Sandwiched between two classes, children suffer anxiety!

The next time your child complains of problems in sleeping, dry mouth or dizziness, it could be because of undue “stress and anxiety”, which studying for two classes simultaneously, has  pushed children to. And this anxiety is feared to prove disastrous, experts have cautioned.
While tuition centers have started classes for new session, the authorities have been reluctant to mass promotion proposals for the ongoing session in which students are believed to have cleared almost 75% of their syllabus. Amid this tussle, poor children are being grinded as they have to study for two classes simultaneously.
Mental health experts said they have witnessed a sudden surge in such complaints at their clinics where even grownup teenage children come with complaints including that of bedwetting.

SANDWICHED CHILDREN
Even though annual exams are scheduled to be held in March, 2015 the private tuition centers have already started classes for the new session, a situation which is compelling students to sail in two boats.
While students of 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th standards, many of whom undertake tuition classes, seem to be worst victims; the problem is making a cascading effect even on lower class children.
The start of new classes at coaching centers is nothing hidden. Post floods, coaching centers have been openly floating advertisements for fresh admissions while aspirants, as per their families, are asked to pay around Rs 40-5000 tuition fee.

DSEK RELUCTANCE
Observers said the biggest problem remained that the administration failed to come to rescue of the children. They said no such crisis would have arisen if Director School Education Kashmir  Tariq Ali Mir had agreed to the mass promotion proposals in post-floods crisis.
In October, the Coordination Committee of Private Schools Association (CCPSA), a forum claiming to govern functioning of private schools, had announced mass promotion at-least till class 7th. Given the public appreciation for the announcement the government was expected to extend it to classes 8th, 9th and 11th. The civil society including educationists had been saying that the development was the need of the hour for the flood-ravaged City.
Observers said mass promotion to all school classes except for 10th and 12th, which are conducted by JK State Board of School Education, could have proved a blessing for the students of flood-hit Srinagar, where devastation due to floods has been highest in the state, more than the aggregate of damage in other districts of Kashmir province. Pleading their point they said as a part of the “continuous comprehensive” evaluation, the students had already appeared in three tests for the class, including their half yearly exam. “This way mass promotion was a natural way out of the crisis.”
But Tariq Ali Mir openly objected the initiative. Expressing his reluctance, Mir said no special relaxation could be given to children of flood-ravaged City where thousands lost their houses and household.

MENTAL HEALTH EXPERTS CONCERNED
Mental health experts are concerned over the anxiety which children suffer studying for two classes. “By doing this we are creating confusion in minds of these students hampering active learning, creating stress and thus playing with their future,” said prominent psychiatrist Dr Arshad Husain. “In order to achieve objective of comprehensive learning, the directions and goals have to be clear and objective. But in the present case, it seems to be dealing with future and past at the same time, which can prove disastrous for students.”

A VICTIM’S PLIGHT
For the past around a month, 13-year-old Shahid(name changed) is unable to sleep properly. In the morning he wakes up to attend tuition for the class, he is yet to be promoted in. On returning home, he reviews the tuition class till afternoon. Thereafter, he starts studying for the class, final exams of which are scheduled to be held in March.  “For me both the classes are important but I am unable to concentrate on either of the two,” he says.
He often complains of dry mouth or dizziness. Though initially the family took the matter lightly, the shocker came when he started bedwetting. The family consulted a physician who referred them to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist discovered it to be a case of anxiety because of the child being sandwiched between two classes.