Schooling? 50% Odisha children didn't get any support during pandemic, says study

Children, despite being less affected by coronavirus, are bearing a disproportionate burden of the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic and it is not just affecting their physical health but also their mental wellbeing. The prolonged school closure and movement restriction caused fear, anxiety, stress and social bearings among children.
Therefore, as schools reopen, addressing the mental wellbeing of these children will play a crucial role in helping them to overcome psychological distress and adjust smoothly in a post-covid classroom, revealed an online study report released by the non-profit Atmashakti Trust and its allies Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha and Mahila Shramajeebee Mancha, Odisha.
Conducted initially with 2,219 school going children of Class 1 to 8 from 84 blocks of 16 rural districts of Odisha, the report says, “Almost half of children (49.8 %) reportedly could not get required support from their family members to deal mainly with their emotional, social as well as learning support needs during the pandemic."
Out of 2,219 children, 91.5% were from government-run schools, 84.7% were from schools under School and Mass Education Department and 6.8% were from schools managed by Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Tribe (ST & SC) Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of Odisha.
Lack of access to online education also played a major role in children’s elevated mental stress. In all, 94.3% of the children interviewed for the study reported that they did not have access to a smartphone making their learning difficult and stressful.
Online education was attended merely by 10.2% of children. But the grave concern is that online education was quite confusing for 32.2% of children. Even 17% of children, who attended online classes anyway, showed their discontent, saying that it was challenging for them on many fronts.
While 12.8% of children have reported that they could not interact or ask questions with teachers in fear of being bullied by their teachers, 14.7% of them felt embarrassed to ask a question as the concept of online classes was something that none of them was prepared for.
Students’ attitudes and turns of mind are influenced to a great extent by the support they obtain from teachers. According to the study report, 68.9% of children said there was no connection between them and their teachers during the prolonged school closure period. Also, 60.3% of children reported that they were fearful about their learning loss when they heard about the school closure news.

Even though school closure was essential to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 among children, it affected the social behaviour of children badly. Shockingly, 73.2% of children reported that they experienced mental and physical abuse during the pandemic. Also, 47.3% of children said that they were engaged in household work to support their families.
“The study report reveals a trend of children reporting an increased difficulty to their mental wellbeing. As schools reopen, there is an emergent need for an action plan to address the mental wellbeing of children, especially those from the marginalised communities who were mostly left out of any support during the pandemic", said Ruchi Kashyap, Executive Trustee of Atmashakti Trust.
She added, "Counselling, extra support to children for improving their social behaviour, mentoring support to lessen their stress and fear in classrooms as well as in their homes is crucial to help them more effectively. In Mo Chatasali, we are helping over 1 lakh children to continue education in Odisha where mental wellbeing is one of the main aspects we are focusing on.”

Comments

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Search This Blog