Tag: students

Things You Should Definitely Look When Choosing A Career

Picking a profession may be quite possibly the most troublesome choices you at any point take and one which will affect your life the most, therefore you want to make sure that you will be happy with your decision, while also making a good living.

Probably the greatest misstep that youngsters do is follow others’ fantasies while picking a career.

Be it guardians, companions, icons, and so on, they follow a way that may not really fit their arrangement of abilities or character.

Top 5 Things To Consider

  • Your Happiness

It might sound banality, yet the main thing that you ought to think about while picking a vocation is your joy. Don’t be pressured into becoming an accountant if you hate numbers because you think it’s the right thing to do. Instead, pursue something you’re interested in! There are many paths that could make you happy so try exploring what does.

  • Marketability

Obviously, while bliss ought to be focused on, you likewise need to zero in on sensible and reasonable profession choices. By seeking after an expertise that is attractive, and that you’re acceptable at, you’ll have a chance to work later on.

  • Your Work Style

Every individual has their own one of a kind work style. Some appreciate cutoff times and construction, while others flourish with little direction or the board. Ensure the profession way that you pick is helpful for the climate wherein you work best. In the realm of excellence, you can cause your work to line up with your particular style. Regardless of whether you need to work for somebody or go into business, it’s not difficult to make it pleasant!

  • Skills

While passion is one of the most important factors when choosing a career, skills come second, as skills can be taught. Someone, who is passionate about something but doesn’t have the skills, can become so much better than someone who does have the skills, however, lacks passion. It is important though, to be realistic. Let’s continue with the cooking example. If you are passionate about cooking, however, you can’t create any edible dish you can take a cooking course and try again. Maybe you don’t have the basic knowledge of cooking time for different ingredients or no knowledge about how to mix them. Again, if you are really passionate about this, you can learn the skills.

  • Your Priorities

As you consider your future profession you should make a rundown of your main concerns. How might you accomplish a balance between serious and fun activities? What’s generally imperative to you? It is safe to say that you are driven by vocation achievement and industry? Prior to seeking after a lifelong way, sort out what your needs are – it could save you a ton of time and cash later on!

Dear Readers, I hope you will enjoy reading and applying the things that I am teaching through my articles.

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Has Corona Crisis hit the student lives badly?

Covid 19 crisis has ruined most of the people lives in the world. Coming to India has already affected most of the people’s lives which include the careers of students. A student who is pursuing under-graduation and post-graduation thinks to build his career from the college itself. Most of college life helps the student to grow in many ways. It can be personality-wise or physical and mental development and communicating and socializing and part of learning and doing research and developing any skills

Most of the students are facing problems in the following ways:

Listening Online classes

Most part of the education system includes students from rural areas. The students who live in rural areas are not listening to the classes on their mobile or laptop due to network issues. The online way of teaching is not so adaptive making the student just log in for the attendance or leave the class. Students are not able to listen to online classes

Lack of Practical Knowledge

Engineering and medical students are having a problem with practical applications. Field visits and labs are part of engineering and medical courses. The lack of practical applications making the students difficult to relate to the concepts learned in the class. Especially final year students are facing the issue in doing the projects

Events and Workshops

The college curriculum includes events and workshops. The events and tournaments conducted in sports and arts help the students to showcase their talent and also helps them to overcome various fears and improve confidence. The Workshops conducted in colleges help the students to explore various modern technologies and know about them. These all events conducted in college helps the students to grow professionally and personally

Difficulty in learning skills and preparing for competitive exams

The coaching centers for competitive exams and other skills are closed due to corona. Students used to learn skills or prepare for any competitive exams for securing jobs in government and private sectors by attending these coaching centers. The students are facing difficulties in learning online. Lack of personal attention, difficulty in asking doubts to the instructor, subject discussion with other students are some of the issues or difficulties faces.

Delay or cancellation of Abroad studies

Students who wish to go abroad and study there are facing issues of travel. Some countries like China, Britain have imposed travel bans on Indians due to increasing covid cases. Some students who got visas are facing issues with certificates. Students have to submit certificates to get admission to foreign Universities. The delay in the certificate issue is due to the late conduct of the final semester/ final year examinations. Due to this issues, Some students cancel or postpone their plan of studying abroad

College life and Graduation ceremony

Due to the corona crisis, most of the graduation ceremonies are either conducted online or canceled. And most of the college life and memories made during this college life are affected. The enjoyment and enthusiasm are adversely affected. There is also difficulty in communicating with friends online except a 2 or 3 friends whom we talk frequently

Internships and Jobs

Students are unable to get placed or internships. The internships available online are much lesser than the internships available offline. The companies which offer placements are worst hit by the crisis financially. As a result, the placements offered seem to fall

Best Ways for Students to Gain Work Experience in Pandemic

COVID19 had left us with troublesome impacts which have affected all areas of our general public. The training area is no exemption for this situation. The enlistments are dropping, colleges requesting more extensive educational expenses for virtual classes, low scholastic execution, change in friendly and study propensities and unsure future work.

