Exam counselling on wheels in Kovai

Chief education officer of Coimbatore district A. Gnanagowri told DC that a psychologist has been deployed to counsel students of Coimbatore, Nilgiris and Tirupur districts. The mobile unit will go around each district for ten days and reach out to students. The counselling van will visit the schools handpicked by the CEO.

The counsellor will concentrate on children with poor academic scores and emotional weakness. It will also provide psycological support for students struggling to cope with the sudden death of their classmates due to suicide.

“The emotional turmoil that students face when one of their own ends his/her life is intense. It also sets a wrong precedent. Suicide is not a solution to problems. They should not think it is an easy way out.

The schools that have been scoring poor results will be focussed upon. The counselling is a form of reinforcement and headmasters can also call for the mobile units based on the need”, she said.

Recently, the mobile unit was sent to the corporation school in Negamum where the Plus-1 and Plus-2 boys have been extremely naughty and have been bursting crackers inside the classrooms.

There have been several studies that show that several students take the extreme step after a poor showing in the exams. Both doctors and counsellors said stress could be avoided if students don’t regard exams as a battle ground to score marks.

The counsellors help in beating the stress, especially during examination time and help them to overcome suicidal thoughts caused by fear of appearing for the board exams.

There are several instances of students expressing a desire to run away from home for the fear of talking about their failure in exams to their parents. In such cases, the parents are called for and counselled, she said.