As schools and colleges reopen, there’s need to first evaluate the anxiety levels of students
Schools and colleges reopened in several States on Monday in the hope that the last wave of the Coronavirus pandemic has subsided. Millions of students will try to pick up the offline threads of their education from where they left them over 600 days ago. It is a tough time for reopening because annual board examinations are round the corner for class X and XII students. They will not only have to complete their syllabus by this month’s end but also choose career options and prepare for the entrance tests. Students in the lower classes have the tough task of re-learning what they were taught online; most of it forgotten by now. The students will need a few days to settle down in class, rekindle their friendships and re-acquaint themselves with offline teaching. In this period of transition school authorities, parents and Governments must collectively check the students’ trauma and stress levels. No comprehensive study has been done about the mental health of millions of students. Many children suffer from common behavioural issues like depression, stress and anger. Many more have developed eating and sleep disorders. Family tensions and home isolation would have anyway added to their mental burden. There could also be additional attributes, among older children, like substance abuse, violence, disobedience, peer pressure, and self-learning difficulties. In many cases, teenagers have developed a fear of vulnerability, self-management and the failure to accept virtual learning.
In Delhi, the Government has announced a large-scale survey to get a picture of how many students are still normal and how many need serious or psychiatric intervention to resolve their psychological and emotional blockages. It means studying the mental status of their parents, too, because that has a direct bearing on their children. School authorities will need to quickly assess to what extent online teaching impacted the students’ ability to grasp what they were being taught. Some private schools are considering education models that focus on the mental health of students, and not their marks. The negative aspects of the children’s addiction to digital devices, especially among urban children, during the pandemic like online bullying, peer pressure, gaming and inferiority complex need to be assessed as well. On the other hand, the magnitude of troubles that children from poor families, particularly in rural areas, have faced is yet to be calculated. Lack of electricity or internet or money to purchase smartphones or tablets has impacted these children the most. In some cases, it has led to student suicides. One of the first such cases was reported in Kerala’s Malappuram district, where a bright student immolated herself because she failed to attend online classes for want of a TV set at home. This is quite serious. In the US, pandemic stress is reportedly behind the increasing incidents of high school shootings. Any time a teacher notices a student behaving in an unlikely manner, it must be recognised for what it is — a cry for help.