MARCOS GONSALVES
marcos@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Saturday’s incident of a 10-year-old Nuvem boy trying to flee his home due to parental pressure to perform well in school has brought to the fore the issue of education stressors on young minds and the government’s slow implementation of the concept of enjoyable learning.
Experts in the educational field said the time has now come for counselling sessions for parents too. They even suggested that teachers allow children more time to get accustomed to the school environment after the two-year hiatus from physical classes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Margao-based psychiatrist VeenaKantak told Herald that children are not yet mentally prepared to move back into the school environment after having learnt from home over the past two years.
“It will take at least one more year for them to adjust. Parents should communicate with children and pay attention to their preferences. Give them some freedom to enjoy the school environment again,” Kantak suggested.
Frustrated with his parents for insisting that he study continuously, the 10-year-old Nuvem boy tried to put his stress behind him by escaping from home. Fortunately, an accelerated police investigation resulted in him being detained at the KTC terminus in Margao barely 25 minutes after he fled. He was subsequently counselled and returned to
his parents.
Retired principal of Multipurpose Higher Secondary, Borda, and former deputy director of education (south zone), Jose Gomes, said such outcomes were not only the parents’ fault, and suggested joint counselling of parents and children.
“We can’t blame the parents entirely as they too don’t want their child to fall behind in studies, what with the competitive world of education getting even tougher. Due to this, children have started making dangerous decisions at a young age,” he said and urged the parent-teacher associations of all schools to hold counselling sessions for parents.
Many parents said that the volume of studies assigned to even primary school students is shocking. “Lots of homework to be completed on time and continuous messages from teachers to parents of children not completing or missing their schoolwork puts more pressure on the already stressed-out parents. This forces them to enrol even primary school children for extra tuitions,” Augusta Fernandes, a parent from Margao, said.
She also said the National Education Policy should be implemented in right earnest and called for the authorities to prioritise making education for children enjoyable.
