KOZHIKODE: The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights issued an order to give ‘cooling down’ time of 15 minutes each before and after examinations after a few students of CBSE and State syllabus schools in the state complained about troubles they face during the examination. The idea behind giving this time was to make it easy for students to go through questions and answer papers carefully. As per the order, the students were not given time to relax before and after the examination, resulting in anxiety leading to varied psychological issues or mental trauma.
Talking about the order, Nazeer Chaliyam, member, Kerala State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights member, said, “In one complaint, a student in a CBSE school, expressed a concern about not getting enough time to answer a question, because of a confusion created by the invigilator”. Similar incidents can’t be ruled out in an examination hall and students could develop some anxiety.
Hence, the child rights commission wants all students to appear for the examination without any anxiety, Nazeer Chaliyam added. According to child psychologists here, exam stress is a real issue among students damaging their general well-being and performance during exams. “The initial 10-15 minutes are filled with anxiety for a student during examination. If they get some additional time, they could start writing the examination with ease,” said Dr C.N. Mahesh, child psychologist. They will also get an idea about how much of the question paper they can answer and also start prioritising them, he added.
