Digital addiction, peer pressure main vulnerabilities of kids
Mental health, peer pressure, cyber safety issues are some of the frequently observed vulnerabilities of school students, according to a survey.
Conducted as part of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) RiseUp4Peace initiative, the survey logged responses of over a thousand educators from January to November this year and found that digital addiction among students is a growing concern.
Around 73 per cent of the educators said that mental health struggles followed by peer pressure (69.4 percent) exert pressure on students. Additionally, cyber safety issues and exposure to violence which includes violence at home are additional concerns of the students which the survey recorded.
As many as 87 per cent of the respondents said digital addiction was a growing issue.
“Digital influences are a particularly prominent concern with educators noting that students are frequently exposed to harmful online behaviour. The most common challenges include social media addiction, exposure to inappropriate content and fake,” the survey said.
RiseUp4Peace is an educational initiative of UNODC being spearheaded in collaboration with education partners like the NCERT at the school level. The initiative actively engages educators and students in schools on themes like mental health, cybercrime, gender equality among others. Educators are trained to integrate these themes into school projects like street plays, music, vlogs, poster making which could actively engage students into addressing their concerns.
While the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and National Curriculum Framework 2023 explicitly mention the need to nurture students into responsible citizens who can contribute to peace and harmony, the survey also found that a considerable number of educators are not trained to counsel students on concerns such as mental health and cyberbullying.
In November, at a RiseUp4Peace policy consultation meet convened by India’s apex curriculum body, NCERT and UNODC, policymakers and educators across India charted a roadmap for fostering a spirit of peace, inclusion, and lawfulness in education.
Dr Amarendra Prasad Behera, Joint Director, NCERT urged educators to actively build capacities and develop values-driven modules to transform education.
