Chennai: Over 280 kids reach out to education dept with exam-related stress
CHENNAI: The novel initiative of providing exam stress relief through social media like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp is gathering pace as over 280 students and parents contacted the school education department through WhatsApp in just two days. The initiative jointly launched by school education department and The Lede, online journalism platform on February 14, to bust the exam related stress.
“We have received over 280 complaints related to exam stress and anxiety through the WhatsApp. Mainly, the students from classes 10 and 11 are coming up with exam-related issues,” said Sandhya Ravishankar, editor of The Lede.
The queries varied from how to prepare for the exam to the diet that needs to be followed during exam times.
Students from both the urban and rural areas are contacting for help, “We are receiving messages from across the state starting from Chennai to Tirunelveli.
Even students from remote villages also contacting us for help,” she said.
There were also over 200 calls were made seeking help to this number.
Students and parents also seek the study materials in this platform to clear the exam. So, the team has uploaded the class 10 study material. It also uploaded the tips and quotes from famous psychiatrists on dealing with the exam related stress.
Mostly, the government school students are seeking the help. “Of 280 students, 99 per cent of them are government school students. The message is yet to reach the students from private and CBSE schools,” she added.
For students worst affected by the exam related stress, the team members will forward their contact numbers to a WhatsApp group consisting of mobile psychological counsellors employed by the school education department.
The mobile counsellors will call the students and offer the psychological help and if needed the counsellors will also pay a visit to the students.
Though the Facebook page - Tamil Nadu Govt Exam Stress Relief - and twitter handle @TNSchoolEduDept are available, the students prefer to WhatsApp their problems.
“Probably, WhatsApp is giving them anonymity compared to Facebook or Twitter. We are going to promote our Facebook page as well,” Sandhya Ravishankar said.
At present, the students and the parents can only air their grievances and cannot interact with the experts.
“We will soon upload the psychological counselling guide to help the teachers on the Facebook page. It will help teachers to how to counsel the students with exam-related issues,” said V.C. Rameswaramurgan, director, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
Students with exam-related issues and stress can seek help through WhatsApp at 7373002426.
