Students should identify fellow students who are stressed: Edu minister

On Saturday morning the newlyappointed state education minister Vinod Tawde visited his alma mater Sathaye College in Vile Parle He was invited by the college authorities to interact with students and the discussion soon turned into a question and answer session with students voicing their wish to see changes in the education systemTawde put up this picture of his visit to Sathaye College on FacebookOne of the students stressed on the need to curb student suicides which have been increasing due to the stress around examinations and performance ldquoIs there a plan in place that can help curb this issue Many students have lost their lives because of this pressurerdquo pointed the studentTo this Tawde said that while performance during exams is of importance it is also important not to make it the only reason for survival ldquoMany students take their academic performance very seriously and this often leads to increased pressure and ultimately takes a toll on themWhile we have already stressed on the importance of counsellors in schools and colleges even students should be aware about basic counselling techniques of which the most important is to identify a student who is stressedrdquo said TawdeHe added that the minute a student finds fellow students stressed about exams or depressed it is their responsibility to ensure that they donrsquot take any serious steps Some students demanded changes in the education systemMany stressed on the need for gradual change from traditional rote learning methods to activitybased methods and practical education Tawde added that the state education department is taking all suggestions into account and working on bettering the quality of educationThis is not the first time that Tawde has stressed on improving the quality of education in the state Last week he was present at a function held at a municipal school in Vile Parle and gave students of municipal schools a big reason to celebrateHe announced that the students of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC schools might soon have a sureshot route to finding a seat in any governmentaided college The announcement was made keeping in mind the low number of BMC students that get through to good colleges in the city due to poor scoresldquoMost students from municipal schools are often branded on the basis of their school and due to less scores compared to children from other schools they end up losing out on getting a seat in a wellknown collegeOur aim is to try and rectify thisrdquo said Tawde who refused to divulge any details on how this will be implemented or when Many feel that the problem with previous admission policies was the blind quota system being made available to state board students which was unfair to students from other boardsldquoIn this case too if the education department plans on giving admission to students from municipal schools on the basis of merit it will be of great help to students But only quotas will kill the motivation of children to do well in exams and to make matters worse also bring about segregation in classrooms which is unhealthy said Arundhati Chavan president of PTA United Forum