Incidents of students buckling under the pressure of board examinations are growing, several school principals and mental health experts said before the 2025 tests begin.
The expectations of parents, teachers, and schools, as well as the goals students set for themselves, often aggravate the pressure.
The environment of competition propagated by schools and the education system nurtures that pressure, said a mental health expert.
The pressure manifests in various ways, which could be panic attacks where they complain of shortness of breath, shaking of hands and legs, or inability to concentrate or recollect what they have learned, said a psychiatrist.
“In the past few weeks days, I have seen over 30 board examinees who have been finding it difficult to concentrate or even sit and study. All of them needed medical intervention. Over the years we have seen the pressure mount closer to the board examination and the number of students requiring help is increasing,” said psychiatrist Sanjay Garg.
Seema Sapru, principal of The Heritage School, said there were far “too many expectations” on students.
“There are expectations of parents, teachers, and schools which are compounded by expectations that they have from themselves. But students who do not have multiple options are the ones who get stressed out more,” said Sapru.
The pressure starts building in the run-up to the examinations and, for some, it continues during the board examination too.
“Students having panic attacks during the examination is common,” said Rodney Borneo, principal, St Augustine’s Day School Shyamnagar.
Mental health experts said schools and the education system foster unhealthy competition that is detrimental to a student’s mental health.
“It is a practice in many schools and coaching institutes where they would display the students’ marks after the results. The high achievers aim to be on that list,” said Garg.
He terms it as “passive pressure” on a student.
“There is an environment of competition around the child which aggravates the stress for students. While students or parents are becoming part of the rat race, schools and the educational system are promoting it. There is hardly an activity or event that is not result-oriented and naturally, the need to win or perform plays in the background under all circumstances,” said Farishta Dastur Mukerji, psychotherapist, and school counsellor.
A principal of a CBSE school unwilling to be identified said the school were “under pressure” to “be in business”.
“There is a definite pressure on children to perform and parents expect we will prepare them to excel. There is always a chance of students of other schools outperforming our students and naturally that creates pressure,” the principal said.
After the publication of board results, parents of children even in junior classes tend to enquire about how many toppers their child’s school has produced.
Sometimes pressure is created unconsciously, too. A student who topped ICSE in his school is constantly asked by his teachers about his preparations for ISC and told he should “top again”.
“This naturally creates a pressure on him,” said the school’s principal.
The last lap before the board examinations is crucial for a child, said Terence John, director of education and development at Julien Day Schools.
“Children tend to get into wrong habits. We have seen students taking to smoking as well to what they told me was to ‘beat the stress’,” he said.
“We have had students who required medical help. We must be available to support them because they are unable to tackle the situation on their own. The pressure is acute for some of them because they feel their performance is going to impact their career path,” he said.
“The high cut-offs in some colleges are also a reason for students to be under pressure,” said Sunita Sen, principal of The BSS School.
Mental health experts feel that the reason for the growing numbers is also because of “more reporting”.
“Children are more aware now and there is an increase in reporting. Mental health has been more normalised than before and children can access facilities,” said Dastur Mukerji.
Garg said that many of the parents who brought their children to his clinic had done so at their children’s insistence.
Madhyamik will begin from February 10, ISC February 13, ICSE February 18 and HS from March 3.