The best ways that can help you to gain work experience in the pandemic:

1. Internships

Understudies should search for Internship programs with regarded associations. One should begin by investigating different entry level positions that can assist you with deciding your essential or extreme profession way. Various sites can offer entry level position openings. One can search for temporary positions on LinkedIn, Internship.com and neighborhood business offices.

2. Personal Projects

An individual undertaking is something which you choose to chip away at in your spare energy. While they may not generally bring about monetary profit, they can act naturally serving and significant. It assists you with learning and develop and undoubtedly pick something firmly identified with your premium.

3. Freelance Work

Independent work in your field of study can give heaps of involvement and worth to your portfolio. Furthermore, it is an incredible method to associate with a few organizations or customers to develop your organization. Various sites list projects dependent on your abilities, interest, pay, length and experience. These are a by and large brief undertaking that should be finished on concurred terms.

4.Online Training/Courses

COVID19 has urged us to move to virtual learning. While you can take a course at college and seek after a certificate program as well. There are assortments of themes that are accessible for web based learning. Set aside time at first to pick what courses you needed to take. Ensure it helps you in future. Go for sites that offer free online courses. It is an incredible method to fabricate your CV and growing new abilities that potential managers will esteem. To profit the best, investigate tips for fruitful web based learning.

5. Live Projects

Live tasks are the activities wherein understudies work with an association in an ongoing climate (virtual for the present) for a particular period during their investigations. Understudies embrace these undertakings to acquire industry bits of knowledge and experience.

6. Referrals

References can be the best method to find a new line of work. To search for references, all that one can move toward a school/college graduated class, companions and family members, workers of the organization or experts via online me dia stages for any open situations in their association.

The ruthless approach of private institutes.

Right to education a right that is just on the paper. The pandemic situation makes access to education more challenging. The expensive fees of institutes, colleges, and tuition teachers along with the cost of digital gadgets. Make it a dream for the unprivileged child. Along with expensive gadgets, the additional cost of the internet is a matter of concern. This all thing make together cost of education very expensive. That is not affordable for all. The Pandemic hit makes our environment full of grief. Many lost their loved ones as well as earning hands. The question is in that situation how an innocent child pays for the education expenses. the answer is simple. The unprivileged child eventually drops out of school. People have to deal with financial pressure and subsequent anxiety. The pandemic has financially impacted the Indian middle and upper-middle class. Also many lost their jobs during the covid19 hit. The savings are diverted towards the needs. The reduction in earnings with the additional monthly cost of electricity, rent, and other bills make education cost impracticable.

Even during this time that certain private colleges are charging mercilessly an expensive amount of fees. This has put enormous pressure on families that sometimes have only one earning member per family. OR those who lost only earning members of the family. They have continued with their regular scheme of fees without issuing even the slightest bit of deduction. Even the government is not supporting the pitty family;
Even though government gives the judgment that Colleges should not charge more than the students’ tuition fees because they practically have online-only classes. Many students think it is not justified to charge students for the facilities they are no costs such as the library, sports grounds, canteen, etc. Some colleges have given ridiculous explanations about electricity bills, infrastructural cost and maintenance fees. But on the ground private institution didn’t care about this judgment and continue to charge whole fees from the students.
The colleges even ruthlessly pressuring the students and the parents to pay the semester fees on time, which would result in serious consequences if not paid. Private colleges are still looking at their profit margin even during a pandemic. The second wave hit more badly than the first wave. half of the population is covid positive. and admitted to the hospital looking for the medicine, oxygen cylinder, and ICU wards. The grief situation as well as the financial expense in the medical treatment. Given the scarcity of beds, private hospitals are charging a huge amount to the patients’ families. They have no option but to comply. The medical expenses are an additional burden that they have to bear. The bills keep adding and resulted in borrowing .and then never adding a circle of depth began. In such a sad situation how can a student pay his fees?

The students not only have to give compulsory examinations but they also have to pay with the financial expenses. Owing to this expense, students in the middle and lower strata of society are thinking to drop out the college. They are taking up whatever odd jobs they can get with little pay to support their family. Many of them had plans to pursue degrees post-graduation, but they have no option but to give up given the circumstances. In certain families with more than two children, it is becoming an increasing burden for the earning member to keep up with the rising expenses.

Lack of income source, lack of money, and diversion of savings towards basic needs as well as medical expenditures are some of the reasons stated by students facing such a crisis. Even authorities are not assisting the common people. Government is silent on this issue. That’s the reason many students give theatre life as being hopeless by committing suicide. Students want the college to either waive off the fees or provide them with some aid or assistance. The absolute lack of understanding for students has been reflected by these colleges. The mental fatigue and pain caused by this constant pressure are harmful to the well-being of students and parents as well.
It is unfair on the part of private colleges to seek their profits during the pandemic situation. Instead of charging such a high amount, they should either waive it off for students going through a financial crisis or charge them just the tuition fee. The students are already facing mental pressure and anxiety. There is a lack of accessibility to online education existing already. Some have had to purchase laptops, good mobile sets, and costly data packs to attend classes. To assume that everyone’s financial condition will remain unaffected because they belong to a privileged background is wrong and fallacious.
Some colleges are giving excuses that they have to pay to there teachers. Therefore they have to ask for money. But it is not convincing enough for the students who have time and again asked for a breakup of the fee structure. The students are helpless at this point. Even after approaching multiple authorities, they have not received a helpful solution. We can help these needy students through our small contribution. We common people should assist those who are in need.

