The courage to continue...

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared class XII results on Monday and the city rang out with jubilant students celebrating their success and hard-earned grades. While a lot of students visited their schools to greet their teachers and pay them their due respect, there were a lot of students who stood disappointed and discouraged by their results.

Metrolife caught up with a few of these students and empathised deeply on how much an exam result meant to them. A wave of resentfulness and sadness was in the air. Complaints like “there is so much competition for us”, “I won’t get admission in a good college” and “I am a failure in life,” were common amongst all whose results weren’t according to their expectations.

Psychologist and counsellor, Dr Vasantha Patri says, it is unfortunate for all those who couldn’t bag a good result but one must always stay focused on what’s important. “Even a person like Sachin Tendulkar failed in Class 10 exam and Bill Gates couldn’t clear a Harvard University entrance exam. These people marked
a milestone in their lives despite their failures, and students should seek inspiration from such success stories,” she adds.

The situation gets worse when the “log kya kahenge” factor enters the minds of the students and the parents. The pressure and the obligation to score well become more intensified for those who know that their parents will have to be answerable to the society in which they reside. Despite all the comments and negative statements that people pass one must always remember that such ideas are completely blatant and extremely short-lived. “The negativity is only in your head and you shouldn’t be bothered about what other people think about you,” she suggests.

Moreover, failure is a concept alien to none. From school going students to the people with jobs, from relationship failures to failures in being good parents, failures are a part of everyone’s life. And as they say, “Failure defeats losers, but it inspires winners”, learning to make the best of what you have is the only way one can live a life filled with happiness and contentment.

While parents play a crucial role in making their child cope up with such exam failures, they sometimes tend to expect way beyond the child’s personal capabilities. Dr Samir Parikh, Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Hospital, says, “Parents must always manage their emotions when their children fail to score good results in exams. They should regularly take care of the child’s mannerisms and reactions. In case the child starts showing symptoms like excessive sad behaviour, expressions of low self-esteem, irritability and loss of appetite he should be immediately considered for a psychiatrist’s scrutiny and due management.”
Such preventive measures must be taken, given that the incidence of suicidal attempts have become increasingly common amongst students.

Children must never forget that a failure in exam is not failure in life. There are innumerable options out there for students with diverse academic capabilities.
When one takes their experiences of failures as their learning experiences, that is when one steps forward towards success in life, is the sage advice of experts.