Perspectives on Adolescent Mental Health and Wellbeing from Haryana

I am currently a member of the Youth Care Network (YCN), which is a cohort of thirty-four volunteers selected from various parts of India. I have just completed a training on “Psychosocial Well-Being (Sept 2020 – Jan 2021).”  Except for me and two other girls, who are currently enrolled at senior secondary school level, all other members of the YCN are college-going students or professionals. The three of us were given the freedom to implement the learning in practice by developing our own interventions as “Peer Support Leaders”. This led me to initiate interactions (online/offline) where I practiced attentive listening to understand and document the positive and negative impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health of adolescents like me between the period of March to October 2020. I reached out to them initially through Zoom, and later contacted them by phone. I was successful in collecting perspectives from around fifteen adolescents from my region, Haryana. I additionally reached out to extended networks of my collaborators like disability rights activists, administrators of schools for children with disability, children from economically weaker sections and participation in online international forums etc.

The original findings were reported in a phased manner to the YCN coordinator who had been assigned to me for the training. In November-December 2020, this raw information was further analyzed in tabulated format with the objective to deduce important themes that came out of these interactions.

Key questions posed to interviewees

1. How has your life changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic? Here, my intention was to explore positive and negative changes in routine, normal activities etc.
2. What has been the positive and negative impact of COVID-19 on your mental health?
3. Any three focus areas or agendas that you think the government should pay attention to? Here, some additional questions were also asked which led to the sharing of experiences of their parents as front-line workers, and getting affected with COVID-19.

Highlights from my Conversations with Adolescents 

For some adolescents, COVID-19 presented novel opportunities, such as developing new interests like writing songs, reading religious scriptures. We got to spend more time to focus on and enjoy things we love to do. We were able to spend quality time with our families. Some of us also became more independent. One of the adolescents mentioned that she had to take care of her younger brother and manage household chores as both of her parents were working even during the lockdown period. However, most people I spoke with shared a range of challenges which impacted their mental health and well-being.

Sports and recreational activities

Adolescents said that they could not pursue their interests in outdoor activities or sports. Many had to abruptly stop professional training in martial arts or cricket because training academies were shut. To pass time many resorted to playing video games with friends. This not only increased their screen time but made them feel bored or lethargic; many also reported putting on weight.  On the other hand, even when complete lockdown was in force, I saw that the young adults in my own neighborhood violated the guidelines related to social distancing and played outdoor games like cricket, badminton etc. in mornings and evenings, almost on a daily basis.

Online Classes Are No Substitute for In-Class Learning

When classes started online, many adolescents found that the home setting was not conducive for studies due to regular disturbances and forced domestic labour (expected of and imposed by parents on both boys and girls). They also faced technical difficulties during online classes, including internet connectivity issues or non-availability of digital gadgets such as android phones.  Students found that online sessions were not interactive and did not include group activities or projects. Most adolescents missed such practical experiences that were part of their normal education, and often had low attention spans during online classes. Because of prolonged screen time, I also experienced severe headaches, pain and an increase in eye problems.

People Living with Disabilities Faced Added Challenges

People living with disabilities faced a unique set of infrastructural and environmental barriers. During announcements related to COVID-19, no guidelines or frameworks were established to cope with issues people with disabilities might face, such as communication barriers or human assistance. It was explicitly mentioned by one interviewee that no sign language was used to communicate important public announcements. A 22-year-old with vision impairment reported that they needed assistance, and while people were willing to help, they were also reluctant to because they feared getting infected with COVID-19.

Online classes were not at all accessible to people with visual or hearing impairment. The webinars/classes were not being organized on digital platforms especially designed to meet their needs. Teachers used Powerpoint presentations in colleges, which made learning very difficult for people with visual impairments. There were also no sign language interpreters available in online classes. People with hearing impairment use sign language or use hands or facial expressions for communicating. But due to COVID-19, faces were covered with masks which posed a communication barrier.

Economically Marginalized Adolescents Forced to Leave Hostels

I also spoke to some students from economically weaker sections who had been studying in residential schools like Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya through educational scholarships. They were forced to vacate their hostels against their wishes. These students depend on the government facilities for access to quality education, food and accommodation. Students resisted vacating their hostels as they knew that their families could not afford these facilities and this would have a major impact on their studies.

Unequal Access to Healthcare Services

One interviewee reported that her father is a policeman who was on COVID-19 duty, and got infected with the virus. He was sent to a quarantine facility in an Ashram. The facility didn’t have good food and violated norms of physical distancing with many infected people put in one room. He came back home and stayed in self-quarantine. After his diagnosis, no one in his family, neighbours or others who had come in contact with him were screened by the local health authorities. I also found that there was very little door-to-door testing and screening in my neighbourhood.

Adolescents’ Recommendations For Policy Makers

These recommendations were taken to ensure that the voices of adolescents will be heard. I hope that concerned officials will get some insights into the issues affecting the mental health and well-being of adolescents, and will enable them to reach out to more adolescents.

1. The Government should create more awareness among people so that they follow precautions to prevent them from contracting COVID-19. There should be strict rules about mask-wearing and physical distancing especially when in public spaces, and fines must be imposed for people who do not comply with these.
2. Improve healthcare facilities and make them accessible to people from socio-     economically weaker sections of society.
3. The Government should work for and give more attention to issues like child labour because more children are likely to be forced into labour because of economic hardships.
4. Make people more aware of the importance and significance of education in life because even before COVID-19 many parents, especially those from agricultural communities did not see the value in education, and emphasized more on learning agricultural skills. There is also a need to decrease the rate of dropouts in schools.
5. The economic status of a family affects the resources available to children and in turn affects their mental health. The Government should mandate courses that help build the confidence of students so that they don’t limit themselves. The Government should help every child access their right to education, which should not depend upon whether or not their family can afford it.

Acknowledgements

I am thankful to the concerned people of The YP Foundation (TYPF), Youth Care Network, iCall trainers on Psychosocial well-being, peers and other adolescents from Kurukshetra district of Haryana, volunteers from Javed Abidi Foundation (JAF), Dr. Satendra Singh (Disability rights activist, New Delhi), Mrs. Chayanika Roy (Administrator of a disabled school in Delhi) for their guidance and contribution in facilitating the interviews through references to the concerned stakeholders in India. I am grateful to all the interviewees for their cooperation and for confiding in me.