It’s that time of the year when all parents – at least all those parents who have an interest in what their children are doing at school – have nightmares.

The months of May and June are normally associated with examinations. For the older students, the exams they are facing could open the way for a new career; for the younger generations of pupils, the exams are the key to being promoted to a higher class.

All of the examinations are important, because each and every student is important. Malta does not have natural resources, and its main assets are the people. And therefore it is imperative that the education system brings out the best from everyone.

But there seems to be a common problem, and one that is not easily resolved for the simple reason that its roots are not known – and this is the fact that, generally speaking, today’s students do not know how to study on their own.

Ask any parent of any child of whatever age, and the answer he or she will give you is that their child is not able to study unless he or she is accompanied and given support.

Why is this happening? The parents of today, when they were at school 20 or 30 years ago, will all say that they used to study on their own and prepare for their examinations on their own too. It could be that their own parents did not know enough to help them out with their studies. This could be true, but whatever the case the middle-aged people of today did everything on their own.

Now they are finding out that their own children cannot study on their own. They need constant assistance from their parents.

It could be a matter of concentration. The children of today have too many distractions and find it hard to settle down in their own room to study. Perhaps it was easier to study a quarter of a century ago when TV stations were not on a 24-hour basis, when there were no Playstations and when iPods were light years away.

It could be that today’s children are pampered too much by their parents. They are driven around from one place to another when, 25 years ago, children used to take the bus. Today’s children are probably less independent than their mothers and fathers were at the same age. And this is perhaps why they need the presence of their parents, or an adult, to go through their homework and studying as well.

It could also be that students are not taught how to study on their own. And here it is the schooling system that should be blamed. Are today’s children being taught how to study by their teachers at school? Over the years, schools have insisted that parents play a bigger role in their children’s studies – but while on the one hand this is positive because it brings the children closer to their parents, at the same time it has the negative effects explained earlier.

For example, children are often given projects that they cannot carry out on their own, but need their parents’ support. While, again, this helps the parents-children bond, it does not help the children grow.

The problem is compounded by the fact that today both parents work, and therefore this means that students wait for one of them to return home to start their studying or homework.

This should not be the case and schools have a role to play in bringing about a change. Students should learn how to study on their own, and schools can give a helping hand in teaching them how to do it.