Muscat: Stress management guidance sessions were organised for Indian school students of Class X, XI and XII, the Indian schools board said.
In the first phase, seminars were held in Indian school Muscat and Seeb. This was followed by similar seminars in Salalah and Muladha.
‘Exam season can be stressful for both students as well as their parents. It is normal for parents to be anxious about their children; as parents, it is important to be as encouraging and patient as possible with their wards preparing for exams and they should help ease their stress rather than increasing it with their own woes,” an official from the Indian schools’ board said.
Dr. Sridevi P. Thashnath, Principal at Indian School Darsait who is also Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Pre-Exam Psychological Counsellor, said that parents should not place unnecessary pressure on children to gain certain grades.
“This can lead to unwarranted sense of failure if they don’t get what they were expected to get. It’s perfectly normal for parents to become anxious and worried; however, they should not transfer their anxiety on to their children, but be calm and supportive,” the counsellor said.
V. Preshob, Senior Counsellor at Indian School Muscat, said that a certain amount of stress is considered to be effective and beneficial as it leads to alertness and careful behaviour.
“It helps children in adequate preparations and better results; but when it spirals out of control, it can have disastrous effects on them and can lead to poor performance,” Preshob added.
Regi Oommen, Principal, Indian School Ibra, explicated the CBSE question papers in different difficulty levels and said that children should focus on easy and average questions which constitute 80 per cent of marks.
In Salalah, Dr Aruna Shukla, counselor at Indian school Salalah, spoke about the need to analyze the causes of stress related problems arising due to examination fear.
In Muladha, the counselling session was aided with inspiring clippings, activities and a short film on stress management proved to be highly beneficial, informative and effective in preparing students for the challenges in academics, career, personal and social development.
CBSE offers tele-counselling through principals and trained counsellors from within CBSE affiliated schools.
Parents and students who wish to avail the telephonic psychological counselling support in Oman may contact the following Principals and Counsellors who have been approved by the CBSE for conducting pre-exam psychological counselling:
Dr. Sridevi P. Thashnath, Principal, Indian School Darsait from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Mobile 99432243); Mr. Regi Oommen, Principal, Indian School Ibra from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. (Mobile 94662238); Dr. Benny Varghese, Counsellor, Indian School Muscat from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Mobile 92842913); Mrs. Bubly Devarajan, Counsellor, Indian School Muscat from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Mobile 93542042); Mr. Preshob V., Counsellor, Indian School Muscat from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Mobile 95819545); and Ms Tanuja Sharma, Counsellor, Indian School Muscat from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Mobile 95819655).
CBSE also provides counseling to differently abled students. Online counseling will be available via email ([email protected]) and easy to follow advices to cope with exam related anxiety on the CBSE website www.cbse.nic.in through micro link helpline.