Year after year, around exam time, we read disturbing reports of children ending their lives in fear of failure and the overwhelming stress they experience. With the numbers increasing every day, the fear looms in the minds of parents, about providing a safe cocoon for our children to survive and thrive in this competitive world.
How are we as parents, helping our children handle and process the exam stress? It’s about time we, as a society, take it up as a collective responsibility, between parents, educators, experts and children to help tide over the fear of exams.
About the #StressFreeExams Campaign:
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and Meta India have joined hands for an initiative to support the well-being of our children and help them during exams. The programme, “Stress-Free Exams” was launched as an initiative to help tackle stress the right way and for parents to understand the pressure they inadvertently add on their children during exam times.
At the launch event, NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo spoke to the audience about the initiatives by the Government of India and the NCPCR in children’s welfare and how this campaign with Meta and digital creators will help spark essential conversations with our children on things that matter.
This was followed by an insightful panel discussion moderated by Natasha Jog, Head of Public Policy, Instagram India, and the panel included Dr Jitendra Nagpal, Senior Psychiatrist, Shri Akhilesh Mishra, CEO, BlueKraft Digital Foundation and Anupriya Kapur, Social Media Influencer.
The panel discussion included pointers on why parents today are taking up more stress than their counterparts 30 years ago, and why it is important for them to keep the doors of communication with their children open- throughout the year and not just during exams. The panel also reiterated the role of digital creators across the country and how they can help spark essential conversations on topics like exam stress to help spread awareness.
Exams Are Not The BIGGEST Chapter In Our Children’s Lives:
According to the NCERT Mental Health Survey, when asked what caused anxiety among the respondents (children), 50% claimed that it was studies and 31% claimed it was exams and results. Is the fear of failure stopping our children from exploring new avenues and paths?
Gone are the days when there were just 3-4 professions that children needed to get into, and hence the competition was insane.
Thanks to the digital age, we are now looking at new professions that didn’t exist as recently as even two decades ago. And with WEF reports suggesting that there would be a range of new professions by 2030, that we are currently unaware of, the definitions of “success” and “failure” are clearly blurring in our children’s future. Are we listening, parents?
The recently launched Parental Supervision tools on Instagram, that we had spoken about earlier in Kidsstoppress such as Take A Break and Quiet Mode, along with the other Parental Supervision Tools have already opened doors for parents today to understand and bond better with their teens. And now, with this guidebook “Beyond The Test: Managing Exam Stress”, Meta India has reinforced that the safety and well-being of our children continue to be the key priority.
We are glad that we could be a part of this event and meet the community of creators and experts to understand how to handle our children better. The Stress-Free Zone, launched as a part of the #StressFreeExams campaign, will have stress-busting toolkits, useful tips and takeaways, stress-free exams and episodes and creator conversations that are aimed not just at children, but at parents and educators too to ensure we come together as a society to help our children tide through an important phase in their lives.
As we always say, in Kidsstoppress, to raise better kids, we need to raise ourselves to be better parents. Stay tuned for more on this campaign and how it works towards supporting our children’s well-being.
Janani S Koushik
Mansi Zaveri
Mansi Zaveri
Mansi Zaveri
Neha Savla
Mansi Zaveri
