The Decline Of Academic Motivation Among The Teenagers Towards The Education System

The bomb of covid-19 dropped in our peaceful lives and destroyed everything possible. No sector could escape from its impact, however, when the adults were mourning for their business and job loss, on the other side the teenagers started to get away from studies.

In the beginning, everything seemed to be bearable and there was a ray of hope. But as time passed the whole system and cycle of life collapsed, our children slowly started to turn anxious, the distance between them and the books started to mushroom. Whereas, the distance between anxiety and depression also started to rise. However, educational institutes and the government came up with the idea of online classes, but only we know the reality. The classes were affectless, there was no positive outcome of such sessions because neither they were learning anything and nor they were getting the opportunity to interact with their peers.

Such aspects might sound lame to us but these are crucial for the development of a child or a teen. Lockdown made them lethargic and snatched away their cheerful moments. The motivation and desperation for studying completely went into a pit. When humans are in their teenage phase all they want is to communicate with their peers, which even builds the interest in studies, but the lockdown forced them to stay inside and ruined everything for them. This is a serious issue which needs to be addressed on a large platform as teenagers are the upcoming generation of the world and if they lose interest in studies then the whole world will be moving towards the end and destruction.

We need to be with them and inspire them to learn and grow, remember to be humble as they are already suffering; we need to keep a check on their mental health if something seems to be abrupt or different from their normal or usual behaviour then make sure to visit a psychologist. We often neglect them but they are the people who know from where to attach or detach a thread, the custom of treating mental issues as a taboo needs to be abandoned.

The moment we lace-up with our kids, things will start to detangle and a crystal clear picture will be served in front of us. Adolescents are vulnerable. We need to provide them access to psychologists and counsellors as they know the appropriate mechanism to maintain the balance and make things improve. Worldwide teenagers are adversely affected and the number of students experiencing stress, anxiety, depression is increasing within a blink of an eye. The sad part is that these issues will not reside for the short-term, they will keep thriving and will continue for the long-term. In fact, this confinement and restriction are taking them closer to the world of the internet and making them spend hours and hours on social media which will be undoubtedly harmful to them. Thus we need to come up with robust and effective policies to cope up with the situation and to maintain mental peace among them.

Written by Prof. Nabhit Kapur.