One of the challenges to face this year for the student population is the return to in-person education. The vast majority of colleges and universities will do this, and this is a time when mental health should not be left aside.
Education and pandemic
The control against the spread of Covid 19 and its variants induced measures such as the widespread closure of education, however, the psychological effects caused by said closure are not few. There are numerous studies that report the harmful consequences of isolation in young people, which increasingly translates into high numbers of young people with depression, anxiety, and even suicide attempts.to the point that many specialists have considered that the other pandemic that accompanied Covid-19 was that of mental health.
According to UNESCO figures, the closure of universities and colleges reached more than 90% in the world, which indicates that nearly 1.5 billion children and young people were in confinement during their academic activities in the last two years.
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According to the opinion of Professor María Belén García, from the department of , in Bogotá, and also an advisor to the Ministry of Education, “Presence is crucial for the development of certain social and interpersonal skills for the practice of behavioral repertoires adapted to the environment and for modeling others. Not being present implies a significant risk of not ensuring the learning of many vital repertoires for harmonious and balanced development in a child and adolescent.“.
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Considering the above, the return to face-to-face activities can be considered an advantage when it comes to recovering a certain well-being in the emotional and affective health of children and young people, however, there are nuances that could hinder a good state of mental health in the return to classes.
As UNICEF states, in an article titled “”, from October 2021, the return to pre-covid academic practices already generated stress in students; The same can happen in this stage of the so-called “new normal”.
Preventive care for return, face-to-face commitment, use of public and private transportation, schedules, the need to get up early, among others, These are some of the activities to which a large part of the student population is no longer accustomed, which may lead to certain sensitive emotional conditions, especially in the most vulnerable students..
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The Spanish newspaper El País pointed out some healthy practices for the return of in-person education, among which we have the following:
- Emotional support in classrooms: so much parents or main caregivers of children and young people as well as adult trainers and teachers They have the responsibility of providing sufficient emotional support to those students who have potentially traumatic experiences upon returning to in-person attendance, so that they can cope with changes in habits in the best way. For them, it is viable to implement strategies that include routines and dialogues that encourage the group and sensitize them to problems of their peers..
- An opportunity to interact: Although it is not so easy for some students to reconnect with their classmates, many of them do yearn to carry out group activities.. Returning to in-person presence can be a good tool to reestablish early social ties in the youngest and physical interactions that are essential for the good mental development of children and young people..
- Reduce social stress: resume some customs such as spontaneous conversations, immediate questions, face-to-face dialogue, quick responses, holding talks for long periods of time and others, will be common in the return to face-to-face education but it should not be considered a disadvantage but rather a new opportunity to recover the social dimension of Education.
- Balance between the old and the new normal: According to him, one of the complications that can occur in the return to educational presence has to do with the difficulty of writing according to old standards. Psychologist David Anderson, director of the School and Community Program at the Child Mind Institute, states that it is common for younger people to feel particularly tired when resuming the activities of the old normality, including schedules, face-to-face commitments and others..
However, it considers that the return to in-person attendance will provide greater tools so that students can learn in a more meaningful way, since this return will also imply dynamics of greater concentration than those that existed in the family environment. where they had greater access to mobile devices, television, computers and other home distractions.