| exam fears. The highlight of the campaign being in the fact that unlike in the past where we have conducted workshops for several thousands of students in the same domain of coping with examination fear; this year we decided to focus on conducting the ‘Train the Trainer’ workshops for teachers who could in-turn help their students handle exam stress better.
Break/Pull-quote:
“We at Activity are convinced that our networking and reaching out to students is far more expansive and with a steady bearing on connecting the teacher with the child.”
Body Copy:
This month I have had the opportunity to lead a few of these workshops in some cities selected for the campaign. Very experienced teachers were deputed to represent their schools to pick up the learning from the workshop and then in-turn conduct similar workshops for their teachers and students back in their schools and hence the validation of the concept of ‘Train the Trainer.’
During the course of these very interesting interactions; it appeared to me that there are certain predominant factors leading to high level of stress among our children. Parents and societal pressure emerge as the biggest culprit of these factors. It was a unanimous voice that sounded so helpless against the very demanding parent who could settle for nothing but the best in terms of results rather than achievements of their children. In fact, I have personally come across several parents who are so worried about their children and their exams, that they cancel all their programmes to ensure that they are sitting with their children while they study.
Failure of the teachers and the school system to identify the learning disabilities and weaknesses of children combined with very rigid and boring teaching methodologies was sighted as another important area causing stress. Too many tests and exams packed in the academic calendar make it very difficult for the child to enjoy schooling; as it seems like beyond exams, there is not much in school.
I firmly believe that it is time that schools address the issue of interference and anxiety by the parent that in turn leads to stress in the child. The role of the PTA meetings and parent interactions should focus on sensitizing parents on the critical role that they play in supporting children and nurturing them; rather than building elements of fear and tension in the child. Counselling parents is definitely the need of the hour and schools must find ways of enabling this to happen effectively.
The advent of media and technology in our lives has brought down the concentration levels of children dramatically. Research has shown that the average attention span of a school student in India is approximately 7 minutes as compared to about 28 minutes a couple of decades ago. This makes the task of teachers and educationists all the more difficult and challenging. Newer interactive and practical methodologies need to be brought into the class room that will make lessons interesting and concepts clear for the students. This will also make them enjoy their lessons and reduce stress.
Principals can play a great role in bringing in innovative ways of assessments for the children of their respective schools. Conducting self assessment tests, open book tests, interesting pedagogy, consistent revision, group exams where a group of children sit together to answer the questions, all these make assessments far more interesting for the students and also increases their interest in the subject. Let us review the way in which we place our expectations on them and bring changes in our teaching and assessing methods. This would go a long way in reducing stress among children and hopefully get us to see bright happy faces entering the school gates; eager to get on with the learning for the day.
sultan@activityindia.com
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