How the lockdown hit adolescent students hardest

As schools reopened for Std IX and X after almost two years, students find themselves dealing with some unexpected developments. When Covid-19 upended lives in 2020, these students were in Std VIII, when most were pre-pubescent. Their physical transformations, psychologists say, have resulted in teasing and ragging.

Alisha Lalljee, special educator, counsellor and psychotherapist, says after schools physically reopened, she has been seeing at least six-eight cases of children with complaints of bullying and relationship problems. "While the bullying problem is seen mostly by boys, relationship problems are seen to be affecting the girls more," she said.

Puberty, family among reasons

Lalljee said with these children entering their teens in lockdown and returning to school now, low self-esteem, being judgemental about other classmates' looks have become common. "Many children are facing problems with how they look different now. They are being judged for their heights, voice change, and overall appearance. And few also pass derogatory remarks. I have got children who don't want to attend physical school because of the ragging," she said.

Mental health experts said the returning students, who were pre-pubescent during lockdown, returned to schools with drastic physical transformations, leading to teasing and bullying. Representation pic

Prachi Tripathi, a clinical child psychologist who also works with Wadia Hospital, said, "Children, after physically resuming school after 18 months, are showing lower thresholds when it comes to appropriate behaviour. At the same time, we have seen changes in their temperament and mood which definitely led to an increase in their irritability and aggression. We have seen such problems prominently from children coming from dysfunctional families. Also an increased amount of screen time has played a vital role in them showing irritable behaviour."

Speaking about bullying, Dr Avinash De Sousa, president of Bombay Psychiatric Society (BPS), said exposure to violent, aggressive content during the lockdown has led to higher levels of aggression in these children. "During the pandemic, children had formed online groups; this coupled with targeted bullying online culminated into physical bullying," he said, adding that a certain amount of anxiety and bullying is also a result of many bottling up their emotions during the pandemic.

Online dating for support

Dr De Sousa said that during the lockdown, many of these children were looking for social support and got into chatting and then dating. "With schools reopening, while few relationships have blossomed, many have fizzled out for a number of reasons. They are getting the social support back now that school has re-opened," he said.

Another child psychologist, who has been closely working with few schools in the city, said she is seeing many relationship-related issues. "During lockdown, online dating, even at this age, was common. Now, when they are physically meeting, few find their partner is also talking to others. Many relationships have fizzled out, leading to the child suffering heartbreak," she said. Talking about relationship issues both Tripathi and Dokania said during the lockdown, these children were more exposed to their phones, social media sites.

Exposure to social media

"During the lockdown increased exposure to phone and social media led them to get closer to each other and date. We have seen two types of parents when it comes to adolescents dating - over-protective parents and others who are absolutely fine. We need moderate parenting. They need to have a healthy communication to address the issue," said Tripathi.

Talking about one of the recent cases which Lalljee had to handle highlights the seriousness of behavioural issues in teens after resuming school. The case involves a student of Std IX who had asked his classmate for her nude photo. "This is a very common online behaviour these days where nudes are being asked. The girl went and told her parents and the school. A case was registered in juvenile court. Children don't understand the repercussions of such things. It is a delicate age and both parents and schools need to handle such behaviour with care," she said. Laljee added that instead of pushing the issues under the carpet by schools, there is a need for intensive programmes to sensitise the children and their parents.

Need intensive programmes

Prachi Dokania, a counselling psychologist, said the schools definitely are recognising the behavioural issues seen in the teenagers. "The schools, right now, are focusing on anxiety issues and orienting them on physical distance. They are aiming to be more compassionate towards them and concentrating on the board exams. However, I feel we also need to have a more intensive programme to deal with the behavioural issues," she said. Dokania, who earlier worked with a school, said in the past 18 months, these children have gone through hormonal and biological changes along with the other pandemic-related issues like death in family, fights between parents, etc. "Some are now taller, well built. Some are shorter and have put on weight. Some have pimples, some have undergone a voice change. Such topics are part of the ragging and bullying," she added.

Dr Fabian Almeida, a child psychiatrist, said he is involved in many programmes for schools to tackle such issues. "Children are just returning to physical schooling and the phenomena of such issues have begun as per the feedback we have received from schools. We are conducting programmes to sensitise schools and parents, and are also holding de-stressing activities. We need to have a sensitive approach as we need to give the children ample opportunities to know what they have gone through and what they are going through," he said.

Parents speak

A parent of a Std IX student from a reputed school in eastern suburbs said after school resumed, they noticed their son went quiet. "Upon checking with him, we found that he was teased for how he looks now. He had gained weight. Therefore, he was not eating well to lose some weight and look appealing. He had issues on how to tackle the teasing that was happening," said the parent.

Another parent of a Std VIII student said their son refused to go to school after he was bodysbamed. The boy, who studies in a reputed school in western suburbs, was teased as he didn't grow tall and his voice changed. "His voice is neither feminine nor masculine. When he went back to school, his friends were checking each other's height and he was body shamed and humiliated. We took him to a counsellor who helped us counsel him and also helped us speak to the school," said the father. He said the school then called up the parents of the boys and were asked to apologise and given a warning.

"My son was counselled and most likely will start going to school from next week," he said. In another case, parents of a Std IX student from a school in the western suburbs, found her chatting with multiple boys. "She suddenly came home from school and insisted she wanted to change schools.

When we asked her the reason, she told us she was chatting with two-three boys in school during lockdown and when they went back to school, the boys came to know and started shaming her for romantically talking to them all. Hence she wants to change the school. We also found that she had a body image issue. We took her to a counsellor," said the mother.

(Inputs by Pallavi Smart)

Many schools deny facing issues

Denying any such rise in bullying or ragging, J Mohanty, principal of DPS Nerul, said, "Students are in fact seen to be more cooperative in classes, as they are happy to be back. They are finally living the life they were waiting for, with their friends, in school."

Adding to this Kalpana Dwivedi, principal of Bal Bharti Public School, said, "As the number of students has started increasing now, we were thinking of keeping offline classes on rotation, but many in fact suggested that we continue daily, as school from home is just not the same. Most importantly, they finally have the social life at school with their peers."

However, the principal of another school added a different perspective and said, "When children are adolescent, there is bound to be some behaviour that we might find strange. But nothing noteworthy has come forward after reopening of schools, specifically. If there are particular cases at some places, those would have been there before the pandemic too."

Shehnaz Sumaya, vice-principal of Beacon High School in Khar, said, "So far, our students are happy to return to school. We haven't seen any emotional distress in them. They are concentrating on studies. Going forward, other children too are wanting to return to school."

4 Oct
Day that schools across the city reopened for in-person classes