I refer to the article entitled ‘Private lessons piling too much pressure on pupils’, (The Sunday Times of Malta, April 24).
There is a Christian response to this, which is based on Jesus’s own teaching on prayer and on the prayer of the early Christian monks, the Desert Fathers.
Christian meditation is taught successfully to children of all ages in many schools throughout the world. The practice involves sitting still and upright, either on a chair or cross- legged on the floor, with eyes lightly closed, relaxed but alert and silently repeating a sacred word or prayer. Children sit still for one minute for each year of age. So, 10-year-olds sit for 10 minutes.
Children, young people and teachers benefit from improved behaviour and concentration, reduced stress, increased empathy and awareness, as well as enjoying the fruits of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control.