Mental disorders, depression, dislike for study, moodiness, violent attitude?

As the Plus II exams of various education boards draw closer, city-based psychiatrists are having to deal in increasing numbers with candidates suffering from one or many of these symptoms.

Investigations have revealed that almost all the student-patients are afraid to sit for the competitive exams for engineering and medical courses.

Another feature the students share is that they have been forced against their will by parents to study science.

?From November 2004, I have been getting at least one such patient every other day, suffering from mental disorders that have resulted from a fear of the joint entrance examinations,? said Rima Mukherjee, a psychiatrist at a south Calcutta clinic .

?This is a serious trend and parents need to be cautious,? she added. ?Exam phobia is not a new trend. But we are worried that even grown-up students are falling prey to it.?

According to psychiatrists, most of the students suffering from the disorders are from reputed schools. Several of them are from middle-class families.

Explaining the problem, the psychiatrists said that most parents force their wards to study science in the Plus II level after seeing that they have scored high marks in mathematics and science in the Class X exams.

?What parents don?t realise is that there is a huge gap between the syllabi of Class X and of Plus II,? said Mahua Ghosh, another psychiatrist, who is visited by at least one Class XII student every day.

The trend, according to Ghosh, reveals that the depression starts from the end of Class XI, when the students realise that ?they are not good enough for mathematics or science?.

?On one hand, there is parental pressure to do well in the Class XII exam, and in the subsequent competitive exams as well, and on the other, the students suffer from a sense of helplessness arising out of their inability to cope with the science subjects. This, ultimately, ends up in acute depression and other mental disorders,? explained psychiatrist Kanika Mitra.

Education department officials feel parents have become more obsessed with engineering and management degrees, with the sudden spurt in the number of private institutes offering the courses.

The jump in the parental expectation is also evident from the rise in the number of students sitting for the competitive exams. Around 60,000 students will appear in the joint entrance tests this year, against around 45,000 last year.