Chandigarh
6 March 2018
DIVYA AZAD
As the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examination for Class X and XII begin today, Mirinda announced its association with the Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare to help provide practical solutions for students to overcome exam-related stress. The collaboration comes as a part of Mirinda’s ‘Release The Pressure’ campaign, which addresses the issue of parental pressure as well as fear, stress and anxiety among students during exams.
At the heart of this association is the fact that students are under extreme exam stress and it is important to release them off this pressure. #ReleaseThePressure focusses on the philosophy of 45/15, one which encourages them to take a break of 15 minutes after every 45 minutes of studying. This philosophy counters the common belief that studying for long stretches helps retain more.
In addition to raising awareness about 45/15 philosophy, the two entities have set up a 24*7 helpline number, +91 83768 04102, for parents and students to gain instant access to expert psychologists. Through this helpline number, which is also printed on all Mirinda bottle labels, trained counsellors are interacting and counselling parents and students to help them deal better with exam stress. The helpline has been receiving over 500 calls per day from over 70 cities in India, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Chennai, Latur, Jammu, Faizabad, Jalandhar, Moradabad, Kanpur, Pune, and Varanasi. The trained experts will also help callers learn constructive ways to study better, retain what they have learnt and manage their stress.
Dr. Samir Parikh, Director, Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare said, ‘‘Exam stress is a far more prevalent problem in our nation than we realize. Society as a whole needs to acknowledge the intensity of the problem and take effective measures to help students cope with the pressure. Through Fortis and Mirinda’s partnership, we want to encourage students to incorporate effective study habits, especially those that include following the 45/15 minutes schedule. Following the 45/15 philosophy will help students not only maximize their attention and concentration span, but also optimize retention. We are proud to be a part of an initiative such as ‘Release The Pressure’, which acknowledges an increasingly dominant problem and aims to bring about a change through its initiatives.”
Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Gaurav Verma, Associate Director, Flavors Marketing, PepsiCo India said, “With the second edition of Mirinda’s ‘Release the Pressure’ campaign, we want to take a solution driven approach. With a credible partner like Fortis, our aim is to provide a holistic solution to the problem of exam pressure. Seasoned psychologists at Fortis are available 24*7 to speak to both, parents and students, and provide them with real-time solutions for constructive learning. We are glad that people are seeking help and reaching out to experts to provide them with solutions to beat the exam stress, and are hopeful that in years to come people will be more equipped to manage the exam stress.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE INITIATIVE:
As a precursor to this initiative, Mirinda in association with Fortis School Mental Health Program reached out to 210 schools, 21,753 students, 754 teachers and 225 parents in 21 cities to equip them with smarter goal setting, improving memory and concentration, time management as well as coping mechanisms to bust exam stress effectively. With an aim to give students and parents a realistic solution to help break through the pressure, the Fortis Pro-Social Peer Moderator Program was also conducted in 142 schools across 7 cities wherein 588 students were trained as peer moderators in a 3-hour application-based skills training session to help them come up with strategies based on research evidence towards a smarter skill-based approach towards exam preparation.
In addition to various training programs and the helpline number, a survey was conducted across India to explore the common study habits and behaviours during the exam season. Amongst 6,431 school going students in 9 cities, 86% students said that they are unable to spend time in any kind of physical activity during the time of their examinations. Also, 82% students felt that socializing with their friends and family becomes equally difficult during the examinations due to the stress related to exams.
Over the course of the association, Dr. Parikh will regularly conduct training programs and webinars to help students learn the requisite skills to study efficiently, answer their queries and develop a positive outlook.
