Jittery students lose HSC hall tickets

It is a known fact that exams heighten the anxiety levels of students. Perpetuated by this cycle of nervousness, around seven Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) students were reported to have lost their hall tickets on the second day of the ongoing exams yesterday.


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Fortunately, they were allowed to appear for the exams after counsellors assigned to the state education board helpline intervened and offered their assistance. "I received seven calls from HSC students informing that they have lost their hall tickets. I asked them if they had a photocopy of their hall tickets, to which they replied in the negative. So I asked them to contact the authorities of the examination centre. As every centre maintains a records of students, they would be allowed to sit for the exams," said Shailaja Mule, counsellor for the board helpline. "Moreover, I asked them to file a police complaint and then submit it to the board so that they would get a duplicate copy of the hall ticket immediately," she added.

Help at hand
Programmes and forums that deal specifically with test anxiety are uncommon and the helpline is a boon for students, even though some of the queries are impractical at times. Counsellors, whose numbers are made available, have been receiving calls from students asking for schedule of exams.

"Students are calling asking to know what paper is listed for tomorrow. Apart from the students even parents are calling every day to know what paper is next. The parents are only transmitting their anxiety to their kids," said Mule.

Counsellors say it is a continual challenge to minimise anxiety among students. "But students don't want to take the trouble to write the timetable displayed on the college notice boards. The board declared the timetable last year, yet no effort was made by some students to record the schedule," said Mule.

Runaway kids
Meanwhile, discovery of several fugitive students over the past month at CST railway station by railway police has only highlighted the growing uneasiness of students during exam season. Officers from Railway Protection Force (RPF) at CST railway station rescued one HSC student who had run away from his hometown in Nashik yesterday. "We rescued an HSC student from Nashik yesterday," said S Khan, senior inspector, RPF, CST.

Sachin Mestry (name changed) resident of Nashik was found loitering at CST station. According to the cops, he was seen loitering around the station. After a while the cops confronted him. They learnt that he had run away from his home. After which they telephoned the boy's parents. "He is not the first student to be found in such circumstances. We counsel kids when we rescue them, but when we realise that their parents are untraceable we take the help of NGOs," said Khan. In the past two months, RPF has rescued nine juvenile girls and boys from the station. Incidentally, two students that were found this month are from Nasik.