Traditional education system how much effective?

Covid Pandemic left many Indians unemployed. While unemployment has always been a cause of attention for India. But mandatory experience and training made it more worse and challenging. the lack of practical skills holds us back. The recent unemployment numbers among educated youth show the drawback of India’s faulty education system and the lack of the right learning opportunities for young professionals.

 The government of India wanted to create a workforce of skilled professionals but the coronavirus pandemic made the situation drastic and critical. There was a time when a degree could help a person getting a desired job. But with more competition., a degree is not sufficient itself. The biggest issue is practical knowledge with theoretical knowledge. Classroom learning is more focused on theory. When students step into the professional world, they find themselves not capable enough to handle the work because of the drawbacks of our education system. Our country has educated unemployed people. Shows the inadequacies in our education system.

companies want educated fellows with practical skills. That our education system is unable to give. Because it is limited to academics. Youth lack new-age skills that companies need from their employees. With limited online and offline courses for industry-specific training such as engineering, IT, etc., Most young professionals lack confidence while dealing with problems at their workplace. Moreover, since schools, colleges and universities are following the traditional system of education. it acts as a hurdle when professionals come to face real-life circumstances.

Students need to develop new skills. So that student can learn something above education and makes students ready to be professionals. India has the potential to be a preferred destination for global sourcing. Skill development can bring this to reality by instilling more confidence in young professionals. As their skill increases their employability will increase, and ultimately lead to the nation’s financial growth.

The government needs to assist India’s workforce informally trained. With immediate competition, we need to adopt better strategies too. we need to improve standards of education and adopt newer methods. The higher the standards of training and skill development, the better our workforce can be. The country National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) can also contribute to solving the problem by creating more awareness and come up with suitable programs that can help professionals.

Transformation can only come with the government. The education system, industries, and students collectively understand and recognized the significance of skill improvement.

WhatsApp’s new privacy policy.

Identifiable living individual and includes names, email Ids, ID
card numbers, physical and IP addresses. Data is the large
collection of information that is stored in a computer or on a
network. Data is collected and handled by entities called data
fiduciaries. The processing of this data has become an
important source of profits for big corporations. Companies,
governments, and political parties find it valuable because
they can use it to find the most convincing ways to advertise
online. The physical attributes of data where data is stored,
where it is sent, where it is turned into something useful are
called data flows.

WhatsApp’s decision to delay the update of its privacy policy,
following a backlash from its users, is an implicit
acknowledgement of the increasing role played by
perceptions about privacy in the continued well-being of a
popular service. Problems for the Facebook-owned app
started earlier this January when it announced an update to
its terms of service and privacy policy, according to which users would no longer be able to opt out of sharing data with
Facebook.

February 8 was kept as the deadline for the new terms to be
accepted. This triggered a mass withdrawal from WhatsApp,
the likes of which it has never encountered, not even in the
aftermath of the Cambridge Analytical scandal, which did
bring a lot of bad press to its parent, or when the messaging
app’s co-founders called it quits a few years ago. The
WhatsApp policy update has clearly spooked many users,
who, concerned about their privacy getting compromised,
have shifted to alternative platforms such as Signal and
Telegram. WhatsApp has asked for data which contains your account
information such as Phone number, the name attached to
the account, the profile photo you currently have for
WhatsApp, the device you are using, the time when you have
been online, all your contacts, all group names of which you
are a part of, the device type, the IP address, device build
number, device manufacturer, details of the web/desktop
version and the platform which is used for WhatsApp Web,
your Status.

It also has the exact time when you set the
current profile photo and the current status message. The list
includes all contacts with whom you would have chatted on
WhatsApp, and only the mobile phone numbers are
mentioned. It also has your settings for the app, including the
privacy settings for Last Seen, Profile Photo, About Privacy

and Status Privacy. It also includes a list of the all numbers
you have blocked and whether you have Read Receipt on or
off. The issue has once again raised questions about what
constitutes legitimate uses of data and how businesses,
governments and political parties can and cannot use data .A
White Paper produced by a government-appointed
committee, headed by retired judge B.N. Srikrishna , which is
formulating a national data protection law for India and its people to safeguard there interest.

School Projects and Paper Wastage

Do you ever wonder what happens to your handwritten project file or your exam sheets after an academic year? Well, they are thrown away. I always feel bad, after all this hard work and research my projects are being thrown away.

The best medium of writing down information is paper. Paper is easily available, it is cheap, and it can be stored anywhere. From a student to a teacher everyone uses paper in their day to day lives. Paper is produced from trees. Throughout the world, about 900 million trees are cut down annually. This equates to about 2.47 million trees cut down every day. It is estimated that 24 trees are required to make 1 ton of standard office paper. 

