The students appearing for the examination themselves are going through many types of pressure. In such a situation, two weeks before the examination, parents should not interfere much in the process of their studies. The examination of the students is not the arena of the social status of the parents and neither the marksheet of the children is the object of public display. When the exam is near, parents should see if they are putting unnecessary pressure on the children on the pretext of their ambition.
Dr. Yatanpal Singh Balhara, Psychiatrist, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, says that ‘the examination is near, so parents should take care that the children’s self-confidence remains and their sleep is complete. Students should take fresh fruits and vegetables and healthy food and do some exercise regularly, which will reduce stress. During this time, students should avoid unnecessary internet surfing and excessive video games. Spending too much time on video-games can affect children’s mental health and make it difficult for them to concentrate and read.
Parents need to remember that learning is a continuous process in which many factors like teacher-student, school-society, curriculum, interest-need participate. It is a different matter that the blame for failure to assess learning through board exams falls on the student alone and the inequalities in education are lost to debate. Parents can tell from their student life experience what the bright students of their class do now. It is also possible that that brilliant student of yesterday, leaving his job today, is doing social service or farming!
Parents who are worried about their children getting low marks, don’t they know that success in life does not bring any lasting feeling! No one can be the best in every walk of life. Even the most successful person in the society goes through the path of failure. The race to be on top won’t always put someone ‘at the fore’ in life, and will it be easier to cope with defeat? Do school exam scores guarantee success in every area of life? You pick up the list of famous people in the world and see how many people have made their place in society, in business, in sports, in film-literature because of getting high marks in schools! Who asks for their marksheets from people who are innovating and making names?
Fundamentally, each student is different from the others. Comparing exam scores gives rise to a kind of frustration among students, while schools are expected to instill courage, courage and talent in the students! If a student loses his/her confidence by anticipating the exam result, then it is natural to question the relevance of the school? Parents should prepare children for actual marathons rather than marks marathons.
