More than 900 teachers will undergo training to provide psychosocial support services and manage student behaviour when they return to school.
This, according to Education Ministry permanent secretary Dr Anjeela Jokhan. She said the online training program for child protection officers would be run for over two months.
“School closure has contributed to increased anxiety and loneliness in young people,” she said.
“Child stress, sadness, frustration, indiscipline, and hyperactivity are also expected to be prevalent, and to deal with these; teachers need to be fully prepared.”
Dr Jokhan said child protection officers and district education officers would work together to train primary and secondary school teachers on how to take better care of their students once they had completed their training.
The ministry said the United Nations Children’s Fund collaborated with the Substance Abuse Advisory Council to deliver the training. She said the ministry would do its best to ensure that children were well-supported with timely advice, coaching, and guidance by trained teachers so that students make the transition back to structured teaching and learning as soon as possible.
With the theme “Putting Children First”, the training will be conducted in batches over the next two months, beginning with secondary schools.