In schools, paper is generally used for writing notes, exams, and projects. Projects are important for grading the students and they present the creativity and content writing skills of the students. Writing down the points taught in class gives the children a quick revision. The students solve various problems and equations in a notebook. During exams, everybody writes in an answer sheet provided by the school. Not only in schools but paper is used in offices, shops, banks, colleges, etc. 

With so much paper in use it is obvious that many pages get wasted. Students tear many papers from their notebooks, many other students play (make aeroplanes and balls) with a clean and unused sheet/sheets of paper. After correction of a test, the test papers and answer sheets are thrown away without even recycling. The old paperwork in many offices is discarded even if only one side of the paper is printed. 

The school projects and assignments also contribute to paper wastage. Unlike notes, notebooks and question paper sets these cannot be handed over to other students and serve no purpose after the assignment is graded by the teacher. Our projects with our best handwriting and best decorations are just kept in a school cupboard until the mass cleaning of all cupboards in the schools. 

I feel that these projects should be made as a digital documentor as a presentation. This will not only save paper but also improve a student’s skill in Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. Due to this ongoing pandemic most of our school projects were to be made in a presentation format. I learned to use many presentation making tools and also saved paper.

How else can we save paper in schools?
  • Re-Use Single-Sided Paper 
  • Do Away with Towel Dispensers in Wash Rooms
  • Settings on All Printers Should be Double-Sided
  • Use computers whenever possible. 
  • Make two-sided copies
  • Re-use printer paper
  • Ask your school to buy recycled or alternative paper products. 
  •  Write smaller and avoid leaving a lot of white space on the page.
  •  Use an erasable board for note taking
  • Reuse notebooks by writing on the unused pages
  • Email assignments rather than printing them out
  • Promote recycling, and have bins in classrooms, libraries, and any areas with copiers and/or printers for easy use.

Cyberbullying and Students

In today’s world, cyberbullying cases are common. Many students are negatively affected by it. Let us learn about it and know to stop it.

What is Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is repeated behaviour, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted. Unlike the normal face-to-face bullying, cyberbullying leaves a digital footprint – a record that can prove useful and provide evidence to help stop the abuse.

Cyberstalking is a form of online harassment in which the perpetrator uses electronic communications to stalk a victim. This is considered more dangerous than other forms of cyberbullying because it generally involves a credible threat to the victim’s safety. 

Internet trolls intentionally try to provoke or offend others in order to elicit a reaction. Trolls and cyberbullies do not always have the same goals: while some trolls engage in cyberbullying, others may be engaged in comparatively harmless mischief. 

Effects of cyberbullying

When bullying happens online it can feel as if you’re being attacked everywhere, even inside your own home. It can seem like there’s no escape. The effects can last a long time and affect a person in many ways:

  • Mentally — feeling upset, embarrassed, stupid, even angry 
  • Emotionally — feeling ashamed or losing interest in the things you love
  • Physically — tired (loss of sleep), or experiencing symptoms like stomach aches and headaches 

The feeling of being laughed at or harassed by others, can prevent people from speaking up or trying to deal with the problem. In extreme cases, cyberbullying can even lead to people taking their own lives.

Fighting cyberbullying 

If you think you’re being bullied, the first step is to seek help from someone you trust such as your parents, a close family member or another trusted adult. In your school you can reach out to a counsellor or your favourite teacher. And if you are not comfortable talking to someone you know, search for a helpline in your country to talk to a professional counsellor.

For bullying to stop, it needs to be identified and reporting it is key. It can also help to show the bully that their behaviour is unacceptable. If you experience cyberbullying, you may want to delete certain apps or stay offline for a while to give yourself time to recover. But getting off the Internet is not a long-term solution. 

  • Think twice before posting or sharing anything online – it may stay online forever and could be used to harm you later. 
  • Don’t give out personal details such as your address, telephone number or the name of your school.
  • You can decide who can see your social media profile, send you direct messages or comment on your posts by adjusting your account privacy settings. 
  • Besides ‘unfriending’, you can completely block people to stop them from seeing your profile or contacting you.
  • You can also choose to have comments by certain people to appear only to them without completely blocking them.
  • You can delete posts on your profile or hide them from specific people. 

How to Deal with Peer Pressure

In the last article we saw that peer pressure has both positive and negative  effects on a teenager. Now, we will look upon the ways to deal with peer pressure.

If you feel pressured by people to do things you’re uncomfortable doing, there are lots of ways to respond. Be prepared to deal with peer pressure by having a response ready.  Dealing with the pressure is important to prevent yourself from becoming an addict. Identify negative and positive pressures from peers and plan to overcome negative peer pressures in different ways. 

Dealing with Peer Pressure

Skills necessary in dealing with Peer Pressure are – 

• Self-awareness about the consequences and the effects of the pressure. You should be aware that you are facing this and respond accordingly.

• In this difficult situation, you should know to cope up with stress and emotions. If everyone is doing it then it is not necessary that you should also follow them. 

• Quick decision-making ability is a must while dealing with peer pressure. You should be prepared to face these kinds of situations.

