Chennai: Ahead of the state board examinations, counselors at GVK EMRI are receiving many calls from students, parents and teachers from all over the city and the districts to address stress relating to exams.
The examinations are scheduled to take place next month. “So far, we have got nearly 3,000 calls. Every day we get 20 to 25 calls. The numbers of calls are increasing as examination dates near. This year, the anxiety among parents and their wards is more as students got very less time for preparation,” said B. Prabhudoss, regional manager, GVK EMRI.
The helpline also get calls from Madurai, Coimbatore among other districts.
Not only parents, teachers are also calling for suggestions, he said. School principals are also calling asking for suggestions as the motivation level of students have dropped.
A student named Akash called to say he did not attend school for one month after the trauma he went through due to floods, said P. Hemlatha, counselling officer.
“He calls us daily and we are trying our level best to convince him to calm down. So far, he is able to concentrate in his studies and we are hopeful he will do well in his examination,” she said.
Meenakshi is another student, who was badly affected during the floods, is a regular called. “She knows all the answers well and she scored 1,025 out of 1,200 in half yearly examinations. Yet she feels panicky that she is forgetting what she has studied,” she said. S. Ilayaraja, another counselling officer, said parents need counseling more than teachers. “I also get calls from parents. They are more worried than students as a result it makes them panicky. We ask them to not put much pressure on students,” he said. Students should follow a proper diet and sleep early and not stay awake for a long time, he said.
