A helping hand for students

Two years ago, Hindustan Times introduced ‘Study Mate’, an initiative for students to seek guidance a day before board exams. Today, it has spread its wings to provide active counselling by experts in respective subjects. HT reports.

Two years ago, Hindustan Times introduced ‘Study Mate’, an initiative for students to seek guidance a day before board exams. Today, it has spread its wings to provide active counselling by experts in respective subjects.

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On Friday, HT felicitated 300 teachers who voluntarily extended their services to help students overcome their anxieties and assist them at every step through the board examinations.

Having observed students through the years, some of the teachers said they regularly provided a solution to overcome a subject-related phobia.

“Students have a phobia against mathematics as a subject. So we tap students who have the potential to do well despite the phobia and on a daily basis we try and tell them how to tackle the subject so that they can utilise their ability to the fullest,” said R Gurucharan, mathematics teacher with Study Mate.

Other teachers said students had now begun to look beyond the traditional subjects to pursue streams that held much more global relevance.

“Earlier, students who studied biology aimed at only pursuing MBBS. Today MBBS is perceived as an option that is not only tedious but also takes years to complete. So we have noticed that there are more students who are opting for subjects such as biotechnology or bioinformatics,” said Savita Sharma, who teaches biology at Study Mate.