• If you want to deal with peer pressure, then problem-solving skills are also required. Dealing with peer pressure boosts your problem solving skills which are very important in life.

• You should know to select the correct kind of friends and know to break friendships with wrong kinds of friends who put a lot of pressure on you.

Responding to Peer Pressure in the Moment
  • The most basic way to deal with peer pressure is saying ‘no’ like you mean it. Say no confidently and make eye contact while saying it. This will make the message loud and clear and they will never ask you about the same thing again because they know your answer to it. Be careful not to get baited into doing something by being called “scared.” Stay firm in your own decision.
  • Change the subject or make an excuse to leave the conversation. Avoiding the question might send the message that you’re still interested but don’t want to respond. While coming up with excuses is a great option if you’re feeling shy or intimidated, or if you don’t want to come off as being rude. Make sure that your excuse is believable.
Anticipating Peer Pressure
  • Make your own decisions. Do things that make you happy and make those decisions on your own. While some people might ask you to do something that pushes you outside your comfort zone in a good way, be mindful of any negative consequences that could occur.
  • Plan a response. Whether you haven’t experienced peer pressure yet or you want to respond better for next time, think of a response you can use if you’re ever asked something you don’t want to do.
  • Choose positive friends. When dealing with peer pressure, start by choosing friends who won’t pressure you do things. Your friends should accept you for who you are without wanting to change you. 

In a nutshell: You can resist peer pressure by thinking things through for yourself, and figuring where you stand on the risks of the situation.

What is Peer Pressure?

A friend’s advice helps everyone. But, we should not follow everything a friend tells us. This is peer pressure.

Peers are people who are part of the same social group, so the term “peer pressure” means the influence that peers can have on each other. We all have experienced peer pressure in some way or another. If our classmate has a blue colour bag, then we also want a blue colour bag. Sometimes we are not tempted to play a game but if all our friends play that game, then we have to play it. Peer pressure is more common with teenagers all around the world. Peer pressure is the main reason for the individual to start smoking, drinking or drug abuse. Peer pressure can affect individuals of all ethnicities, genders and ages. Peer pressure has expanded from strictly face-to-face interaction to digital interaction via social media apps and websites like facebook and instagram.

Positive Peer Pressure

Peer pressure could influence a young person to become involved in sports. This involvement could be positive, leading to exposure to healthy lifestyles and role models, and eventually leading the young person to become a positive role model herself/himself. This is an example of how peer pressure affects an individual positively.

Outcomes of Positive Peer Pressure:

  • As people become our role models we respect others as they inspire us to become like them.
  • Working hard is a part of positive peer pressure. We also have the aim to win or perform our best.
  • We participate in sports and join clubs because our peers also participate in these activities.
  • It also helps an individual in making healthy decisions about studies, personal life and health.
  • Achieving good grades due to hard work is an outcome of this positive peer pressure.
  • We volunteer in the community more often and help other people. This makes us feel good.
  • We also learn leadership skills by taking part in competitions and programs conducted in schools.

Negative Peer Pressure

The most common form of negative peer pressure among school children is to act and behave as per the directions given by a popular person of the group. The children are forced to dress and style in a particular way. Expensive clothes, gadgets and international vacations are demanded by the children of their parents. If the demands are not fulfilled then the child is ridiculed in the group. This stress affects the child’s school performance and social interaction. She/he becomes mentally unstable and weak. The other kind of negative peer pressure is starting up bad habits like smoking, drinking and drug abuse. This kind of peer pressure is also seen among adults and they are forced into these habits by their friends & boss. 

Consequences of Negative Peer Pressure:

  • Losing sight of one’s goals because of no concentration towards the goals of an individual.
  • Spending money lavishly on useless things and addictive things such as alcohol or drugs.
  • Getting addicted to alcohol or drugs due to the pressure by friends to look ‘cool’ in the friend circle.
  • Becoming lazy and inactive and having less enthusiasm towards life. Living an unhealthy lifestyle due to laziness and inactiveness. 
  • Losing personal values. Usually people focus so much to become ‘cool’ that they forget about their values.
  • Becoming depressed and stressed due to our habits. Stress and depression can make anyone lose the spirit of life.
  • We should identify positive and negative peer pressure and deal with it accordingly.

How Does Music Help Students?

I guess everybody likes music, at least everybody I know likes music. But most of us don’t know how music affects us and especially students. 

According to my dictionary, music is the sounds that are arranged in a way that is pleasant or exciting to listen to. But to me music is more than that. It is a way of life. Music freshens up my mind and provides a new energy. There are various types of music around the world but I like Indian classical music the most. It can be a little boring at first but as the tempo increases, the singer also starts singing faster and at that time I start dancing (mostly dancing in my mind). 

What happens when we listen to Music?

