The last couple of weeks have tested everyone’s resilience, especially that of children, adolescents and young adults. With a tremendous surge in Covid-19 related cases, we are back to last year’s lockdown situation, in addition to experiencing a full-blown healthcare crisis. Young people have been dealing with the negative effects of studying from home and being locked away without recourse to physical activity or friends, for over a year. As many of their loved ones suffer from grave illness or worse, their anxiety continues to mount. Needless to say, many have suffered academically as a result.
Realising the gravity of the situation, Dr Rashmi Mantri, founder and chairperson of BYITC International, decided to make her exclusive platform available to Indian children as well. British Youth International College (BYITC), originated in the UK and is an online web-based software learning platform for students, parents, teachers and schools that conducts courses in Abacus, English and Coding.
Having made a name for themselves internationally, they are planning to associate with government schools, corporate bodies, private educational institutes, individuals, and franchise models in India, to offer their services to children across age groups and backgrounds. “With the next-gen technological development in the education industry, we truly believe that our online web based e-learning platform, known as the world’s only software for Abacus and English learning, will be greatly beneficial to Indian kids. Our goal aligns with the government’s Digital India vision and plans to advance e-learning post-pandemic learning. We aim to provide quality education to children and employment opportunities to teachers through our Teacher Training Program,” claims Dr Mantri.
An emphasis on the explanation of concepts through tailor-made programmes for every child, is certainly the need of the hour. In particular, their Abacus course content has been created by a team of Abacus experts under the guidance of Dr Mantri, based on real-life situations and observations. Abacus learning has proved to be beneficial for the specially-abled, dyslexic students and academically weaker children. Their English course content has been created by Cambridge-board certified teachers and experts.
Speaking about the harmful effects of the pandemic on the youth of today, Dr Mantri candidly shares that many of her students have been deeply anxious, had panic attacks, or lost motivation and hope for the future. The loneliness and isolation, coupled with concerns about college or university/school work and a breakdown in regular life, has wreaked havoc on many. She says digitisation is a new way of life that we must all learn to adapt to, since people are online for almost everything these days.
Her advice for anxious children around the world is, “keep your courage up and look for the positive in every negative. You will come out stronger with willpower, dedication and determination.” Additionally, she advises them to maintain a routine, exercise regularly—both for the body and the mind, practice mindfulness and meditation, develop new hobbies, build leadership skills, and learn STEM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Dr Mantri stresses that this time spent at home can be utilised to upskill and prepare for an uncertain future. This can be done by participating in knowledge transfer partnerships across the globe through online meetups. Children can also connect with inspiring people and be an inspiration for others by setting examples. Papers and articles can be researched and written, author skills and creative writing can be pursued, to come up with mini stories or books. Spelling and vocabulary workshops can be attended to further enhance writing skills.
“A focus on early age entrepreneurship is desirable at this point,” emphasises Dr Mantri. For this, she recommends using logical reasoning quizzes and puzzles and math techniques, attending basic coding clubs, and learning the basics of cyber security for online safety. Further, exploring new hobbies like dancing, singing and playing instruments will keep children motivated. Music helps to calm the mind too. Most importantly, children and adolescents must learn to set a routine, be patient, maintain a healthy diet and participate in friendly competitions and challenges to keep busy.
BYITC courses are available for multiple age groups starting from 4 years to 17 years of age, via e-learning through its web based software learning platform, which can be explored on their website.
The writer is a lawyer who pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her website www.nooranandchawla.com. She can be contacted on nooranand@gmail.com.