Here we are still under lockdown, albeit partially in our homes and small settlements. The government has boasted, so do the medical agencies of the entire world, but the cure of the virus is still an enigma. As a result, the connivance of stress and virus are leading the race.
There have been talks about mental pressure on bread-earners of families, on old people, on women facing the brute of the men. All these issues are critical and must be addressed, but the issue that is being overpowered by these is the mental conundrums faced by children, kids as well as teenagers.
How Is It Taking a Toll on Students?
The students of the world, renowned as foundations of the future, are facing the brutality of the current situation. They are the ones with little or no experience in handling such hard unprecedented times. The school and college-goers are locked in their houses, being rendered as inept to play or meet their friends.
Educational institutions, be it schools, colleges, coaching centres are not merely education providing houses. These establishments provide an exposure to children to interact, to form plans, to maintain position and handle their conundrums. With the shutting of such institutions, all these ancillary opportunities provided by them cease to an end.
The talks of kids getting ample family time are in vogue. Undoubtedly, this is good. But spending time with family doesn’t necessarily indicate happy or amusing conversations and discussions all the time. Majority of students don’t have amicable relations with their family because of stark differences in thinking and mentality.
There have been surveys in this lockdown showing that 90% of families have come under acute financial problems, moreover, about 400 million workers in India were predicted that they may sink into poverty and people are also whining all day long about their pending bills.
All this amplify the pressure on the children and they are inept to handle their locked-in student life as well as family issues simultaneously. Students are unable to study, as they can't get enough or any space insulated of family cries.
They have to spend 5-7 hours daily in front of screens, comprehending the intolerable technical glitches and balancing it with the teacher's inability to teach online. The conundrum is even sheer for those who don’t have big screens.
Already down under financial stress, students are required to support their families by cutting costs. Thus many of us have to sacrifice with our education as we can't ask our parents to buy a new 40-50 thousand worth screen for us. Moreover, students are being expected to study well as they are at homes with ample of time in their hands.
Remedies? Are there any? Yes, deferment or cancellation of exams is the one, but what about the shackles of stress and shanty home-cum-cells? The government has come up with a new NEP, isn’t it ironical? Policies are being cleared when the problem that is being addressed has taken an unprecedented direction.
Not new, as the myriad problems, such as heinous rapes and murder cases, etc. are being dealt with nonchalance, education doesn’t qualify to be in the list as by our regulatory authorities. As the lockdown would go on, so does the pangs of students will.
We live in a country where how the election is to be conducted is paid more heed than how students are to be treated or focusing on several other issues that are as important.
What Should Parents Keep in Mind?
It’s the time when parents must understand that students’ minds are unable to cope up with all the blows at once. They are continuously being knocked by disrupted-school life, playtimes, friends-time, etc. They are unprepared for the financial problems of the family.
Parents must stake a step forward and avoid talking dejectedly all the time in front of their children. Instead, they ought to motivate them, aid them in leading these trying times. Make their kids strong enough to deal with this kind of brunt in the future. They should not wait for authorities to take the steps for the betterment, they must exercise the step.
Hence as a student, I can suggest one thing to all my fellow students, face your problems, endure the hard blows of the time. Those who are brave never look down.
Life is a blend of beautiful and challenging phases, a journey full of ups and downs, the journey a deadman longs for.
Written by - Vishal
Edited by - Ivanova
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