Friday 31 / January / 2025
Muscat: Indian school students who will soon be appearing for their exams will now have access to counselling services 24 hours a day, a top educator has said.
Dr Baby Sam Saamuel, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Indian Schools in the Sultanate, has said that all Indian schools have set up a counselling service to help children deal with the mental stress that comes with exams.
“Around 4,000 students across 15 Indian Schools from Oman will be appearing for their Class X and Class XII Board examinations this term,” he said. “February to April is when all Indian Schools have their annual examinations. This is also when the CBSE and State boards conduct the Class X and Class XII public examinations.”
“To help students deal with the pressures of appearing for exams, the Indian Schools’ Board has launched a number of initiatives, including the ‘Here 4U Let’s Talk’ counselling service that is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, as well as the ISO-VLE, a virtual learning platform to provide students access to video lessons, and which contains material on subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, economics and democratic politics for students of Class X and mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, accountancy and economics for Class XII students,” he said.
Additionally, experienced and competent teachers in different subjects have been identified to clear the doubts of students until the board examinations are over. These teachers will provide assistance in mathematics, physics, chemistry, accountancy and economics, and are available daily between 6pm and 9pm via telephone or WhatsApp. The dedicated numbers for each subject have been made available to students by their respective schools.
Having seen many cases of students deciding to “cram” for their exams – the process of sitting through a long study session at the last minute – Saamuel has asked people to opt for regular study sessions so that they can assimilate their subject matter over longer periods of time.
“Cramming is certainly not the answer,” he said. The practice of last minute cramming, as common as it might be, only helps students absorb a limited amount of information over a limited period of time. Anything learned in such a manner gets forgotten just as soon as examinations are over. For longer-term retention and recall, it makes more sense to learn over a longer period, in smaller chunks. This also gives time and scope for more sessions of active recall practice rather than revision practice.
Saamuel added, “Active recall involves trying to recollect the data, making our brain work harder to recollect and thus retain that information. Examples of this could include self-administered tests, using flash cards or even making notes with the books shut. The idea is that if we repeatedly try to practice recalling, we get better at remembering. If students practice this every day early on in the term, the amount they need to ‘study’ per day will seem less of a burden.”
In addition, Saamuel also asked parents not to put undue pressure on their children, especially in cases where the children were already working hard on their own.
“In the current society, ‘success’ as defined in the past – graduation/ post-graduation in a trendy subject, a well-paying job – is no longer permanent,” he said. “To be successful, one has to constantly prove their merit. This is only possible by being dynamic in upskilling and keeping up-to-date with the rapid changes in their chosen field.”
“Teaching children to focus only on academic performance is in reality poor preparation for a successful career and life,” he explained. “Additionally, it is a myth that children cannot make a successful career out of their passions, regardless of how off-beat their interests may be. If your children have clarity of thought, are serious about their passions and talents, and take ownership for their actions, please allow them to pursue their fields of interest. One exam does not define someone’s life. There are always second chances. Not finding true passion, true purpose, true happiness, in my personal opinion is the biggest failure in life.”
Saamuel also asked students to study for the right reasons – for acquiring knowledge, for performing successfully in their examinations, and for being able to utilise this knowledge later on in life
“When they learn, I hope they study smart, and not just hard,” added Saamuel. “There are various learning and memorisation techniques. Each child also has his/her individual strengths and learning styles, based on whether he/she is more visually, aurally or kinaesthetically inclined. The best way would be to try out different techniques to find the one that works best for you, to suit your individual learning styles. Over and above all this, take care of your mental and physical health.”