  • The brain treats the music differently. When we listen to music, many activities occur all around the brain  involved in movement, motor planning, attention and of course, the auditory cortex.
  • If the music feels good to your brain then it releases dopamine. It is basically your brain telling you whether you should or not listen to music.
  • It changes your mood and also changes your perspective about the world. A study showed that people see happy faces when they listen to happy music, but if they happen to listen to sad songs, they are likely to see sad faces. 
  • Music can control your fear and makes you ready to fight. It also stimulates memory from the hippocampus.
  • Music enhances frontal lobe’s function, which is used in thinking and decision making.
  • Song lyrics activate Broca’s and Wernickle’s area which improves the ability to communicate.

Music and Students

Music can create a mood. Study music can be relaxing and help students beat anxiety or stress while studying. Background music is likely to help students improve their focus during long study sessions.

Music can help with memorisation – that is the basis of “the Mozart effect” which suggested that listening to Mozart study music could actually enhance intelligence.

Study music is considered to be beneficial for the intake of vital information. Relaxing music for studying can help to ease nerves and help you beat pre-exam anxiety.

Studies have shown that Music can even increase your performance. A study done by Cambridge University showed that hip-hop music provides an uplifting effect on its listeners that can help them accept, manage and deal better with mental health issues

Perhaps one of the most compelling reasons to listen to music during a study session is because music is proven to help improve cognitive performance.

Music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating the event in memory. It helps us to improve our focus.

It can cure pain. Similar to how a lullaby would calm you, studies show that music can meaningfully reduce the intensity of pain, especially in geriatric care, intensive care, or palliative medicine. 

Music also increases motivation to do our work. It also improves our immune functions.

Due to so many benefits of music, Plato says, “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”

Virtual Classes – The Game Changer

The concept of Virtual Classes is relatively new, and this is slowly becoming popular day after day. Virtual classes are also known as Online classes and its trending as of now. This virtual classes basically signifies the classes are to be conducted online using Laptops or Tables or Smartphone whichever is available. The teachers are taking the initiative to educate the students because they cannot compromise of completion of the syllabus as it is mainly associated with the future of the students. It is really not possible for the teachers to go out and gather the students for taking a normal class due to the Pandemic situation; i.e., for the Covid 19. Hence a temporary solution for the problem is certainly an online class. Taking Virtual classes can come under the broad category of working from home. As because all the school, colleges and institutions has been closed for quite a long time right now because of Lockdown, no one is eager to take the risk of taking normal classes. The Parents would not approve it as well. Also, it has been made mandatory by the Government to follow these rules. The teachers are instructed to conduct Online Classes till date the School , Colleges reopens after lockdown. Virtual classes are going to be a trademark for the upcoming generations. Through Virtual classes, a professor or a Teacher can reach out to many more students once at a time. The process of conducting online classes is simple, you just need to have proper undisrupted Internet access, then you need to download one app from various options like Zoom, Discord, Google meet, Microsoft teams e t c. Then you have to attach your smartphone with a Tripod and film the videos. The videos can be recorded and it is of great help for the students to check it out again at the time of requirement. Virtual classes are a lot beneficiary for all the students out there and if this step has not been taken from the start of Lockdown, the entire framework of education would have been broken down. It is comparatively easier for the teachers to take Virtual classes from their homes at any time they may feel appropriate. Upgrading the system of education can be achieved in such a way.

There are a several disadvantages for Virtual Classes too, namely

1) Several media platforms revealed that such applications aren’t safer for usage as it gets the access to personal information, and hence the question of cyber security arises which is undeniable. The Right to Privacy gets hampered if it is not protected with proper passwords and can cause a huge loss to the general people.

2) Virtual classes are much less impactful as compared to the regular classes as the visual effects aren’t created by the teachers which is a core of learning, especially for the kids.

3)Virtual classes never helps in creating interpersonal relationships between the teachers and students as because there is much lesser interactions between peers and scope of discussions related to any other topics except studies is relatively much lesser.

4) Communication enhancements never happens if u don’t interact face to face with a person, skill doesn’t get improved in any ways, only listening to various subject descriptions is not of much help.

5) Maximum no. of people from our country India belongs to poorer sections, in fact many of them belongs to the Below Poverty Line category, we need to look into and improve such basics before continuing with online classes as because they cannot afford proper food, Primary education comes for free as because Government intervenes but Internet connection never comes for free.

6) Many teachers do not know the proper technicalities of taking Online classes, especially the old aged tutors as they never got the official training for conducting such.

7) Virtual Classes increases the Screen time for the youngsters as they tend to get addicted to smartphones already, these choose not to go through lines of textbooks hence such rays affect their minds and body. Much more distractions are caused because of the family disrupting their focus and undivided attention.

8) Many students do not have the habit of understanding Virtual classes well which in turn provokes them to play online games rather than studying.

Students And The Pandemic

Amid COVID-19 pandemic, record 98.82 per cent students pass in ...

the coronavirus pandemic has already affected atleast 188 countries with more than 14.5 million confirmed cases. The virus has not only killed 6 lac people but has also made countries experience their worst economic crises. The pandemic has indirectly affected people in many ways, starting from poor to rich, everyone is facing one or more problems. It has forced some powerful countries with largest economy to impose lockdown which has affected many communities, not because the government wants to destroy their own economy but because there is no other choice left to save people. Countries now are in their worst condition, as they are in situation where they know that in order to save lives, their decisions and strategies will indirectly affect many communities.

