March 2, 2006

As the CBSE examinations are underway, there are several parents who have begun complaining about the amount of 'portion'.

In most cases, the expatriate parents living in the Middle East happen to be employed. As such, how can they overcome such a huge portion burden of their children?

Though the portion is for the student, the main burden is on the parents.

Daijiworld.com has started receiving such complaints and all parents are requested join a constructive and healthy debate on this issue.

Janet Lobo of Dubai writes in response to a CBSE news headline on daijiworld :

A total of 454,045 students are appearing for the CBSE this year. Most of the parents, if not all of them, may be undergoing stress and strain because of the huge portions the children are subjected to.

In a well-written report in a recent Gulf News issue, Sunita Menon has mentioned that many Indian mothers have given up their jobs to coach their children. Why is this load only on the CBSE children? They are being robbed of their childhood with such vast portions to study, with not enough time for recreation and play.

Parents should rise and join together in approaching the CBSE Board and education authorities to make the examination more "student-friendly" rather than "job-oriented".

Those who are interested in partaking a discussion regarding CBSE portion may contribute their valuable opinion through daijiworld. Selected comments will be published on 'Face to Face' and important opinions will be forwarded to the CBSE and other concerned authorities.

To express your opinion.. Click Here

[For the benefit of Daijiworld.com readers, we are re-producing the article written by Sunita menon for Gulf News Daily dated 10.02.2006]

Board Throws a Helpline to Pupils Sinking in Exam Fear
By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter - Gulf News
 
Dubai: Over 40 principals, trained counsellors and psychologists will be at hand to guide pupils out of their examination jitters.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has set up a month- long tele-counselling service for Grade 10 and Grade 12 students.

Grade 12 examinations are scheduled to begin from March 1 and from March 2 for Grade 10.

In Dubai, the service is made available at the Indian High School. The timing of this service is from 12 noon to 4pm. Both parents and students can make use of the service.

"The helpline is operational, in full swing. We get students making inquiries if there is any change in the examination pattern. Some even call up to say that they are experiencing a lot of stress," said Ashok Kumar, principal of the Indian High School, Dubai.

First of its kind

Introduced in 1998, CBSE's tele-counselling service is the first of its kind to be provided by any educational Board in India. There are over 30 CBSE affiliated institutes in the UAE, most of which are in Dubai.

"Besides providing counselling over the telephone, the parents and students can also take appointments to have a face-to-face interaction with our counsellors. For example, if a student is complaining of being unable to concentrate on studies, we encourage the student to come and meet our counsellors," said Kumar.

The school has eight psychologists in their counselling team.

The board has also listed some do's and don'ts for the counsellors. Among the list of do's include the sharing of information about thoughts or behaviour relating to suicide, drugs, self-harm or harm to others and encourage students to consent to sharing the information with family and teachers.

The list of don'ts lists that counsellors should not broadcast confidential information and they should not make absolute statements.

More information is available on CBSE website: www.cbse.nic.in

The helpline number in Dubai is 00971-4-3377475.

How to deal with stress

• Make realistic study plans.
• Assess priorities, assets and difficulties.
• Take frequent breaks.
• Do not forgo TV or entertainment and outings.
• Imagining extreme consequences and worst situation scenarios is of no use and needs to be discouraged.
• Make the student see what he can accomplish in the remaining time, which is not negligible.
• Constant encouragement and reassurance from all significant members in the school and family is essential.