By Gabriela Baron
Prolonged lockdowns during the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic have taken a toll not only on physical health, but also on the mental health and well-being of students, a recent report from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) found.
In a report, CHR noted that restrictions, such as lockdowns, “have [been] found to worsen the condition of learners with pre-existing mental health issues” as well as those living in cramped households and communities.
Citing a 2021 study on the mental health of Filipino children during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CHR said it found factors that add burden to their mental well-being, including fear and anxiety of contracting the virus, the suspension of on-site classes, the disruption of regular daily routine, a decrease of social support from school peer, and the shift to online classes.
The study further noted that “excessive use of these technologies has been associated with developmental delays and has resulted in sleep schedule disruptions.”
“[Those with] preexisting mental health concerns and those living in cramped households and communities face worse circumstances,” the CHR report read.
Tuition, gadget worries
Citing another research by Phinma Education Network, CHR noted that college students, particularly from poor households, worried more about tuition, gadgets, and Internet reliability.
In 2020, student group Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) monitored 20 cases of deaths among students in that school year that are linked to distance learning.
SPARK also claimed that of the total, 19 were students from Grade 6 to third year college, and of the 19, 17 were suicides, while one death was due to electrocution, and another was due to a vehicular accident.
School closures affected female students more differently
School closures have not affected all genders equally.
This, as the CHR study further noted that women “have a greater possibility of withdrawing from schools as their education is deemed less important than men’s.”
“Disruptions to education and training have profound effects on the youth’s employability and employment, such as in the form of increased household work burdens due to school closures, particularly for women,” the report read.
“Disruption is also evident in the form of exploitative work of young children in the household, even child labor, due to reduced household income caused by the pandemic,” it added, noting that some learners also need to multitask as they attend online classes, complete modules, and even do household chores and other errants.
The study found that these circumstances “add up to the mental stress and anxiety that learners have to endure” to the extent that there were reports of student deaths related to distance learning.
“Because the students themselves have experienced the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health, the student councils of different schools have initiated help desks and hotlines for students to air their grievances and problems encountered during the pandemic,” CHR said.
“Such initiatives are helpful, but attention to the deaths of students through a formal investigation or inquiry by the government through [Department of Education] and [Commission on Higher Education] could have generated interventions and reforms that can be implemented widely in different schools and academic institutions to avoid the rise of student deaths.”
READ MORE: http://152.42.253.13/study-pandemic-graduates-face-difficulty-finding-jobs/
-ag
