A different take on coping up with examination stresses

Shreeprakash Sharma *

Examination stress is the most common phenomenon and students fall ubiquitously vulnerable to it across the countries in the world. Psychologists, psychoanalysts, counsellors, educationists and academicians all over the world have been prescribing a host of tricks on how to bust and cope up with the stresses which have today become the reasons of a string of modern psychosomatic disorders and mental disturbances among the students.

There goes a school of thought which says that examination-induced-stresses have their origin in the heavy burden of the text books, vast syllabi and complexity of courses which a student finds very difficult to accomplish while other schools say that examination stresses are due to peer pressure and unrealistic expectations of the parents from their children.

No doubt, speculations in this regard are galore and it is really not feasible to reach a consensus.

However, it is very hard to deny the truths that consistently mounting pressure of completing syllabi within the stipulated time, parents’ and teachers’ pressure on their children for scoring the highest marks and ensuring one’s berth in the list of finalists for the admission to the various prestigious courses of career and jobs have been taking the abysmal toll on the psycho-mental condition of an examinee.

The persistent increase in the suicide cases of students at the various coaching institutes in the notoriously famous city of Kota of Rajasthan and other cities across the country does not augur well for the growth of education and the holistic development of the youth.

At this crossroads, we need to ask ourselves a very vital question: after all what are the inherent reasons of examination stresses which students unfailingly fall vulnerable to?

We also need to find out the circumstances that abet a student to reach out onto the verge of getting mentally upset to the extent of even taking his or her life?

There is no gainsaying the fact that reforms such as globalization and liberalization, brought about in 1990s, have brought about a slew of unexpected and unprecedented metamorphoses in the entire gamut of human lives.

Our century-old moral values, ethical standard and socio-familial norms have also undergone U-turn changes due to these reforms. Moreover, revolution in information technology too has proved to be a great catalyst which has added fuel to the fire and we have been virtually submerged in the social networking sites like those of Whats App, instagram, twitter, face book and all that jazz.

But these descriptions are nothing but the tips of the iceberg. Problems are also there which have wrought havoc upon the delicate mind of the students, precariously standing at the violent age of the adolescence.

Passing precious time by students in chatting with friends on Whats App, playing online games like those of PUBG, Blue Whale and numerous others and watching videos on You-tube by students needs serious souls-searching, especially when they usually keep complaining about the scarcity of time to finish the tasks needed for the preparation of examination.

Lack of study plan as per the availability of time, task and resources aggravates the situation and which ultimately brings about examinees to the disturbance of the mental peace. Chaotic and reckless life style of the techno-and-Apps-savvy students of the 21st century creates the unbridgeable gap between what we may call the targets to be achieved and the preparedness of the students to attain them.

The excessive exposure of students to the world beyond their domain of serious self-study leaves a student confused and anxious. Much-required track of serious study is lost, goal gets confused and the dream of life is shattered.

What rests is a vortex of anxieties and regrets which heavily perturb the peace of mind of a student. It does not mean that the students must keep themselves away from the so-called inevitable world of the information technology. Nor does it mean that there should be total insulation of the present age generation from the utter technological advancement of the modern age.

Doing so is not only quite impossible but also unsocial, incongruous and orthodox. The bottom-line is that students need to fix the priorities of life. For chasing the beautiful dreams of life and realizing them what a student requires most is to have a planned study schedule.

Preferably long-hours of consistent self-study habit are essentially required to overcome the pressure of performing better than others. Time management is another area which too must be given serious thought.

No doubt, unrealistic aspiration of the parents from their children also needs to be modified and mended. What they must not forget that all the people in this world differ and contrast starkly from one another. We cannot compare and assess all the children on a universal parameter of performance in a particular examination.

The parents need to learn to respect the individual specialities and genetic differences of their children and treat them as the human beings not the guinea pig of the examination laboratory. However, the importance of examination cannot be denied in the life of a student but we seriously need to realize that it is never the matter of life and death.

Nor for the parents either. The noted US writer of inspirational maxims said, “Recipe for success: Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing.”

It is high time students religiously followed the path of hard labour to reach out to the apex of success so earnestly cherished by themselves, parents, teachers and other stakeholders to finally save themselves from the labyrinth of fatal stresses and pressure.

Last but not the least, we must never forget that there is no bigger examination in human life than life itself… we must try our best to live it happily and cosily to make it enjoyable and sweet beyond our wildest dreams.