Exam Warriors: PM’s book dwells on battling exam stress

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his fourth book Exam Warriors on  Saturday. The book talks about battling stress that students undergo during examinations. Popular among the youths, the Prime Minister has been raising the issue of examination stress time and again and has been reflecting on the concerns of the millenials.

His new book, “Exam Warriors”, published by Penguin Random House India, is a collection of PM Modi’s “Mann Ki baat” episodes where he spoke about students and the book also includes some of his anecdotes. The first sentence of the author’s bio can explain the reason why PM Modi would write a book about examination stress. The sentence reads, “His victory was propelled by historic support from India’s youth, particularly first-time voters.” The issue of most relevence to the youth are examinations, be it high school or competitive ones, which is why PM Modi’s concerns for an issue like examination stress resonates with the youth of all ages. 

According to a national study, a student commits suicide in India every hour. A 2012 report by Britain’s Lancet magazine said that India has one of the world’s highest suicide rates for youth aged 15 to 29. Experts have repeatedly highlighted the need to tackle this issue.

Hence, addressing the issue of examination stress, last year PM Modi had dedicated his monthly radio address “Mann Ki Baat” on the topic of examination stress. In 2017’s first “Mann Ki Baat”, he had asked students to “treat exams like festivals” and urged them not to take too much stress. “A happy mind is the secret of a good marksheet,” he had said. 

He also cited the example of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who had once revealed that he had tried to join the Air Force and failed, but that did not stop him from becoming a brilliant scientist.