Indore:
As exams come closer and with confirmation of offline examination while studies have been online, panic and worry has taken over parents. This panic and worry about the future of their child and illusion of examinations to be determinant factor often results in life-long troubles for some children.
Lockdowns measures can expose children to a range of risks. Several factors related to confinement measures are likely to result in heightened tensions in the household, added stressors placed on caregivers, economic uncertainty, job loss or disruption to livelihoods, and social isolation.
“These are well known risk factors for violence at home. And as the risk of violence against children has increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic, child protection services have been weakened due in part to measures implemented to control the spread of the virus,” UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) stated.
It added that 1.8 billion children live in the 104 countries where violence prevention and response services have been disrupted due to Covid-19 and 66% of countries reported a disruption in violence against children-related services due to Covid-19.
Now with examination, stress is on peak and before students face pressure and depression, we have come with a way for parents and students to deal with this novel ‘Exam during Pandemic’ in a calm and composed approach.
Teens’ Health: Stress at peak, sports can fight it
The situation currently is that teenagers will be attempting board examinations in their classrooms in usual pen and paper approach.
Discussing emotional state of teens, endocrinologist Dr Abhyudaya Verma said, "At this age, anxiety increases significantly in children, fear of taking up their studies, health, future increases. Due to this lockdown, children are very depressed about their future."
However, teens are not comfortable in sharing their problems with parents which makes them feel emotionally isolated.
"Now with no friends to even share their problems with they are feeling helpless and this helplessness is either pushing them towards depression or aggression," Verma said. Addition of board examinations is another stress for them, which can affect their physical and mental health negatively.
"This is the time when hormones are already at their peak trying to find balance in the system, which requires teens to be very active and get required physical workouts," Verma said. Hence, he suggested that parents need to become stress-busters for their children and engage in sports with their chidren.
“Parents can also release their stress and so can children by engaging in an interactive sport, which could be anything from football, cricket to badminton and tennis,” Verma said.
Self-study will reap rewards; Have faith in children: Educationists
Though children have been studying at home and focusing on studies themselves, it could be a positive change that students have learned to study independently. “It is high time that students learn to study independently in our country and maybe we are having less faith on their abilities than we should,” former chairperson of Indore Sahodaya Complex of CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) Reena Khurana said.
She added that board also understands that this year has been tough on students, but offline examinations are essential for proper assessments. “We need to trust our child and let them decide, instead of us becoming controlling parents who stress more than the child resulting in a difficult and stressful situation for everyone,” Khurana said.
Chairman of Sahodaya UK Jha shared that assessment has been difficult in online studies. “However, those students who have genuinely studied and followed instructions of their teachers have prepared well, some very few students who might have ignored studies and resort to finding easy ways, they might face a difficult time now.”
He added that still it is not late and students can still make up for the year and prepare themselves to score well. “This year is mostly on student’s self-study and discipline,” Jha said.
7 musts of staying ‘Mentally fit’ during exams
Shared by psychiatrist Dr Smita Agrawal and neurologist Dr Ashish Bagdi
1. Get Enough Sleep: You need to get at least eight hours of sleep every night, so your brain functions at its best. The last thing you want to do when exams are around the corner is pulling all-nighters.
2. Plan, manage time to study and prepare. Most students panic because they delayed studying till the last day and now, cannot complete the preparation as desired.
3. The professors are there to help you with whatever you need; academic or otherwise. Always seek helps instead of struggling to solve a problem on your own.
4. Avoid just food because this only causes you to be slow and unproductive. Invest in fruits and vegetables as these foods have the nutrients to boost your brain activity.
5. Before you get into an exam room, understand that you’re human, and perfection is only an illusion.
6. Exercise: A simple morning run can go a long way in ensuring that your mental state is a table before and during exams.
7. Believe in Yourself: If you’ve gone through all your notes, you have no reason to be worried.
