Yogesh Khosla
Using the data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study (GBD-2013), Lancet Commission on adolescent health and well being has identified and ranked factors responsible for adolescent deaths worldwide. Many readers will be shocked to learn that Self Harm is 1 killer in India in the age groups 15-19 and 20-24 years. Not far behind is road injuries as the killer factor 2 in our youth. If we add the burden of mental disorders, substance abuse and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to the above factors, an unprecedented adolescent health and risk crisis is facing our nation. At a time when young people are recognized as a demographic dividend and our best chance for a prosperous, healthy and sustainable India, these figures are a wakeup call for all stakeholders.
Why should so many young people resort to self harm? Why do our children indulge in risky behavior like substance abuse, unsafe sex, reckless driving, breaking rules and laws? Why do we see so much violence in our youth? Finding answers to these questions and adopting effective preventive measures ought to be a high priority for all well meaning people who are concerned with the proper development of our children.
The disturbing GBD data suggests that many of our children are not sufficiently resilient- skilled and equipped to cope up with the challenges of the 21st century. Many of them can’t handle failure. Many are not able to keep healthy relationships. Many are swayed by the advertisements or by social media or under peer pressure and accept unrealistic ideas, trends, opinions and values without critical appraisal and verification. While parents are mainly responsible for nurturing mentally and physically healthy children who are resilient, most of them are not aware of the causes of the problem and don’t know much about the preventive and corrective measures. For most of us, good parenting means high IQ and good grades in school which we, mistakenly, accept as true indicators of success in life. How wrong is this narrow simplistic view of education!
Research now discovers that good academic grades and high IQ are extraordinarily non predictive of success in life. By success, we mean good mental and physical health, peace, happiness and productivity throughout life. Says LANCET COMMISSION: “A narrow focus on academic achievement diminishes self-esteem and increases student disengagement, a predisposing factor for academic failure, poor mental health, substance abuse, violence and sexual risks.” This necessitates a paradigm shift in the whole process of education- aims of education, curriculum and most importantly, right training of teachers.
To address this problem, we can now consider some strategies- changes, preventive measures and reforms being attempted in school education worldwide. On the recommendation of NCF-2005, many School Education Boards in India started incorporating Life Skills, Value Education and inculcation of right Attitudes as integral part of their curricula. But sadly, teaching/training of these essential skills were never taken up vigorously in most of our schools. There are exceptions of course. Some of the reasons for the failures in this area are: skewed priorities of the society, lack of awareness in the parents and utter disinterest and lack of training of the teachers and educators.
Situation , however, is not the same everywhere. A silent revolution is now taking place in progressive schools all over the world where highest priority is being accorded to the learning of essential Life Skills and inculcation of right Values and Attitudes. A new area of learning called Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has emerged wherein research and evidence based strategies are being implemented. What are social and emotional competencies? These competencies allow us to control and modulate emotions, to solve social problems creatively, to be effective leaders or collaborative, to be assertive and be responsible, to be able to cope up with stress effectively. Foundation for the learning of these skills lies in self-reflective capacities on the one hand and the ability to recognize what others are thinking and feeling on the other.
Towards a nurturing school climate : Child Psychologist Julius Segal, in describing resilient children, writes: “From studies conducted around the world, researchers have distilled a number of factors that enable children of misfortune to beat the heavy odds against them. One factor turns out to be the presence in their lives of a charismatic adult- a person with whom they can identify and from whom they gather strength. And in a surprising number of cases, that person turns out to be a teacher.”
This suggests that teachers should truly appreciate their own worth and lifelong impact they have on students and help in creating a positive, supportive school climate. All teachers need to take up the responsibility of facilitating SEL in children. Experts identify three basic needs of the children which need to be satisfied by the schools/ teachers for fostering self-esteem, motivation and resilience in them:
To belong and feel connected: Students are more likely to thrive when they are in school environments in which they belong and are comfortable, in which they feel appreciated by the teachers. Related to this feeling of belonging is the importance of helping each student to feel welcomed, cared and loved so that feelings of alienation and disconnectedness are lessened.
To feel autonomous and to have a sense of self determination: Motivation is heightened when students feel that they are heard and respected, when they have some control over what is transpiring in the school milieu. Reinforcing self-determination in children requires educators to teach them how to set realistic short-term and long-term goals and how to solve problems and make wise decisions.
To feel competent: We must remember that feelings of incompetence prompt students to retreat from challenges and to engage in avoidant behaviors that often exacerbate their problems. Students require positive feedback and encouragement (based on actual accomplishments) from their teachers. Many at-risk students seem to feel that they are swimming or drowning in an “ocean of inadequacy”. We have to remember that every child possesses “islands of competence”- areas in which they can or have the potential to excel and accomplish something worthwhile. We, the parents and the teachers, have the responsibility of identifying, reinforcing and strengthening these “islands of competence” in our children.
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