Dept can take measures to reduce students' stress: Expert

BENGALURU: With uncertainty hanging thick and low over Class 5, 8 and 9 exams, which were scheduled once and cancelled twice in a week, nearly 28 lakh students from nearly 70,000 state schools are a frazzled lot. Children and parents are in limbo and are approaching NGOs like Child Rights Trust, seeking guidance on how to counsel students, who were more excited about the post-exam holiday season.
"We've been receiving multiple calls every day from parents on the status of the case about the class 5, 8 and 9 exams (of state syllabus) in the high court. Now, worried parents have even started walking into office," said NGO director Nagasimha G Rao.
Teachers, too, are in a spot of bother. "SSLC invigilation and evaluation will begin next week. There will be three rounds of exam this time. Elections are coming up. Some teachers are already on the field," said the principal of a high school.
Now, evaluation of class 5, 8 and 9, which would have ideally been happening now, has also got postponed. This summer is going to be very hectic," the principal added.

Nagasimha Rao said, "We understand the matter is in the high court and the decision is not to be taken by the education department. However, it can take several measures to alleviate tension and stress of students. It needs to counsel them, besides issuing guidelines to schools to engage children, make arrangements for games or other activities to relieve stress and boost children's confidence. Schools must also react to the situation."The RecogniZed Unaided Private Schools' Association is expected to submit its written arguments in the high court on Thursday.

Students write to CJ

Students of Government High School, Ramagondanahalli, have written to the chief justice of Karnataka High Court, seeking "a decisive judgment" at the earliest so that students be relieved of the exam stress.

The letter quoted the findings of a survey done by the school's class 7 students of their peers in class 5, 8 and 9.

While most students said board exams do cause them a lot of stress and tension, a few said preparing for these had made them more serious about exams.

However, they were all unanimous in sharing that they felt extremely anxious about the delay and uncertainty around the exam.

"This latest postponement has been distressing. They worry the exams will extend and they will have to keep studying for several more days. They were really looking forward to getting back to their regular playtime and other activities beyond studies," the letter quoted from the survey.

"The government has dragged this issue on unnecessarily without any empathy for teachers and students. All this has caused unnecessary tension for the naive children and their parents, many of whom are from the lowest strata of society. Dragging this further could lead to children dropping out of school and moving on to working," said Niranjanaradhya VP, educationist.