New Delhi: With the exam season round the corner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted students and their families to treat exams as a festival and not as a source of stress, saying they should “smile more to score more” and not take it as “test of life”.
He underlined the need for students to relax by taking breaks from studies and rest properly and said that the memory’s recall power is at its best when the mind is relaxed.
He also asked students to choose “anuspardha” (competing with self) over “pratispardha” (competing with others) and cited the example of legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar who kept challenging himself and bettered his records.
The cricket icon later in the day thanked Mr Modi. “Thank you @PMOIndia for the mention. Preparation is key for everyone... Be it a student or a player. Focus makes the challenge less daunting,” Mr Tendulkar said in a tweet.
Students, parents and teachers were the focus of Mr Modi’s 40-minute radio address as he noted that he found exams a source of concern for them wherever he went all these years and he always felt that they should come out of this “strange psychological pressure”.
He urged students not to chase marks but gain knowledge. Mr Modi also asked students to desist from resorting to shortcuts and cheating to score more.
“To cheat is to be cheap. It makes you a bad person. If you form a habit of cheating, there will be no desire to learn. Trying to cheat involves one’s time to find ways. Use it for better purposes.”
People have told you often but I am saying again — do not cheat. Even if no one catches you, you know that you have cheated in exams,” he said.
