The coronavirus outbreak upset a certain segment of people more than most others: the Standard 10 students! Most were in the midst of their exams when the lockdown was announced suddenly. After the initial sense of relief and excitement subsided, the anxiety started to set in about the future. What about the remaining papers? Will they even be conducted?

Even though the government specified that the remaining exams will be conducted from 1st July onwards, there is no further clarification on the same. Furthermore there is still resistance from some quarters which claim that it is unfair to hold the exam given the active spread of the virus. Kids who previously never chose to touch newspapers have now been checking them daily to stay updated with any dates or time-table details about their examinations, such is their anxiety. 

Worrying about their future, the cut-offs and how to progress from here--whether to study or not is a huge gamble for kids right now. Mrs Aiman Sharma, a teacher herself from Delhi tried to share her story of how she helped her 16-year-old son cope with the doubts that he was going through during the lockdown. 

She explained, “Everyone is living in ambiguous times. It is even more difficult for children because they have no idea about what will happen in the near future, especially the 10th and 12th graders as they already had their long-term plans ready--joining internships, starting with coachings etc.--post exams and results. When the schools were shut down immediately, Aditya my son was furious because he had to miss his favourite Maths paper. He is excellent at Maths and was sure that his score would be such that it will pull his total aggregate percentage, but now with no clarity whether the paper will still happen or not, whether the marks will be calculated only the basis of the exams already conducted, he is very upset. He was banking on his Maths paper. Being a mother as well as his teacher, he has bombarded me with questions about the future and when things would go back to normal, to which even I have no answers. 

So I tried to take this challenge up as a motherly teacher and when Aditya expressed his worry about his exams and the doubt of whether they will happen again I asked him what would he do if the exams didn’t happen. Initially, it did sound funny and stupid to me, but Aditya actually took it in a very positive manner and started thinking about the alternatives that he can choose to move ahead in his academic life even if the exams didn’t happen. This not only made him forget his sadness about exam cancellation but also cheered him up with the different courses and research work that he conducted in order to learn things that he would like to do in the future. 

Then one day when the news about 1st July and resuming the incomplete examination came, Aditya came to me saying - mamma, if the exams do happen, do you think it would be safe for all the students to go for the exam? Because if we do, our centres are different and we would all be expected to travel and all of this is not possible without exposing ourselves to the virus. What if I get the virus?

I looked at him and felt sad for the boy--imagine the tough choices he has to make at such a young age. Whether to take the exam or not if it is conducted since going may expose him to the risk? And if he does not, will he clear the board exams at all; what about this entire academic future from there?

I tried to assure him that the government won’t allow the examinations if the conditions aren’t stable and that if the exams do happen we will try and be 100% careful about all our safety. 

The thing I realised was that the children are prone to worrying about the current condition more and if not given a realistic and practical answer, they might go on to googling the problems and the results google would show might hamper the well-being of their mental state. So try and have direct and open conversations with your kids during this phase. Understand their problems and worries, analyse them and then provide them with a solutions and leave it to them whether to use that solution or not. Supporting our children in these tough, vague times is most important currently.