Beyond the blackboard: Assam teachers turn mentors to help students tide over anxiety, disorders

Guwahati: For Keya, Shristi and Mofida – students of different Kendriya Vidyalayas of Assam – grappling with challenges in the form of hyperactiveness, social anxiety, fear of certain subjects and lack of self-confidence had become a routine affair.

Help finally arrived in the form of their very own school teachers, who donned the role of a mentor to guide not only Keya, Shristi and Mofida, but thousands like them, to tide over academic problems, performance anxiety, behavioural difficulties and even issues at home.

They are among more than 2,000 students of the state who benefited from an innovative programme, 'Each One Reach One', which has now completed a year now.

"The teachers give their cent per cent in the classroom. But, not all students can move with the pace of the teachers and some need help. Not just academic help, but also guidance to tide through their emotional problems, peer pressure and parental issues," Chandrashekhar Azad, Deputy Commissioner of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Guwahati regional office (RO), said.

"This initiative is to lend a helping hand to the students in need of some special attention, be it in their academics, behavioural issues or even problems at home that are impacting their mental wellbeing," he said.

The idea to launch the programme germinated when Azad was interacting with students appearing for their board exams last year.

"I asked them to write down what is it that they feared the most, especially with an important exam coming. I assured them it would be kept anonymous. And the candid jottings were revealing," Azad told PTI.

It was not just the usual desire to score more marks, but these young minds were facing anxieties about their future, pressure from peers and parents, difficulties with certain subjects and troubles at home, he said.

When Azad announced the 'Each One Reach One' initiative for the session 2024-25, teachers came out voluntarily to 'adopt' such students for the entire session.

"There was no instruction on whom to 'adopt'. The teachers identified their wards themselves. And not just the teachers, principals, vice-principals, headmasters and even the two assistant commissioners of the RO 'adopted' students," the DC said.

As many as 2,260 students in 42 KVs under the Guwahati RO were adopted by 1,450 teachers in the first session, with the mentorship continuing for the same student in some cases for the second year now.

Out of these, 183 Class-10 students were mentored, achieving a 99.5 per cent pass rate, and 285 Class-12 students were supported, recording a 98.6 per cent success rate, he said.

The mentors also identified key learning and developmental gaps, like 29.4 per cent struggled with literacy skills, 21.7 per cent had issues in STEM subjects, 12.6 per cent faced attention and focus difficulties, while 9.1 per cent showed emotional and behavioural concerns.

Sharing stories of some of the successful mentorships, he cited the instance of Keya, a 'Balvatika-3' student of PM Shri KV, AFS Jorhat. A hypersensitive child, Keya had difficulty even sitting still when she joined school.

"Managing her boundless energy was a challenge, which was successfully done by her mentor as Keya began participating in activities and even started writing beautifully, with the 'written work' initially the biggest challenge for her," Azad said.

A Class-10 student of one of the KVs in Guwahati, Shristi was struggling with Maths and Science while also grappling with problems at home, negatively affecting her performance at school.

"The help she received from her mentor was not limited to guidance on the subjects alone. He reached out to her parents and together with them, they helped Shristi overcome the anxieties and it resulted in her performing well in these subjects and also coming out of her cocoon," Azad said.

For Mofida of KV, IIT Guwahati, performance anxiety, social anxiety and disconnect, lack of self-confidence and sleeping and eating disorders were taking a toll as she was preparing to complete schooling.

She was introduced to mindfulness and time management techniques, proper nutritional and sleep plans along with parental counselling, as Mofida emerged a confident young girl at the end of the session.

Azad said the 'Each One Reach One' initiative, inspired by the National Education Policy 2020, has grabbed attention nationwide, with many KVs now moving ahead to replicate it in their own regions.

"Some of the ROs have already started it… on a pilot basis. It is inspiring that a noble approach we launched has proved to be beneficial for our students," he added.

The names of the students have been changed.