THIRVANANTHAPURAM: Examinations might be stressful for the students, but the fear of shattering the hopes pinned on them by parents, is more disturbing for them.The 28 teachers, who donned the role of counsellors ever since the Higher Secondary examinations began on March 12, as part of ‘We Help’, an initiative of the Higher Secondary Department along with the Mental Health Department, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College,found that the parents were more stressed than their wards when it comes to beating exam pressure.It is to give instant help to students and parents who were unable to bear the stress of examinations that the Higher Secondary Department’s Career Guidance and Adolescent Counselling Cell organised ‘We Help’ centres with the help of experts.Students could ring up the counsellors 24 hours and ask for help or could appear in the schools which were turned into temporary ‘We Help’ centres.While some 300 students made use of the facility over telephone, a countable few appeared in person too.“We found that the parents had to be calmed down as they were anxious of their wards’ performance. Even the students who rang up were anxious whether they would be able to rise to their parents’ expectations which pointed out the fact that parents were burdening the children with their own fears,” said S Naseeb, state coordinator of the cell.Loss of appetite, sleep, a distressed state of mind, longing for an escape from the tedious task of appearing for the exams were some of the common problems the students shared.”But there was this mother who called me at 7.30 in the morning and said her son was not interested in exams which was tearing her apart. She was vexed that her son was still sleeping at the time she made the call,” shares Gijo Baby, a teacher-turned counsellor at Sacred Heart HSS, Thevara. That more students preferred to stick to telephonic counselling have prompted the department to think of a permanent solution to the needs of children to unburden.“The students who talked to us were seemingly burdened with the thoughts of disappointing their parents if they scored less. The cases that we could not handle, we called up the doctor associated with the programme in the district,” said Augustine Jose, teacher at Govt GHSS, Keezharoor, here. The 28 teachers were given training prior to the start of ‘We Help’ centres. However, they remained largely as mentors and kept away from advising the students. As the exams come to a close on Tuesday, the teachers can well get back to their original roles after a satisfying stint.
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