The burden of parental expectations, unwieldy syllabuses, rote learning-rewarding examinations, and surging admission cut-offs in India’s too few best colleges and universities are pushing children and adolescents into irrational dread of examinations. The onus is on parents to provide cheerful support and encourage children to be in good physical and mental shape to give their best – Arundhati Nath Come February-March, within India’s 248 million households, there’s a palpable sense of anxiety, fear and nervousness as 30 million students ready to write the all-important make or break class X and XII board exams conducted by the country’s 31 examination boards, and another 200 million children prepare to write year-end school exams. Across the country, families are feeling the heat with parents and teachers reporting a spike in children suffering exam-related anxiety ranging from panic attacks, blackouts to fatal suicides. The burden of parental expectations, unwieldy syllabuses, rote-rewarding examinations, and surging admission cut-offs in India’s too few best colleges and universities are pushing children and adolescents into irrational dread of exams. According to a study published in the US-based International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences titled ‘Academic Stress, Parental Pressure, Anxiety and Mental Health among Indian High School Students’ (2015), 81.6 percent of secondary school students in India suffer examination-related anxiety. Moreover, data published by the National Crime Records Bureau in 2016 reveals that 2,646 students committed suicide in 2015 due to “failure in examination”. The national student exam stress barometer is so high that it has prompted prime minister Narendra Modi to convene town hall-style meetings with students to motivate and counsel them. Initiated last January, this year ‘Pariksha ke charcha 2.0’ (examination conversations) was held on January 29 in New Delhi and attended by over 2,000 students, parents and teachers from across the country. During his pep talk, Modi advised students not to learn merely for exams. “Our education must equip us to face various challenges of life,” he said, chastising parents who impose unrealistic academic expectations on their children. “I again advise parents to be a factor of motivation and encouragement for your children. Only when you take it in spirit and encourage your child does a 60 percent holder move towards 70 and 80 percent. If you only criticise and scold your child for not scoring 90 percent, you will demotivate your child to start believing that she is incapable. This will take children’s grades further down,” says an official English language translation of prime minister Modi’s second examinations conversation. In this connection, it’s noteworthy that the prime minister has also authored a book Exam Warriors (2018) which provides time management, concentration improvement, stress management and confidence-building advice to students. The prime minister’s advice to the country’s parental community to go easy on their children is timely. In recent times, particularly after the turn of the century, the new acquisitive upwardly mobile middle class has begun to entertain huge dreams for their progeny. This is confirmed by the study published in International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral…
