Interaction between parents,students and teachers
Parents, teachers and students of Class X at an interaction organised by The Hindu in Coimbatore on Monday.Parents, teachers and students play an equal role in the Class X Board Examinations. Support from the parents particularly decides the performance of the students, says Geetha Gopinath, Vice-Principal of SBOA Matriculation Higher Secondary School.Most teachers feel that the atmosphere at home and parents’ attitude are important factors in the child’s attitude towards learning.Teachers, parents and students of Class X discussed their issues concerning the Class X Board Examinations at an interaction organised by The Hindu on Monday. The examinations start in March. “Parents often tend to shift the blame on the teachers if the child does not score well,” says Maheswari, a teacher at National Model Matriculation Higher Secondary School. In order to handle this, schools these days undertake special counselling programmes for parents, Ms. Geetha says. Unlike the situation a couple of years ago, most of the schools have career guidance cells that counsel the student to choose a subject that suits him or her, she says.“Teachers also visit students’ homes and interact with the parents. We enquire about the student’s well-being and the ask them to motivate the child instead of imposing too many restrictions,” Ms.Geetha adds.
A majority of students prefer the second group (Physics, Maths, Chemistry and Computer Science) for Class XI. This is because very few schools encourage them to consider options other than computer science, said B.B.Balaji, a parent. This causes a lot of stress in students who are not class toppers, he says. Schools, in their competition with one another, often forget the condition of the students. They are not allowed to participate in extra curricular activities and are forced to focus only on academics.“They are totally shut off from the outside world,” Mr.Balaji says. Some of the schools even went a step further by allowing only class toppers to take part in such activities. They differentiated the students who are not achievers, which may affect the morale of such students.
As the debate between the parents and teachers seemed to go on, the students were a relaxed lot. “If we follow a plan in our studies, the question of stress does not arise,” says J. Gowtham Sriram, a student of National Model Matriculation Higher Secondary School.“The portions are over by October and we get about four months to prepare thoroughly. There is no need to panic at the last moment,” says Sibhick Kumaran, a student of SBOA Matriculation Higher Secondary School. According to T.Ram, a student of APG Matriculation Higher Secondary School, “once you learn how to manage your time, examinations are not a problem.”
