Author: Siddharth Dwivedi
It is almost June which means vacations in most part of the country, around 32 crore learners had already stopped to move schools/colleges, all educational activities halted in India. The outbreak of COVID-19 has advised us that change is inevitable, students generally plan their vacations in a way that they find a scope of learning new skill or sharpening an existing one by enrolling for a physical exercise or activity or sports, games, etc. But this seems to be a distant happening and far from near future.
In the age of exploration and learning, where 79% Indian Students Used Smartphones to Study Online in 2020, are still made to stay back at home and the only source of engagement is the unguided crusade of internet which may land the child’s psyche elsewhere and in possibly in unwanted zones. Channelizing high and vulnerable energy of students is a vital factor in their personality building. We all wish to ensure that our children’s time is properly positively utilized.
This March, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said that globally one in every seven children, or 332 million, has lived under a lockdown for at least nine months, making them vulnerable to mental health issues. Indian children are no exception to this under the carpet epidemic that is making an unusual impact on the students’ mental welfare.
In our discussions with the business head of a leading EdTech provider, she said that “Internet has almost become inevitable companion of everyone even of children and hence online option for guided student engagement has become much important, fairly required and scarcely ignored resource of engagement. Being a professional and a mother of high on energy kid, I realize the importance of utilization of summer vacation, it gives a chance to let my child know more things apart from daily academics. This vacation I will enroll my child in online courses as I cannot compromise with both safety and quality engagement of my child. We are left with no option but to adopt online courses for children. I, as a professional have done a lot of courses and I know one thing for sure, it provides a quality engagement and productive takeaways. Though I strongly feel that the online methods now need to involve some additional elements of maintaining students’ mental well-being as well.”
Like her, there are millions of parents who are seeking to harness online engagements for their children this vacation. The Online vacation courses are estimated to rise meteorically and is expected to take a 10- fold increase compared to previous years. These summers are going to be different for students.
Several companies are coming out with the blend of vacation courses and engagement programs. Below links can be referred for exploring courses and options for a few different varieties of programs that can help students in their hobby creation and maintenance processes.
There are many vocational courses which can be taken up, many ed-tech. companies have come up with different engagement programs which are specifically designed for students and for vacations.
Some such examples are:
- Connexrm offers multi field Student engagement programs,
- Udemy offers different courses,
- Scholastic is one such organization, photography for kids, and many more
- HT offers a few vocational courses for your child.
You can either choose one of the above or explore new course. It is vacation there must be helpful in all round development in skill and hobbies of children and this time it would be online. Yet, it would be advisable to give your child an environment that can mix up online and offline activities to develop a true hobby that helps improve overall thinking, creativity, and mental welfare of the child in the coming time.
For more information about the Student Engagement During Summer Vacations 2021, please call at 1-800-212-1737 or email us at info@eupp.in
