New Delhi: In a note to students appearing for their board exams this year, the head of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has advised them to treat stress, anxiety, nervousness, and worry merely as nouns.
To stress the importance of confidence and hard work, CBSE chairman Anita Karwal also recalled few lines from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in her letter.
“...Dumbledore says, ‘it is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities’. Choose wisely children. Choose confidence and hard work,” she said in the message that has gone viral on social media sites.
In the book, headmaster of the fictional Hogwarts world, Albus Dumbledore, had said this as an advice to Harry Potter.
Recalling her days as a student, she mentioned how she studied hard, revised and still found the time to listen to her favourite songs when she appeared for the examinations.
“What I don’t remember is what my results were. Marks do not define a person. So, do not permit stress, anxiety, worry, nervousness to stay longer in your being than a few moments. They are just ‘nouns’. After all nouns cannot rule lives!” she said in the letter sent to schools across India.
Over 28 lakh students have registered for the Class 10 and 12 board examinations. The examinations began on Monday with Class 12 students appearing for English papers as their first exam.
Ms Karwal added that she was in the first batch of students under the 10+2 system of the CBSE, which holds exams across the country for students in Classes 10 and 12.
The system replaced the higher secondary examination, which was held after the 11th standard.
The Class 10 board examination was reintroduced from this year after the government decided to do away with the Comprehensive and Continuous Evaluation (CCE) adopted earlier.
Meanwhile, the CBSE has warned the Class 10 and 12 examination centres about frivolous mails and messages being sent to them asking for copies of question papers for verification.