Among all other communities, students are one such community who are also facing a lot of problems. Yes it is true that their difficulties and issues might not be greater and even equal to the difficulties faced by health officials, police forces, daily-wage earners, LGBTQ community or any other human being who is seriously affected due to the pandemic, but yet we can not ignore the problems faced by the students since they are the future of the country.

It has already been 4 months since the lockdown was declared for the first time in India. So probably 23rd of march was the last day for students at their schools and college. school students were then very happy about the 15 day lockdown since they thought they will be joining their respective schools after this mini vacation but little did they know that this little vacation of theirs will go on forever.

All sort of educational institutions were forced to close their doors for the safety of their students,but students are atleast now able to cope up with their studies through virtual classes. But unfortunately not all are able to access online classes since it requires good connectivity and most of the students are unable to attend their classes because of poor network. Especially students living in remote or rural areas are facing this particular problem. Government has failed to address this issue since students can only depend upon internet to continue learning. Apart from that we understand that online classes are a good option to continue learning but not the best when compared to classroom learning.

The Dangers of Keeping the Schools Closed – AIER

Student – teacher interaction is something which is lacking in online classes, and hence it decreases their motivation to study. It is quite understandable that such problems will arise in such a situation and it can not be avoided. Students have to manage their studies during this crises, since there is no other option left. This pandemic has also left final year students in a great confusion as they are not sure whether they will be having exams or not. Most of the companies have also withdrawn their offer letters from the students which is another sad thing faced by the final year students. Till now nobody addressed these issues faced by the students and no serious decisions are taken regarding this.

All i know is, that it took a whole pandemic to make students realize the importance of classroom teaching. Nobody knows for how long educational institutions will remain closed, but i am sure all of them are badly waiting for that day when they will be able to learn in their classrooms.

5 BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU TURN 20

Turning 20 means that you are embarking on your big 20s of your life where you can go to bars, make bad decisions, thrive in college, fall wildly in love which most of us won’t do because we are adults with responsibilities, society is crushing our soul and we have no money but nevertheless, before you embark to your 20s you must read these books that will lend you a helping hand in your 20s. These books will help you figure out or make you feel normal when everything around you is changing or give you advice to sought out your problems or comfort you. So, pick any one book….


1.THE ART OF WAR BY SUN TZU
The art of war is a military manual written by sun Tzu back in the 5th century BC. You may ask why a military manual is useful for us common people? Sun Tzu was a military general who believed that war was based on rules of spirituality and compassion. His writings are filled with wisdom on how to tackle a tough situation with elegance and ease. It’s a beautiful book that gives us an immense understanding of how we should strategize and intercept our problems. As a teen who is stepping into adulthood, this book offers plenty of advice and know-how but most importantly teaches us grace and elegance.


2.THE KITE RUNNER BY KHALED HOUSSEINI
The book is filled with life lessons and will resonate with you as you get older. This book is beautifully painful and will touch your heart. This book is heart touching, filled with heartbreak but poignant story of two boys. Despite the sadness that shrouds the story the book still ends on an optimistic note and sometimes that’s all we can do.


3.NORWEGIAN WOOD BY HARUKI MURAKAMI
The running theme in the book is nostalgia and searching for our inner identity. The book is marked with understanding why we humans feel the way we feel and how each of us deals with sadness and regret in different ways. This book retains the main truth of life that life itself is a bittersweet journey.


4.CATCHER IN THE RYE BY J.D SALINGER
This book captures the story of teenager Holden Caulfield who has been kicked out of is school and runs away to New York city to avoid meeting his parents. The book is a poignant tale about the ‘phoniness of the world we live in “. The book deals with angst, depression, and how its difficult to find a human connection in this phony world. This story is something any teen can understand and go through.

5.THE DEVIL WEARS THE PRADA BY LAUREN WEISBERGER
This story is about a recently graduated girl who struggles to cope with the world and has to change herself to fit in but eventually realizes that her worth. This book holds true to the world cut-throat job market, crazy bosses who hate everyone, and an overworked employee who doesn’t have any time. This book is a heartwarming story that stays true to the ethics of the real world.

Wasting Minds: Is The Education System Failing Us?

If the purpose for learning is to score well on a test, we’ve lost sight of the real reason for learning.

– Jeannie Fulbright

Education is the form of learning that directs each individual to pursue his interests, to sharpen his skills, to become comfortably employable. The ultimate effects of education may vary from teaching others to take the nation forward to creating world class technologies depending on the individuals. It is different from being literate which is simply defined as being able to ‘read, write and speak. Education system on India in the olden days of Takshila and Nalanda Universities relied on creativity and was famous in the whole world for it. It was the scope for creativity that education provided that fulfilled it’s purpose of developing the society in totality. There is no point of educating an individual without having an effect, directly or indirectly, on the society.

