By now we're all well aware of the pandemic induced devastation on lives all around the world. But amidst the triggering news headlines of deaths and losses on massive scales, another justly important aspect of covid blues is mostly getting swept under our attention span: effects of online classes on a student's mental health.
Until now, we've only been acquainted with a world of physical classes, getting up early in the dawns and walking through the school hallways, creating chaos and having fun and anger bursts. No matter the ups and downs we students have faced in our school lives, I like to believe that somewhere for a large number of kids, going to school and seeing those familiar faces was the only sense of 'normal' in their lives.
But here comes into picture the system of online education: a creative way of ensuring the continuity of education even during these tough times. As appreciated as the efforts of the educators and students as a whole trying to make this work are, we cannot really fathom that online schooling isn't impacting the mental health of students in a negative way too.
It is no unknown fact that a lot of students are completely ignoring online classes or sleeping through most of them, cheating through tests and gaining grades, but are the students solely to blame? In the coming years when these very students go out in the world looking for jobs, can we really say for sure that they won't be questioned about their abilities? After all, as goes the mindset of a lot of people, "they learnt nothing during online classes" or "online classes aren't teaching these kids anything", which to an extent is true. Online classes often fail at providing the knowledge to the same extent as physical classes. But this debate of pros and cons of e-learning can go on forever, right?
What needs to be discussed is no matter the technicalities of online classes, the mental and emotional well being of students is degrading without fail. Not to mention the health effects of staring at the screens for long hours of the day, but also the difficulties that come with concentrating or unmuting in between the classes, especially for students living in joint families or just not-so-friendly households. Only students can understand what the fellow students undergo, while trying to get familiar with this system, fighting through their insecurities and anxiety, of all things. Many students are camera shy or just may not be comfortable sitting in front of their laptops showing their faces or speaking up in classes, but many teachers fail to acknowledge these issues and overlook them as lack of interest in studying.
The list can go on and on, and when we do understand that it is difficult for both those teaching, and those learning, to adapt to the online system of education, just by acknowledging the fact that students too are getting affected by this can be a first baby step toward sharing a co-operative bond.
As much as we students love the feeling of typing assignments on our keyboards rather than the old-school pen and paper, we are also struggling with the insides of our minds.
As elders or even teenagers, let's try to be generous towards each other. Let's not attach our self-worth to grades and books, while trying to make the process of e-learning a bit more comfortable and create a safer space for all of us, in any way possible.
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