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I appealed to Dr. Fathia Saeed Nasro, professor of curriculum design at Birzeit University and teaching psychological counseling and teacher, Minister of Education, Marwan Awartani, via Watan, to reconsider the school health protocol, including the decision to prevent students from going out to the playgrounds during the break period, and to amend it so that students can go out to the playgrounds. General, alternately, one description after another.
She also called on the Ministry, during the “Strengthen Your Strength, Ya Watan” program, presented by Reem Al-Omari, to pay more attention to the mental health of students, in the virus prevention protocol, indicating that consideration of the physical health of students cannot be absolutely at the expense of their mental health.
She said: “I ask you, Ministry of Education, not to treat students as prisoners in order to prevent the virus. We can preserve the health of students without depriving them of their most basic rights to eat their meal in the open, clean air.”
She added: We must reconsider the meaning of sending children back to school, within measures that restrict their movement and prevent them from playing, practicing their normal lives, and interacting with their peers.
Nasro, who has 55 years of experience in mental health, continued, saying: It is better for schools not to open than to send our children to them to suffer psychological distress, noting that she was completely shocked when she heard that the protocol would prevent students from going out to the squares, playing and moving.
She explained that children learn much more in movement than when they are tied up and sitting in one place, and therefore their health will not be better and safer if this clause in the protocol is implemented.
Nasro also appealed to teachers to change education strategies, noting that these strategies are flawed in the first place, so what about when they are based on social distancing, noting that they must be rebuilt in a way that pushes students to think and at the same time makes them trained and smart in preserving themselves and their families. From the virus.
Nasro addressed the families to train their children well to protect themselves, and not teach them and give them instructions at the expense of their mental health, noting that it is necessary for the student to think about how to protect himself, not for us to teach him and cancel his thinking with the instructions.
She stressed the necessity of not forcing children to wear a mask, but rather dialogue and discussion with them and making them aware of the importance of that. As for forcing, it will lead to undesirable results, especially for children of the age of “stubbornness” between 6 and 9 years. At this stage, they are creative and skilled children who want to prove themselves.
Nasro called on parents not to worry and be stressed, because this anxiety is transmitted to our children and they feel it, so they go to their schools anxious and stressed, and this affects their movement, creativity, and self-confidence.
She pointed out that the children will go to school in a few days, and part of them is excited for its return and feels bored of sitting at home. We must interact with them positively, be close to them, and give them joy and optimism, and another part feels fear, because his family at home feels fear, and because he has lived for a while. “Dalal” lasted 6 months, so he does not want to lose this luxury by returning to school, and these people must have their anxiety reduced and be encouraged to return to school.
Nasro expressed her concern about the mental health of the students, saying: What is the value of this child learning to read and write, if he will leave school depressed, afraid to interact with his classmates, or afraid of life?
She added: This is how we kill him, and I am against stopping children’s play and movement for the sake of their physical health. She hopes that his message will reach the Minister of Education and that he will quickly amend this protocol.
She explained that restricting the movement of children generates a feeling of anger and hatred within them, as tying or imprisoning your child is much worse for him than hitting and abusing him, noting that, on the contrary, closeness and interaction generate a feeling of love in children, while shouting at him generates a feeling of fear within him.
Specialist Areej Ayyash Lutan: The Ministry must train and qualify teachers to deal with the psychological aspect of students
For her part, Dr. confirmed. Areej Ayyash, a psychologist, stressed the need for there to be some kind of optimism among families, despite the anxiety they are experiencing, especially since global studies and statistics indicate that children are the least infected with the virus, and the death rate among them is very low compared to other age groups.
Ayyash explained that there is a major role today for psychological counseling in schools, whether it is with students, teachers, or even families.
She stressed the need to give children space and time to express themselves and express their opinions, especially since they are coming under a very large group of pressures, and will need to play and interact with their peers.
She said: We are not trying to minimize the scale of the crisis, and we realize that there is a global crisis and epidemic, but we say that the medical protocol must not marginalize the mental health of students, and must also include how teachers deal psychologically with a student who is injured, for example, so that this experience does not affect His psychological health is negatively affected, especially if a student, God forbid, suffers a panic attack as a result of the spread of the epidemic. All of these matters must be taken into account by the medical protocol.
Ayyash wondered whether the teachers who were trained in distance education had received any kind of psychological training and how they deal with students in this aspect, or whether it remained neglected by the ministry, calling for the teachers to be trained and psychologically qualified in order to deal with their students in the correct way. .
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