COVID-19's Lasting Impact on Student Mental Health: UNICEF Official Addresses Concerns

COVID-19-related mental health pressures are still lingering among students, according to Social and Behaviour Change Officer at the UNICEF Office Eastern Caribbean Stephanie Bishop.

On Tuesday, while addressing the opening of the Building Safe and Resilient Schools through Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Workshop being held at the Courtyard by Marriott, she said that although the region has passed the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many mental health challenges persist among students who believe they are falling behind some of their peers.

“Being isolated from your peers, sometimes being isolated from your teachers and other caretakers within the school system has been very difficult for children. I think it’s almost two and a half [or] three years some children were outside of the classroom. So now, having the opportunity to be back in school, they feel as though there is a deficit [and] they have to catch up.

“…. There is this pressure to be able to stay up with your peers, especially if you did not have access to certain resources to continue your education while in the home setting.”

Bishop also noted that many students were concerned that a similar pandemic-like situation could occur at any time, further disrupting their education.

“You are hearing the news all of the time, you are reading different information, you don’t know if this is going to happen again – is this going to disrupt my life as I know it?” she said, adding that stakeholders in the school system must be equipped to reassure children there is help available, and create an environment in which they feel safe and protected.

Bishop emphasised that the workshop aims to bridge the gap between educators, social workers, and health professionals from across the region, paving the way for the development of concrete plans on how educational institutions can respond to future pandemics and other shocks.

“It’s really about building that resilience in infection prevention and control, but it’s also mirrored with training on psychological first aid. So we are looking at the mental health and psychosocial well-being of children coming out of the pandemic, but also preparing them for any future shocks.

“We know quite often and we have seen coming out of COVID-19 that schools were the most impacted, not just with the closure of schools [with] the children not being physically in the plant, but also the impact it had on them within their homes and their families. It’s really how can we shore up what has been happening with children, and how can we make them more resilient,” the UNICEF official said.

UNICEF Representative for the Eastern Caribbean Pieter Bult shared similar sentiments, stating: “Education is not only a business for the ministry of education or a chief education officer. Education is the business of a community and of all the professionals working together to support that community. So, if there is one thing we want to get out of this week is recognising this, and translating this into better collaboration when colleagues go back to their countries.”

(SB)