Be involved and not overbearing. Encourage breaks and playtime during study sessions.
These are among a school’s advisories to parents about two weeks before their children start writing the board examinations.
Several schools are addressing parents as much as they are counselling students in the run-up to the boards because they (parents) get more worked up and often transfer their stress to the children.
ICSE (Class X), ISC (Class XII) and CBSE Class X and XII begin around mid-February and continue for over a month. And it is important that students maintain their mental stability during this long period, school principals said.
“Be involved, but not overbearing — offer support and guidance without micromanaging. Encourage breaks and playtime and balance study time with relaxation for better focus,” South City International School wrote to parents.
“Parents play a key role and they should not expect the children to keep studying all the time with no breaks. We see children breaking under pressure and if they score two per cent less it will not impact them so much as they will get impacted by mental instability. What is important is they learn resilience and can come out of failure,” said Satabdi Bhattacharjee, principal, South City International School.
While South City International sent an advisory to parents, The Heritage School and Mahadevi Birla World Academy are conducting in-person sessions with parents of board examinees.
Parents have to understand that children now have their study patterns and they should not expect them to fit into their style of studying or working, said Anjana Saha, principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
The school had a session with the parents of Class XII examinees on Monday.
“There are children who like to play music while they are studying and, as adults, we have to accept that,” Saha told her audience.
“Each child is different and they have their own rhythm which has to be accepted. Not every child will follow the same set pattern,” she said.
Saha said many parents brought up their concerns about students keeping their mobile phones with them even while studying.
“One should not expect them to cut themselves off from the phone. But yes, they should be told to time themselves while they are using the phone or browsing it,” said Saha.
Several principals said that instead of being stressed out parents should try to be encouraging towards the child and appreciate the effort they are putting in more than the result.
“Now that push has come to shove, children will study but as parents one should ensure that the home atmosphere is peaceful and joyful and not stressed out,” Saha said.
She also advised the parents to stock up the refrigerator with food that their children enjoy eating.
“Food works as a stress buster and we discourage them from eating outside food,” she said.
At The Heritage School, some parents expressed concern about children “not being stressed out”.
“Children have written multiple exams and are prepared. They have the option of writing an improvement test in school to test themselves. But parents should remain calm and by the side of the children during this period,” said Seema Sapru, principal, The Heritage School.
Last updated on 10 Feb 2025
