Friday 26 / July / 2024
Muscat: It’s almost exam time for thousands of school pupils across the country, but while students buckle down to their studies educators say parents are the ones stressing out.
More frantic parents than worried students are calling a counselling hotline set up to ease the pressure of exam time. Seven of every 10 calls to the hotline come from parents, one school principal said.
Race for good marks
Wilson George, Chairman, Board of Directors, Indian schools in Sultanate of Oman, said: “They want to race for good marks and hence the parents of top scoring pupils are feeling more pressure.” Around 3,800 students are appearing for board exams of Indian schools in March while 350 students will appear for Pakistan board examinations this year.
From Bangladesh schools around 300 students will sit for their O and A level examination and around 40,000 Omani students appear for diploma exams every year.
Dr Sridevi P. Thashnath, the Principal of Indian School Darsait, who has been appointed as the CBSE pre-exam psychological counsellor to provide counselling services to students and parents, confirmed that it is the parents who are more stressed out than the children.
“Out of every 10 cases, seven to eight calls come from the parents as their expectations are more so more counselling needs to be given to them rather than students,”she said.
She said parents are putting their children under too much pressure and some of the expectations of parents are unrealistic. “Some of them want their child to score 100 out of 100 and don’t want them to miss out on anything, but at the same time these parents cannot be blamed. With proper counselling it can be tackled,” she said.
“Children take stress and are apprehensive, but parents tend to go overboard. They are the ones who need to be counselled more than the children. At times, I have to spend half an hour just guiding a parent to not fret so much, as this can negatively impact the child, who otherwise might just be studying as much even in two hours,” she added. Around 1,500 students will appear for Class XII examinations from 11 Indian Schools in Oman while 2,300 students will sit for the Class X examinations from 14 Indian schools in Oman.
Ataullah Niazi, Senior Principal of Pakistan Schools in Oman, said that the parents are always worried more as there is too much competition in today’s world. “That is one of the reasons we organize one-on-one talk, group talk and even ask the parents to approach the schools if there are any problems,” he said.
Major Nasir Uddin Ahmed Said, Director of Education Affairs, Bangladesh School Muscat and its four branches in Oman, said that most Bangladeshi parents are relaxed when it comes to their children’s education but added: “A group of parents are however very worried and push their children very hard.”
Some parents, however, justified their actions.
“In today’s world, if you don’t score above 90 percent in board exams, then you will not get admission to higher studies,” lamented Indian expat, Sunita, a mother of two.
“What can I do to help maximize my child’s marks in the upcoming board examination? My child puts in only 10 hours of study in a day, while his friends study for 13 hours. Should I be worried?” one parent asked.
Suresh, a Class X student of an Indian School, who is busy preparing for his competitive exams, is unable to give as much time to his board exam preparation. He isn’t as worried about the board exams as he maintains that the preparation for his competitive exam is more crucial. His mother, though, is having sleepless nights. “Board exam results are taken into consideration and the mark-sheet is presented no matter where one goes, I don’t know how to get this thought across to my son,” she said.
Those Indian school students who are appearing for their board examination and their parents who require any counselling services may reach the Principal at [email protected] with subject marked as “Counselling” which will continue April 29, 2017 on all working days from 4 pm to 8 pm.
