Psychiatrists warn against frenzy around class 10th, 12th exam results

Srinagar, May 1: With the class 10th and 12th Board results declared on Wednesday, the waves of exhilaration and dejections fuelled by societal and familial expectations, is an unhealthy environment for mental well being of a generation psychiatrists believe. They warn of putting importance on academic results, the performance in which they believe is not a determining factor for success or failure in life.

On Wednesday, when Class 12 results were declared in J&K, a student found her results were not as per her expectations or the expectations of her family. She decided that it was the end of the road and took the extreme step of ending her life.

The endless pain that she left her family in is unimaginable. The success or failure in exams comes nowhere to the value of life, the importance of a family member. Yet, results remain a leading cause of self-harm behavior among students.  Although Class 10th or 12th scores are not the basis of any guarantee of livelihood, job or further studies, yet the amount of pressure and buzz created around it has made it appear as a major milestone in life.

Dr Arshid Hussain, noted psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at GMC Srinagar said the importance of class 10th or 12th results has been over-hyped. Ask any person, whether they consider themselves successful or not successful in their professional lives, they will hardly remember how much they scored in these exams. “Life neither starts in these classes, nor ends. It is a continuous journey and a road of endless opportunities,” he said. He advised the parents to “relax” and fight the societal pressure that surrounds the results in exams. “The child is yours. His or her performance in these exams is neither the occasion for celebration, nor for anything else. Stop being driven by norms,” he said.

He said he was a great fan of brilliance and did not want to take away anything from individual efforts. “I however have a serious problem celebrating success at a collective level,” he said. He said there are thousands of examples where people who have not done well in school have gone ahead to do well for themselves, while those who have been celebrated, have failed to keep the “success” ongoing and have struggled like everyone else. “Stop congratulating, or consoling the results, these mean nothing a few days after this fever is over,” he said. He advised the parents not to make their love proportional and subservient to marks in exams.

“If your child has not done well, embrace them, cuddle them, and speak to them. If they ever need your unconditional support, it is now,” he said. He said the lack of support and the feeling of dejection and hopelessness could prove detrimental to the mental health of the young generation. “We need to build a supportive environment, where they learn to cope with success, failure, expectations and emotions in a positive and healthy way,” he said.