HYDERABAD: It is that time of the year again when students burn midnight oil and parents fret about preparedness of their wards for the board examinations. “As a mother I am worried about my son’s performance in the 10th standard as it will decide what awaits him in the future. We expect him to do well and prepare for IIT-JEE,” admits Sushmita Deb who shares the anxiety of the parents of students appearing for boards this year. Pre-examination stress and panic attacks before the exams prompt the students as well as the parents to seek help. “Since the helpline started functioning last week, a quarter of the calls have been from worried parents who are bothered by the level of preparedness of their children,” reveals Nauman Sharif of GREEN Foundation which started a free tele-counseling service for distressed students, Project Disha, on Feb 22.The parents and the students share the burden for the impending exams equally. “In the cases we counsel, usually the parents seek an appointment saying that the child is not studying or that their minds go blank during examinations. We discover in 50 per cent of the cases that it is the parents who are too anxious and put too much pressure on the students. We counsel both parents and children to cope,” explains Jayanti Sunder Rajan, a specialist in developmental and cognitive assessment for children at Roshni Counselling Centre. A highly competitive environment often drives parents to unduly pressurize their children. The schools counter the problem by informing the parents of their child’s performance through the academic year. “We conduct parent-teacher meetings on a continuous basis, especially for the students who are slow-learners. Informing the parents of their child’s performance helps them maintain realistic expectations,” says Shobhan Babu who teaches Chemistry to the higher secondary students at KV Uppal. The students of CBSE who will face the boards from March 2 (for 10th standard) can opt for school-based examinations instead of boards, which eases the stress significantly. The schools, however, do not want to take a chance.“Counselling is taken seriously in the school. We counsel the parents at the beginning of the academic year not to pressurise the students for the board examinations. We also hold a special session for the students a day before the exams on how to handle stress. Today was the second paper for students (of Indian School Certificate Examinations) and they seemed happy and relaxed as the myth of boards being difficult is broken,” says Madhavi Chandra, principal of Gitanjali Devshala.Passing the test of nerves with flying colours is as important for the parents as students in the rat race.
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