Studying voraciously for high marks is a kind of competition. I always tell my daughter to study to understand the subject, not to score top marks. Marks can vary, but understanding will contribute to lifelong learning. I was a good student during my school days, because I always studied to know more. I follow the dictum that do things extraordinarily well and success will follow you.
—Sanjeev Kapoor, celebrity chef

Divide time between passion and education 
I have never felt any stress in life. This is my learning period and so I give my best. Apart from academics my hobby is dancing. It has never become a hurdle in my studies, because I realise the importance of both. Since childhood I divide my time between my dance class and academics. While doing reality shows, I never skipped studies. I have never given any chance to my parents or teachers for any complaints.

It is only because I understand my responsibility. Till now I have done 50-60 dance performances on stage and in television including shows like Boogie-Woogie and Zee Cine Awards, but I want to make my career as an engineer.
—Divya Rajasekaran, reality show winner