‘MANODARPAN’ : DISCUSSION

Theme: Building Happy Schools with Peer Leadership

“High aims form high characters, and great objects bring out great minds.”  - Tryon Edwards

The Global COVID-19 pandemic has created a difficult situation for people all around the world. Aside from being medically alarming, the pandemic also causes mixed feelings and anxieties for everyone. There are new mental health problems, with a particular emphasis on children, adolescents, and youth, particularly disabled children. As a response to this, the Ministry of Education launched the ‘Manodarpan Programme’, which aims to monitor and support students' and instructors' mental health. The optimistic project has different counsellors and psychologists from all over India to create ideas and offer their perspectives as part of a conversation.

The ‘Manodarpan’ discussion on 25^th January 2022, was themed on ‘Happy Schools’, the explicit focus of Schools on the physical, mental, social and emotional learning aspects of the learning process. The panellists of this discussion consisted of experienced counsellors, psychologists and Mentors who conversed with newly oriented Peer Leaders selected from Schools all over India.

Our School Student Counsellor Ms. Nagasudaa B and Shravya Sriram of IX C participated in the discussion.

Main Ideals of ‘Happy Schools’: Deliberation Points:

• The session started with an ideal relation with the National Curriculum Framework of 2005 and what it morally aims to inculcate.
• The senior counsellors spoke about their own experiences of their school: bonding with their peers, finding joy in the simple things, sharing ideas and working together. There was deep contemplation on how these aspects underwent a change during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Of course, there is no one type of student. Kids who consider themselves ‘introvert’ find it hard to ‘break the ice’ and mingle with students around them; there are some other students who find it easy to spark a talk in seconds.
• The Counsellors and Peer Leaders narrated some pleasant anecdotes that they witnessed / experienced in their schools. Going to the root of this anecdote, the pane lists discussed about the qualities that could be improved to keep the students happy.
• In conclusion, Shravya Sriram our Peer Leader suggested various ways that Schools could utilise to improve the mental health of students, so the students can stay happy and healthy.

Major Takeaways / Messages from the deliberation in  Manodarpan:

• Always be warm and caring. A student must be firm when needed, not be short-tempered. Helping others is giving joy to oneself.
• It is the responsibility of every student, every Peer Leader, and every teacher to create an environment that sparks delight into the hearts of the fellow students / teachers.
• Students should introspect and learn about themselves to identify their talent. If they enjoy expressing their talents — be it painting, singing, dancing, drawing — they will find a School to be more than a haven of learning.
• Parents must follow effective communication, caring and compassion in dealing with their children. At the age of adolescence, for example, teenagers must be given the choice to investigate any career path they wish to pursue. Parents must not force, coerce, or persuade the teenagers into following the career they want their children to follow. They must understand that such a decision is in the hands of their child.
• Adolescents can very well make mistakes, so long as they learn from these mistakes. Undoubtedly, mistakes are problems, but when one inculcates the skill of problem-solving, life becomes easier.
• The obligation of Peer Leaders is to shape the holistic development of their peers.
• There should be collaborative effort to establish support for children, academically and mentally.
• Adolescents are susceptible to various changes, but these changes must be transformed into strengths and creators of hope and courage.
• People who have unfortunately been traumatised, or who have witnessed trauma, because of the  COVID-19 pandemic, must have the thought of “This too shall pass.”

This Manodarpan session was a marvellous opportunity for introspection for the audience.

Further, it is the responsibility of all the Peer Leaders   to replicate their inferences from this discussion and cascade the same in their schools to ensure that areas of development are focussed upon to build a Happy School.