THE Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on many students related to studies and their ability to interact with their friends and classmates.
With schools closed over a year and with students spending more time at home, it has taken a toll on them especially the ones with parents barely making ends meet.
No one is looking at the challenges they face or offering any assistance. The Government is handling this situation badly and have not addressed the impact on our young people and their futures. This is evident by the poor results recently attained by the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) students. September saw the release of Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) results for approximately 20,000 students across the country.
For a lot of our students it was a day of joy and achievement, but for many it caused great heartbreak and disappointment. The students are not being given the tools to cope with the isolation they feel and the inability to connect properly with their friends and teachers.
Many school activities that they normally engaged in such as school sports, swimming and football were cancelled and schooling changes have adversely affected their routine.
The school closure really disrupted their daily life as well as their ability to receive a decent meal to sustain them during school hours. Since they no longer attend school they no longer get meals from the school feeding programme and this has also affected their health.
Their daily routines and structures continue to be greatly affected. It also had a tremendous impact on their ability to make lasting connections with their peers and their social interaction which in their young lives were built around school and school activities.
Without their daily interaction with their peers, there is a sense of loneliness most feel and this causes them communication problems where they fail to build the lasting friendships that are common during this time of their lives.
In addition to schools being closed, movie theatres, shopping malls and local restaurants have also been closed for over a year and limited their ability to visit these places and meet their friends.
This impacted them in many instances but mainly in two ways. Firstly, these are common social outlets for people of their age. They are the places our youths go to hang out with their friends, connect and relive stress and now they are no longer accessible.
Secondly, these are common places to get their school supplies such as ink for the printer, stationery, pens and pencils. With limited access to these things including a decent wifi signals so they could attend their classes virtually has put undue hardship on them and their parents. This has caused unnecessary anxiety to our population at large.
Another impact of Covid-19 on their young impressionable lives is the fear and anxiety of the pandemic. Many face fears and uncertainty that they may catch the virus or their love ones would get it and losing a loved one to anyone is a very scary thing. Many are very fearful that their lives will never return to normal.
Our country boast of billion-dollar budgets, we boast of high GDP and an economy which despite the mishandling of our resources have still seen Trinidad and Tobago citizens enjoying a high standard of living.
These are just some of the issues these young people face in coping with this pandemic in their academic quest to pursue an education. Government and the minister of education must do better as entire families are affected by the stress and socio-economic pressures in coping with this Covid-19 world.
(Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of NP. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited.)
Commentary: Children Not Coping with Covid
THE Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on many students related to studies and their ability to interact with their friends and classmates.
With schools closed over a year and with students spending more time at home, it has taken a toll on them especially the ones with parents barely making ends meet.
No one is looking at the challenges they face or offering any assistance. The Government is handling this situation badly and have not addressed the impact on our young people and their futures. This is evident by the poor results recently attained by the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) students. September saw the release of Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) results for approximately 20,000 students across the country.
For a lot of our students it was a day of joy and achievement, but for many it caused great heartbreak and disappointment. The students are not being given the tools to cope with the isolation they feel and the inability to connect properly with their friends and teachers.
Many school activities that they normally engaged in such as school sports, swimming and football were cancelled and schooling changes have adversely affected their routine.
The school closure really disrupted their daily life as well as their ability to receive a decent meal to sustain them during school hours. Since they no longer attend school they no longer get meals from the school feeding programme and this has also affected their health.
Their daily routines and structures continue to be greatly affected. It also had a tremendous impact on their ability to make lasting connections with their peers and their social interaction which in their young lives were built around school and school activities.
Without their daily interaction with their peers, there is a sense of loneliness most feel and this causes them communication problems where they fail to build the lasting friendships that are common during this time of their lives.
In addition to schools being closed, movie theatres, shopping malls and local restaurants have also been closed for over a year and limited their ability to visit these places and meet their friends.
This impacted them in many instances but mainly in two ways. Firstly, these are common social outlets for people of their age. They are the places our youths go to hang out with their friends, connect and relive stress and now they are no longer accessible.
Secondly, these are common places to get their school supplies such as ink for the printer, stationery, pens and pencils. With limited access to these things including a decent wifi signals so they could attend their classes virtually has put undue hardship on them and their parents. This has caused unnecessary anxiety to our population at large.
Another impact of Covid-19 on their young impressionable lives is the fear and anxiety of the pandemic. Many face fears and uncertainty that they may catch the virus or their love ones would get it and losing a loved one to anyone is a very scary thing. Many are very fearful that their lives will never return to normal.
Our country boast of billion-dollar budgets, we boast of high GDP and an economy which despite the mishandling of our resources have still seen Trinidad and Tobago citizens enjoying a high standard of living.
These are just some of the issues these young people face in coping with this pandemic in their academic quest to pursue an education. Government and the minister of education must do better as entire families are affected by the stress and socio-economic pressures in coping with this Covid-19 world.
(Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of NP. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited.)