Training Teachers to Identify Mental Health Issues Among Children

The modern education environment has become extremely competitive, and has considerably added to the burden of children with potential hazards to their physical and mental health. The bags they carry to their schools are heavier, the time they are required to spend in school has become longer, the number of activities they are now engaged in – over and above the studies – have increased, inevitably leading to pressure that creates stress and physical strain.

Surprisingly, parents seem more aspirational than the children and push them to engage, and indeed excel in multiple activities at the same time, as if there is no tomorrow. Previous generation of students, who are now parents, perhaps did not have so many opportunities, and such a wide range of scholastic and co-scholastic activities for engagement. They do not want their children to miss out, regardless of whether the child has the aptitude or willingness to perform. This phenomenon also creates avoidable stress, leading to certain serious health issues, in both physical and mental context. Children want to excel, their parents want them to achieve the highest, society and the peer pressure recognizes only high achievers. Such expectations from multiple quarters create a situation where a perfectly normal child would succumb to the pressure and start showing symptoms of mental stress, leading to mental health issues.

We recently suffered serious afflictions caused by Covid-19 that played havoc with the lives of many, destroyed many families, orphaned many children and led to job losses and consequent financial stress. This clearly added to the stress level of children and many drop-outs occurred across different parts of the country.

The pandemic also sent children scurrying indoors for many months at a stretch, depriving them of a school connect, time to play and be with their friends and peers.

All these factors whose recurrence can’t be wished away, will continue to impact children and mental health issues will become an important area of concern. Teachers will have to be equipped to observe, discern, and indeed handle these matters with alacrity and profound sense of responsibility. Some pointers towards identification of these symptoms and early detection may be helpful.

1. Continued absence of a child from school for many days is the first sign and teachers must immediately report this to the parents. Maybe parents are not fully aware. The child leaves home but does not attend school.
2. The child’s attendance is erratic, meaning that the student is in the school but skips the class and spends time in library, canteen or playfield to be alone.
3. Tendency to stay away from a group activity is the first sign of stress.
4. The child is absent-minded in class. There is a visible diminution in the attention span of children these days. The pandemic has only made it worse.
5. The child shows signs of irritability and picks up fights at the slightest provocation.
6. The child shows little interest in studies, sports or even in such activities that he or she enjoyed earlier.
7. There is a perceptible decline in academic performance.
8. The child’s energy levels are also visibly low.

There could be similar other signs of disinterest in anything which children ordinarily enjoy. Teachers, first of all, have to be empathetic and observant, exhibiting deep sensitivity to all children, and particularly to those who show any signs of abnormal behaviour. Teachers should then, without any delay, touch base with the parents and share the contours of unusual conduct seen in the child. Sometimes parents miss out on this. Interestingly, a child is not necessarily the same person at home and school.

Teachers must talk to such children, preferably alone or sometimes, if required along with the child’s close friends. Some children don’t open up with their parents, but may do so with teachers who they respect and love.

Above all, love and understanding is the biggest antidote of any stress or mental health issues.

Children, especially those with such tendencies, should be handled with kid gloves and care must be taken to detect them early, and do nothing to antagonize them.

Source: Times of India
Link: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/training-teachers-to-identify-mental-health-issues-among-children/
Published on: 12th October 2022