Dutch school bans parents from accessing children's grades to reduce stress
Amsterdam: A secondary school in the Netherlands has reportedly barred parents from accessing grades of their children in a bid to reduce academic stress among students.
According to a report in The Guardian, the school has imposed a month-long pause on sharing the results with 95 percent of parents receptive to the proposal and the parents' council insisting on a 10-week suspension.
Students must meet specific grade average to progress to the next class in Netherlands, which can put considerable pressure on them to maintain high academic performance throughout the year.
Stijn Uittenbogaard, an economics teacher at Jordan - Montessori Lyceum Utrecht, found that a widely used app that shared every grade with the parents increased the stress of children. Uittenbogaard studied nearly half of the children at school and found that when parents checked the app regularly, children rated their stress at 2.7 out of five. Those whose parents were not constantly checking reported a level of two.
"This pressure for students to achieve is really a modern thing in my opinion. When I was at school, there was a report four times a year, but otherwise, you could tell your parents when and what you wanted," Uittenbogaard was quoted as saying by the publication.
"Now parents can get a push notification on their telephones: 'Hey, your child has had a new result,' and the child comes home with their parents sitting ready for a conversation. This is appalling," he added.
Following Uittenbogaard's findings, the school rector, Geert Looyschelder, accepted the proposal. Looyschelder believes that the anxiety with grades in the Dutch education system is hindering the development of essential life skills like empathy and flexibility.
"The fact that parents are looking over the students' shoulders only causes stress. In our education system, we always say: 'You have the right to make mistakes. That's how you learn,” he explained.
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Odisha: 5 police personnel killed, 4 others injured in SUV-truck collision
Bhubaneswar (PTI): At least five police personnel were killed and four others were injured in a head-on collision between an SUV and a truck on National Highway 49 in Odisha's Jharsuguda district early on Sunday, police said.
The accident took place near Odisha Adarsh Vidyalaya in Jharsuguda Sadar police station area when eight personnel were returning from a wedding in Jharsuguda, while the truck was moving in the opposite direction, a senior police officer said.
"Five police personnel from Jharsuguda district were killed in the accident while two were seriously injured and are undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bargarh. Another injured policeman is in stable condition," Jharsuguda Additional Superintendent of Police Madhusikta Mishra said.
The truck driver has also been injured in the accident and he is undergoing treatment, she said.
"A case has been registered and further investigation is underway," Mishra said.
The truck turned to its side after the collision and the police vehicle was completely damaged in the accident, she added.
