Exams Tips

This is the time of the year that thousands of students take various examinations.

There are no short cuts to hard work and burning midnight oil but to get the best and maintain the tempo over a period of several weeks and months there are several simple things that one can adopt to be more efficient and successful.

Of course every child is different and so is their way of working but there are some common things and these are listed below -

    Have a proper and realistic schedule laid out for the day and week and that must include time for ‘chilling’ or for a hobby.

    Daily exercise regimen – active physical exercise for 25-30 minutes at any time that you are comfortable with (keep the time fixed otherwise it often gets pushed from morning to evening and then to next morning!) but you must sweat. This not only helps you relax, gets your muscles active, avoids you to gain weight and brings upon a sense of well being and a good deep sleep. Research has clearly shown that individuals who exercise regularly get fewer infections!

    Proper nutrition – while concentrating (studying) the brain uses up a lot of energy and that must be replenished. If you are on study leave, make sure you eat small meals at frequent intervals. Don’t forget what grandmom would say - eat food of all colours. This is now proven by nutrition science that fruits and vegetables contain vitamins and anti – oxidants and the all important fiber.

    Take a multivitamin daily or better still put a healthy food powder (containing good quality protein and other micronutrients) to milk or water on a regular basis.

    Stop eating food from outside – this could be contaminated and several diseases (food poisoning, gastroenteritis, typhoid fever) can occur. Some diseases have incubation periods up to 6 weeks (e.g. Hepatitis A or E) and this would coincide with your exams in March-April. Giving up ‘outside or junk’ food maybe the most difficult thing for some children but extremely important!

    Have fixed time to get up in the morning. Our body clock easily allows us to stay up for one hour extra every evening provided we get up also one hour later. This often results in the child sleeping one hour later everyday and hence getting up one hour later everyday – so now the child sleeps in the early hours of the morning and getting up in the afternoon! And what if the examination time is 9 AM! Definitely the quality of sleep you get at night is much superior to the sleep you get in the daytime. So it is important to have adequate sleep hours as well as fixed times.

    Taking self tests – avoid leaving things to the end and be regular. Try to sort of the difficult chapters early so that they also become easy at the end! Get the clutter out of your desk. Some anxiety increases the efficiency but unnecessary anxiety reduces performance and outcomes.

 As an accomplished individual once said, 'Luck seems to favour me when I work hard' and remember 'Tough times don't last, tough people do'. Good luck!

EDUCATION

Education can be panacea?

           India is nicely poised to be next Superpower. We as a nation have many milestones to count since independence thanks to democracy , human resource and education . Indeed, after  64 years of independence we have  lot to vaunt upon , would like to mention india's contribution to global economy . On contrary, what we have have not achieved in past is  due to "lack of education". According to recent provisional census of 2011 current literacy rate of India is around 74% which is around 9% more than last census of 2001. Nowadays , education doesn't anymore mean "to impart education to one who has some or none" , but it has became merely a arena for rooting one business . Education business is the one business which is flourishing to paramount heights  . It is probably safest business in our country these days without much of innovation and risk involved and profit beyond imagination. Just one need to have good political background or connection and some black money to convert it to white money .

            Tier two cities is considered perfect to setup Coaching institutes as aspirants are in abundance and unaware of possible opportunities ( due to lack of education) . Education here means knowledge about the options one has apart from unbeaten and tested path of engineering, medical , IAS and all. These institutions helps rather inspires the orthodox believe of good career option being restricted to above mentioned . If you are a topper in any competitive exams , then be ready some alluring offers can be made to you from one of these institution just to speak few words in their favour. Astonishingly,  coaching institutes are run majorly by teachers working full time in college/school. The UNESCO’s International Institute of Educational Planning study on corruption in education released recently says that 25% teacher absenteeism in India is among the highest in the world, second only after Uganda that has a higher rate. The global average of teacher absenteeism is about 20%. Now shifting our focus to tier -I cities which is witnessing a similar scenario on much bigger platform.  Go on a highway to Chennai, Bangalore or Pune , you would notice plethora of institution with good buildings and loads of advertisement claiming one's awesome past records. All claim to be AICTE approved and registered with many other universities (mind you some foreign as well) , assurance of 100% placement too is claimed by everyone with effortless assurance . Regarding infrastruture and faculty , you can witness  perfect business acumen of marketing  and you would made to believe that that college possess probably the best infrastructure possible. Seems college nowaday no more hire good professors/teachers but focus a lot more to hire sales and marketing person who can bring in more of students and donation for college. 
           Corrution - a sought topic now a days. If we dig in deep we get to know that people involved need more money , but why ? Reason is that they think money is only thing one need to possess in long run but amount should be large enough to make sure whole of generation can be fed freely upon . These pondering too shows the lack of "right education" among those babus, business tycoons, and  politicians  involved. Politicians , second most sought profession after prostitution is a perfect example of lack of education in today's scenario . It is considered to be a easier  method to earn money and fame , which again signifies lack of proper education .  Rather than making our primary education robust and of high quality , we are involved in fight against reservation . If same time and energy can be diverted to make primary education better then we could have witnessed not 9% but may be 30% rise of literacy. Thanks to Education ministers and secretaries who works day and night to make sure agenda for election would remain intact and people can be fooled around that one more time.
            "Divide and Rule" strategy of british worked in India for so long, main reason was that we lacked education  which curtailed our vision and influenced our ego in negative direction . This is what was required by Britishers to rule us. Since past to present we have many incidence to show what we have not acieved is due to "lack of education". 
            Without Education "India - Super Power" would be a castle of sand in air. One need to understand to become superpower we need to get rid of corruption, unemployment, poverty, apathy and other evils ruining our society (child labour, female foeticide, prostitution, dalit exploitation) . Education will help in better understanding of problem , better implementation of policy ,  broading of calibre and moreover will  help one to spin-off differences between right and wrong. In Nutshell , Education can be a panacea to all evils prevailing in society today . 

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela