India, Aug. 23 -- The phrase 'learn it by heart' begins in school and can follow (or rather haunt) students well into college. The hyper-focused chase for marks, with the grades being one of the prime parameters for evaluation, has pushed even the most capable learners into breakneck cramming, going for word-by-word memorisation, and regurgitating information on the paper (and forgetting it once they exit the exam hall).

But the mechanical learning's misplaced priorities come at a cost. Your successful, verbatim information dump on paper may fetch enough marks, but it does little to build critical thinking, and it rather worsens mental health in the future with stress. HT Lifestyle reached out to experts to explore the demerits of rote l...