Presently, the Indian Education System is in fiasco, mostly owing to shoddy politics. It now focuses on rewarding rote learning sans understanding, penalising those who question, suppressing free thought and pigeon-holing clueless kids into “streams” and yet manages to combine the corruption and ineptitude of the public services with the greed of the private. Did I forget to mention the abysmally low salaries for teachers and the utter incapability of society to deal with failure?

The entire ranking list of toppers is an unapologetic hierarchy of rote learning, where we’re never ashamed of showcasing the performance of disability. The day since rote learning has replaced knowledge as a standardized way of judgement, it has become more of fierce, dark competition, where children chase absolutely nothing. Celebrating success of this kind was meant to be an all-round personal achievement and not a standard system a failed competition in education. Succeeding in a hollow system like the one that prevails now, is even more worse than not gathering enough knowledge and failing a number of times.

The system is so sick that it has become an antithesis of the pleasure in knowledge acquirement and freedom. With such imprudent exaltation of so called toppers furthermore makes the entire failed system even more worse and disheartening to the not so called toppers, rather the victims of a still failed system. The entire definition of “excellence” is being misjudged. Perfection is unattainable, and in this case, is a complete trick of misjudgement.

Education system was meant to come out with a strategy that would scrap discrimination and not jeopardize the learning process. Authorities shouldn’t teach us displeasing habits of grading every human being out there by a completely wrong system, rather they should join hands to cultivate a sense of morality, joy of learning in every individual and aim towards an all-round development of a human being than pushing towards the death end of a cliff with all sort of cursed strategies.

The ongoing pandemic only magnified the shortcomings of the education system.
The structure of schooling and learning, including teaching and assessment methodologies, was the first to be affected by these closures. Only a handful of private schools could adopt online teaching methods. Their low-income private and government school counterparts, on the other hand, have completely shut down for not having access to e-learning solutions. The students, in addition to the missed opportunities for learning, no longer have access to healthy meals during this time and are subject to economic and social stress.

The pandemic has significantly disrupted the higher education sector as well, which is a critical determinant of a country’s economic future. A large number of Indian students—second only to China—enrol in universities abroad, especially in countries worst affected by the pandemic, the US, UK, Australia and China. Many such students have now been barred from leaving these countries. If the situation persists, in the long run, a decline in the demand for international higher education is expected.

Parents, students, and employers must demand that our institutions deliver real capability and not empty certificates. Let us stamp our vote to those leaders who can make this happen. Let us not keep quiet till we get what we deserve. But with the right to raise our voices comes the responsibility to stay invested. Media must capture this moment and ensure that those in power heed this call. It must hold them accountable for action.
It is our children’s future, not our ancestor’s pride, that deserves our outrage first.

Only then can we begin to unleash the potential of our 100 million young minds.

Do Results Really Matter?

Many states have declared their results for this year. Similarly, ICSE and CBSE also declared their results recently. Many of them have secured good marks and some of them have not secured what they have expected it’s a same story every year where many students had achieved their dream and some of them failed to achieve it. In India June-July-August is known for its results season. I would say it’s also neighbours and relatives judgement season in which they judge the calibre of the appeared students with the marks they score in their exams and forecast their future. Yes, results matter in many ways if the students’ scores good marks the students will get himself admitted in his dream college he will be living his dream life thereafter. Students with good marks can fulfil eligibility criteria of many companies who hire students with good marks only. Student with good result have a different queue in many places, we all have experience it in some stage of our life let us take a simple example of interviews of toppers in all news channel interviewing about their success story, their hardships, their routine time-table and the list goes on. In our childhood when we take small small steps and put our leg forward watching a smiling face of our parents stand at a distance and encouraging us so that we can reach towards them but in between of our path we fall down our parents will reach out to help and then start blaming the tiles, ground who make us fall. We have a habit of blaming someone for the cause of action performed by us be the tiles, ground or let’s say the tuition teacher, the education system, the environment or maybe God.

Exam results cannot decide what future holds for us. Exam results are just numbers written on a paper but sometimes we emphasis on them a lot than they deserve. No doubt exam results are important but it was just one opportunity from the plenty others which are waiting for us with open arms in future. We have many alternative paths to choose our career from. As the main aim is to have a career which can help us to yield. India’s education system runs on the principal of mugging if the students can mug the book and puke it on answer sheet he will get a tag of an intelligent students. In real world this principal doesn’t work they are more interested in the knowledge the students has and how that knowledge can be useful for their company’s day-to-day activities. Parents of the students play a vital role in these times they should talk about the brighter side which the future holds. Parents are more interested in comparing the marks of their child with other child this builds a pressure on the child which have their own side effects. Nowadays, depression is the most common phenomena in teenagers once the child start thinking no one accepts him, everyone judges him, he has no purpose in life etc. are the common symptoms of depression.

In my opinion I think the students should really ask themselves the question what he/she was doing during 4-5 months prior to the exam this will give a clear idea to the student what he/she has done in past. Keeping that thing in mind the students should act accordingly in future. Parents should also keep their child motivated, teach them that they had only missed an opportunity, prepare them for future hurdles and unfold other opportunities which will come in their way. The students should believe in themselves they should know the importance of education and how education can change once life in so many better ways.