How schooling from home in COVID-19 made me realise the importance of visiting campus for a healthy career
By Manvi Jain
Before this pandemic arrived, the student life that seemed really hard because of the number of campus restrictions, regular examination pressure and everything that seemed like a punishment, in today’s reality, it seems more satisfactory than the comfort of home for a bright future as it taught us the importance and value of hard work to succeed.
Like every other student, the Coronavirus Pandemic has got its ill effects on me too, I terribly miss entering the university with new curiosities, and a fresh mindset every day — it is indeed the place where I gained the zeal to learn and work towards a career, inspired by the number of activities and co-curriculum that I indulged myself in.
Now, when we are locked up at homes, my questions and curiosities go unanswered — my drive to learn and work harder has disappeared. This is not a problem unique to me; any student reading this right now can understand the stresses that come with remote learning. However, something that many ignore is the importance of mental health and how in-person education is the path for building a ‘mentally’ healthy career.
Standing in the hallways and waiting for my teacher to come to open the classroom was bearable. At least I had the company of my friends and peers and time for small talks. On the other hand, virtual waiting rooms consist of muted mics and ‘cameras off’ can’t replace the joy but only making us all lazier and lose important skills like patience. Many of us didn’t realize it in the first place but for a healthy mind as a student, social interactions, face-to-face conversations with friends and teachers are really important.
The year started with absolute optimism. I published my debut anthology and was much appreciated for it. I even received my summer internship letter from a well-known Research Institute. The nineteen-year-old within me was super excited to kickstart a career in the field that I adore. Nonetheless, by the end of March 2020, everything I looked forward to was followed by a big question mark. It was stained with uncertainty and confusion. Ultimately, everything was cancelled — leaving me and many others confused with what our future looks like from now on.
But as it is rightly said, every coin has two faces. Where negativity ends optimism blooms in, all we required was to end the pessimism within and look forward to creating opportunities while sitting at home, the initial fifteen days were harsh on the eager students like me, when Lockdown 1.0 was announced in our country, amidst the restrictions, it was impossible to visit the campus, ultimately, we were forced to move to e-learning. Once I admitted that we would be home for much longer than we’d thought, I enrolled in some MOOCs and developed detailed and important skills for my career. Gradually, I developed many new skills that should prevail for a healthy career through many online programs like basic knowledge of computation, mathematical skills, psychology courses and most importantly, ways to take care of our mental health in this difficult scenario.
The best thing that I can see coming in this pandemic is the number of opportunities provided by the dream Institutes of mine via digital platforms and that too with minimal or no fee. Now, I don’t see any kind of pessimism coming my way as a student being locked up at home after the five months of the pandemic. It has been a time where I saw my fellow mates developing into what they always wished but because of the busy schedule and orthodox education system, they could not take the time out for them.
On the other hand, the amount of mental stress that students have faced during this time because of an increased number of screen hours and digital studies demands significant attention from parents and teachers. It even brought about many government programs to start mental health initiatives. Unemployment has been on peak throughout this time but growing into a skilled person was completely at choice in front of us that I am sure is the best way to take care of our mental health and thus lead to a good career!