India's CBSE to help pupils beat exam stress

Dubai: David Ipe, Student Consellor at the Indian High School Dubai has a crucial role to play in the next two months to come. For thousands of CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education ) students who want a word of comfort and reassurance when they get weigh down by the examination stress, Ipe is the point of contact.

As the CBSE Class 10 and 12 board examinations are starting on March 3, the Indian Board has started three help lines in Gulf Countries - Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait - to help students overcome examination-related stress.

The Dubai Helpline on 009714 3377475 will be open for calls from 12 noon to 4pm. The first phase of counselling started from February 1 and will continue till the end of April. In the UAE, there are over 45 CBSE affiliated schools.

In India, where hundred thousands of students sit for the exam every year, 52 principals, trained counsellors from CBSE-affiliated government and private schools, psychologists and social scientists are operating help lines from 8 a.m. up to midnight.

CBSE board exams dubbed as killer exams claim dozens of lives every year as children succumb to parental or peer pressure and take their own lives.
The alarming increase in the number of student suicides has forced the Indian government to rethink their educational strategies in the recent years. In a historic overhaul of the system, last year, Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister for Human Resources Development made the Grade 10 board exams optional from academic year 2010-2011, which means from next year onwards students have a choice. “If a student wants to go for pre-university course, he may appear for 10th board exam. But in case of a student pursuing the course in the same school, he need not appear in the class-10 exam for promotion to class-11,” the minister had said adding that an internal evaluation should suffice.

Sibal has also introduced a grading system from this year onwards, which is a paradigm shift from a mark-centric system of evaluation to a grade-centric system. There will be a nine point grading scale ranging from A1, A2 to E1 and E2 and students will be awarded grades in accordance with the marks they have scored.

The decision has evoked mixed response from schools, parents, students and various state boards with the traditionalists dubbing the move as counterproductive to the competitive spirit among students. However, the decision has brought joy to thousands of parents and students who otherwise get traumatised by the exam and spent sleepless nights.
The exam counsellor in Dubai said he has started getting calls from day one onwards. “But most of the calls are asking for examination guidance or parents calling for tips in preparing fro exams. It is only when the examination dates draw closer, there will be stress calls,” said the counsellor.

He advised parents to watch out for symptoms of stress like sleeping disorders, dizziness, fatigue, anxiety lack of appetite and nausea.

Dubai Helpline: