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EDUCATION

SCHOOL BUZZ
Focus on mental health to tackle aggression in schools
Smriti Kak

The recent incident of stabbing involving two school boys of a reputed school in Delhi has brought the spotlight on the need for focussing on the mental health of the students.

“There is great need for the schools to focus on mental health”, says Psychiatrist Dr. Samir Parikh, who has been organising workshops in schools to drive home the need for counselling the students.

He adds, “If this incident has come as a surprise to us, we are not aware of the times. Talk to any student or principal and they will tell you how physical aggression is present in schools and trivial physical fighting is a reality. It is only a matter of time before it turns more dangerous”.

Students prone to aggression and indiscipline are often perceived as ‘’bullies” and are more often than not resented by not just the students, who are at the receiving end of their pranks, but also the teachers who sometimes just give up on them.

“There is a need to identify the ‘bullies’, we have to understand them and counsel them. There are various stages involved in this case. The whole process involves the school as well as the family”, says Dr. Parikh.

He adds, “The teens are just a reflection of the society at large. We have to take into account the aggressive child’s family and social background”.

Part of solution is to increase “pro social peers”, says Dr. Parikh. “We have all witnessed peer pressure. Today, the peer pressure is more in terms of who is smoking and what clothes or material assets you have, it is therefore mandatory for the school to strengthen the pro social peers”.

Pro social peers, according to him, are the students with better values, they are the ones who can set an example for others to follow. “If there are 75 per cent students who say they have tried smoking, there are 25 who haven’t, it is this 25 per cent you need to strengthen. Increase the interaction with these pro social peers”.

Dr. Parikh adds that it is also necessary for schools to maintain a realistic teacher-student ratio. “If you cannot cope with the needs of 50 children in a class, then take only 25. The teachers should be able to identify the problem areas and then refer them to the concerned authority. And each school must have more than a single counsellor. One counsellor for thousands of students is simply not enough”.

Aggression, warns Dr. Parikh, if not handled properly can become a nuisance. He also rules out punishment, especially corporeal. “There is no point making the child stand outside the principal’s room. If you do that frequently, chances are the students will soon become friends with the principal. The schools have to understand the problem and the reasons behind it. Also. a school should be consistent in the reaction to aberrant behaviour. You cannot let of the students on one occasion and punish them on another”.

Shah of Pathways blazes a trail

Jaineel Shah of Pathways World School has bagged a gold medal in the under-13 category of the Annual Delhi Squash Tournament in the finals organised at Varuna Naval Officer’s Mess.

About 10 schools from all the four zones, including South, North, East and West New Delhi, participated in the tournament, organised by the Delhi Squash Association.

A total of four age categories participated in the finals of the Delhi Squash Tournament, including under-11s, under-13s, under-15s and under-17s. Speaking on the success of her student, Mrs. Lalage Prabhu, Principal, said, “We are delighted at Jaineel’s showing. Squash is a swift and energetic game and winning a gold medal is most creditable. Pathways will soon be participating in various inter-school sports events, both in Delhi and around the country as well”.

Let schools frame their own syllabi

At a national seminar of school principals organised to discuss secondary and tertiary reforms, it was pointed out that there is a need for educational reforms.

The school principals felt that it might be worthwhile for the CBSE to allow individual schools to frame their own curricula and syllabi till class VIII as is the practice in the ICSE schools. This, it was felt would improve the quality of education and let individual schools take a greater level of initiative to inculcate better learning methodologies, foster deeper analysis and provide opportunity for more attractive presentation of the syllabi.

It was also proposed that colleges should increase the number of options to reduce some of the pressure of high entrance criteria, including stratospheric marks and aggregate percentage requirements. This, the educationists offered, would provide greater flexibility and lessen the burden on what are often rigid and impractical set courses with few options compared to universities abroad. The principals also mooted the idea of vocational and technical skills being strengthened in the school level, so that the students can be prepared for the job market.

Mr. Kabir Mustafi, Headmaster, Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, said, “Unless we offer our children a variety of options to match their varied abilities and a system that encourages and includes, rather than intimidates and excludes, we will continue to churn out fledgling generations, ill-equipped to deal with a fiercely demanding lifestyle and world space.”
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Principalspeak
Our disposition matters, not our position

It takes both rain and sunshine to create a rainbow. Our lives are no different. There is happiness and sorrow, the good and the bad, the dark and the bright spots. We cannot control all events that happen in our lives, but we can control how to deal with them. It is not our position but our disposition that determines our destiny. Thus, if we can handle adversity, it only strengthens us. We can choose our attitude, even though we cannot always choose our circumstances. The choice is in our hands – to act like a victor or a victim.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, we should react responsibly. We have been given the choice to choose the course of our action and what matters most in one’s life is the attitude. The mind can think positively or negatively. If you have to deal effectively with a problem or situation or an opportunity, you ought to be in a positive mood. It brings out amazing results. So, live with enthusiasm, cheerfulness, sincerity and honesty. “No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit”, said Helen Keller.

So, do a daily mental dry-cleaning to clear the mind of negative emotions such as jealousy, worries, resentments, which we pick up in course of the day. Don’t clutter your mind with these and convert your brains into dustbins. Our minds are productive factories of thoughts and we must manufacture wonderful and creative thoughts and ideas. Richard Blechnyden wanted to promote Indian tea at the St. Louis World Fair in 1904. It was a very hot season and no one wanted to taste his tea. Blechnyden saw that all the iced drinks were doing thriving business. It dawned on him to make tea into an iced drink, mix in sugar and sell it. People loved it. He had not despaired, instead successfully turned the winds of fortune in his favour.

Our attitudes are formed in our childhood and last a lifetime. But it does not mean that if we acquire a negative attitude, knowingly or by default, we are stuck with it. Unshackle your mind from the chains of negativity that suffocate it, and build and maintain a positive attitude.

We alone are responsible for our lives. Often, we blame everyone and everything but ourselves. It is up to us to choose our attitude every morning. As adults, we need to accept responsibility for our behaviour and actions. Get away from the past, dust yourself and return to the mainstream. Put your dreams together and move on! Let confidence and conscience be your constant companions. Change your focus and look for what is right in a person and situation, instead of looking for the wrong. If you look for friendship, happiness and the positive, that is what you will find. If you are looking for the negative and the dark, these will wait to envelop them.

So, go digging for gold and not dust. “Life is like a cafeteria. You take your tray, select your food and pay at the other end. You can get anything you want as long as you are willing to pay the price. In a cafeteria, if you wait for people to serve, you will wait forever. Life is like that too. You make choices and pay the price.” Thus, we realise that life is full of choices and compromises, and our attitude determines its course.

“If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost;

For out in the world we find

Success begins with a fellow’s will;

It’s all in the state of mind.”

Madhu Chandra,
Principal
Birla Vidya Niketan
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COURTS
 

MLA accused of amassing property
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 18
A West Delhi Resident Welfare Association (RWA) has filed a complaint before Lokayukt, alleging that their local MLA Mukesh Sharma of Congress accumulated property worth crores of rupees after becoming the MLA in 1993. When Mr Sharma did not turn up at the last date of hearing on January 12 despite the Lokayukt’s notice being served on him,

Lokayukt Justice Mohammed Shamim took a serious note of his absence. However, Mr Sharma’s counsel Vinit Malhotra gave an undertaking that his client would be present on January 20, the next date of hearing. Lokayukt had already issued notice to the MLA on a complaint filed by the RWA of Hastsal.
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