Tuesday 16 / April / 2024
Muscat: “Don’t let exam stress become a killer’. That was the message today from one grieving father, whose teenage daughter took her own life, as thousands of students in Oman gear up to sit tests which could shape their academic future.
“It is time parents should be extra supportive of their children and should help them in all possible ways as they are already nervous,” said the father of Nakshatra Sreekumar, the 16-year-old student of Indian School Salalah, who committed suicide last year by hanging herself at her home due to examination stress issues.
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The distraught father made this appeal through the Times of Oman, as thousands of children prepare for their board examinations in coming months.
Around 3,800 students are appearing for board exams of Indian schools in March, while 800 students will appear for Pakistan board exams in April.
Around 500 students from Bangladesh schools will sit for their board examinations this year.
As for Omani schools, the examinations will begin in May and around 53,000 students are set to appear for their Diploma exams.
The father of Nakshatra also stressed that “parents should always be supportive and encouraging and should not harp on previous failures or results of the children.”
Sreekumar also said that children should not be forced to take up any particular discipline or career. “There are so many opportunities available in today’s world but some people still force their children, which is very disturbing,” he said.
About his daughter, he said: “I don’t know what to say. I loved her and wanted to give her all the happiness in the life,” he said.
Her younger sister is a class six student of the same school.
Meanwhile, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Board of Education for public and private schools under the Union Government of India, has approved four counsellors of Indian School Muscat to provide pre-examination tele-counselling services for parents and students of classes X and XII.
Dr Benny Varghese Paduvan, one of the counsellors to provide pre-examination tele-counselling services to parents and students of classes X & XII, said the studying pattern, psychological factors and lifestyle to a greater extent play a vital role in enhancing stress with the exams approaching.
“When you become stressed, you might start to have negative thoughts like, ‘I can’t answer this’ or ‘I am so stupid’. If this happens, students should stop their thoughts,” he told the Times of Oman.
The pre-examination counselling for students and parents will begin from February 1 and continue until April 22 this year, according to Indian School Board.
“This is the 19th consecutive year that CBSE will provide psychological counselling services to students at the time of preparation as well as during the examinations to overcome exam related stress,” an official of the Indian Schools Board said.
The CBSE annual counselling has been designed keeping the heterogeneity of students’ population and geographical spread in consideration. “Multiple modes of communication such as telephonic counselling, question-answer columns in newspapers and online counselling through CBSE website are used to reach out to more and more examinees during this phase,” it said.
The tele-counselling is offered by principals and trained counsellors from within CBSE affiliated schools. “It is a voluntary, free of cost service provided by the participants,” the official added.
