Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Photo: Vipin Chandran

Exam fever A mother plays the supportive parent to the hilt

And, to calm those frayed nerves, she has found comfort in Acupressure. “I was constantly worried about my daughter’s studies and became anxious when I did not see the visible signs of examination stress in her. Now, with acupressure, the feeling of uneasiness has gone down. I understand that if a child is composed and not stressed about exams, it is a good thing,” she says.

While schools have in place their study timetable with on-line exams, daily tests, revision and special classes, colleges follow their own mechanism.

With more than half-a-dozen competitive exams including EAMCET, IITJEE, BITSAT, AIEEE to be held in another month or two along with the regular Intermediate exams, institutes and colleges are preparing their students to meet the challenges. Venkamma, head of the department of Public Administration at Reddy Women’s College bemoans that the days of carefree childhood are gone. “The age of innocence is over . Youngsters are just hopping back and forth from home to college and then to tutorials.

All this is done to ensure that they get a seat in a professional college. Even their dining table conversations focus on the completion of syllabus,” she reasons and adds, “It’s the mother who gets affected ultimately. When kids do not fare well in the exam, she’s the one who’s blamed.”

Vaishanvi, a student of Sri Chaitanya College in Dilshuknagar is like the thousands of teenagers whose parents take a call about her future.

The youngster has a busy summer ahead as she is appearing for a clutch of engineering tests besides writing the common entrance tests of Vellore Institute of Technology, Gitam and Singapore University. “If you want your child to be a professionally qualified individual and not just a graduate, parents need to watch out ,” asserts Vaishnavi’s mother Arundhati, a teacher with DAV Public School, Safilguda. And, to give the necessary moral support, Vaishnavi’s father has taken a month off from work and is flying from Muscat to be with her during the exams.

According to dancer Rajeshwari Sainath, finding the right balance is the key.

Her daughter, Vaishnavi Sainath, is an MPC student from Little Flower Junior College. “As a parent, one needs to monitor to know what is happening in our children’s lives but care needs to be taken that we do not become pushy.”

Parents taking leave from work during their children’s exams has its own pitfalls, feels counsellor Zenobia Rustomfram. “Generally working mothers, who feel guilty for not spending enough time with their children take time off from work.

And, they expect this ‘sacrifice’ to be acknowledged by their children. On the other hand, the children who are by then used to managing their own schedules might find this as an act of intrusion by the parents into their affairs,” she says.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail