Grades over Knowledge

Artwork Title: Grades over Knowledge
Medium: Pencil colours and Sketch pens on Paper
Size: A4

Video about the painting by Garima Sangrai

Garima Sangrai (18 years) from Palampur, Himachal Pradesh talks about her artwork which received a gold medal in Khula Aasmaan art competition for children and young adults for July 2021

Artist Statement

My artwork is basically a comic depiction of most of the students' lives now-a-days. A lot more importance is given to grades in the Indian education system. Knowledge is not as valued as it should be. Parents expect children to score good marks regardless of the fact whether it is knowledge or cramming. Through my artwork I want to shed light upon this issue. Learning and Knowledge should be valued more than grades.
I have loved drawing since I was a child although then they used to be just stick figures. I like to sketch portraits, draw cartoons and paint night skies. I usually like to use pencil for portraits and pencil colours for cartoons.The artwork that was shortlisted for the contest was the comic depiction of a student using cartoons, my inspiration for this artwork is the school life of most of the students now-a-days.
Understanding and knowledge have become a second priority while grades are being given more importance. Practical knowledge is diminishing and students are being fed bookish knowledge to cram and get good grades without considering whether they are understanding what they are being taught or not. My artwork is for the general awareness of this practice as it will negatively impact the future of these children. In my drawing nine phases have been described. When a student goes to school he is being forcibly fed books in large numbers and during the exams he just throws up whatever he had been fed without digesting and then is appreciated for his good grades while in reality he is still famished for knowledge. I have used pencil colours and sketch pens in this drawing to illustrate every detail properly.