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Addictions to screens and porn, anxieties and loneliness: this is how the corona year affected the youth
The closure periods took a heavy toll on the children, especially from grades 7-10 who learned most of the year from home.
Psychologists report more cases of depression and suicide and say the state has not taken care to increase the resources needed for assistance.
"The corona has done damage that we do not yet know how to estimate"
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Middle schools
The education system
depression
Corona virus
Teens
Sonia Gorodisky
Saturday, March 27, 2021, 2:30 p.m.
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In the video: In protest of their non-return to school, seventh-tenth graders are studying in the mall (Photo: Roni Knafo)
"In December I had a whole week that I did not leave the house and was afraid to be left alone. Even for no reason. My mother did not go to work and stayed with me. I had chest tightness and thought I had something physical, I started thinking about the worst thing that could happen. There I was told that I have nothing and it's just anxieties, "
M., a tenth grade student from Tel Aviv,
describes the first anxiety attack she went through this year.
M not alone.
The corona period charged heavy prices from children of all ages, and especially from grades 7-10 who in the past year have learned mostly from home.
600,000 students in these classes were at the bottom of the government’s priority list, which stipulated that they would return to school only in the third beat of the opening of the economy, after the opening of the malls and commerce.
But even now, due to the outline restrictions, classes are held only twice a week for two hours a day on average, and students continue to accumulate damages that will likely be manifested long after the corona is completed.
More on Walla!
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Even now, classes are held only twice a week.
Return of the students of the divisions (Photo: Reuven Castro)
One of the considerations that guides decision makers is that middle school students no longer need to stay home with their parents because they are old enough, and that they are not yet studying for matriculation like 11th-12th graders.
In practice, psychologists report a jump in the number of referrals to urban centers - more cases of anxiety, depression and suicide among young people, and say that despite the increased workload, the state has not taken care to increase the resources needed to provide adequate assistance to children.
Education Minister Yoav Galant is aware of the difficulties.
"In the last year, we have identified alarming effects that are developing in students - obesity, a sharp increase in the use of alcohol and drugs, a sharp increase in requests for psychological help and reports of distress, anxiety and loneliness," he said at a cabinet meeting about a month and a half ago.
"I am especially anxious for fifth- to tenth-grade students who have barely attended school in the past year."
At the beginning of the month, he presented at the yeshiva the "national program to reduce gaps," which is scheduled to begin after Passover and end at the end of the next school year.
The Ministry of Education told Walla!
Because these days they are working on a new survey that deals with mapping the emotional gaps.
A jump in the number of referrals to urban centers.
Students in a division in Pardes Hanna (Photo: Shlomi Gabay)
Compared to many other boys, M. states that she is a "happy and optimistic" person, and understands the importance of being in a human encounter, off-screen.
"In fact, I was always in the 'I'm not afraid of the Corona' approach and it was important for me to meet with friends in closures as well. I was not afraid to go over the thousand-meter limit from home just to meet friends, talk to them, meet real people. She says.
"But there were also very many days during the last year that I did not leave the house," she immediately adds.
"I never thought it would affect me like that. I had a lot of thoughts, a kind of overthinking, even about things unrelated to Corona. It could have happened because I had not left the house for a long time - it made me anxious."
M. had difficulty adjusting to learning to zoom.
"I only come in so they can write that I'm connected, so they do not drop me a certificate. I do not really listen, I can not focus. I want to get to school as much as possible. It makes me feel good, to get back to normal. I am a happy person and I am very optimistic. Still".
Addictions and suicides
Guy Yakar, an educational and rehabilitation psychologist who specializes in the Tel Aviv municipality,
says that "the corona has done damage that we, the psychologists, do not yet know how to estimate. We see that there are children who lock themselves in houses, we see addictions to screens and porn. "In the rates of anxiety, depression and suicide. When we examined the data, we found that in the first closure there was a crazy increase in the number of referrals to the psychological service - in a month and a half we received the same number of referrals that we receive in six months."
According to Yakar, "The problem with this situation is that it lasts a very long time. The children also disconnect from their friends, from normalcy, sanity, and also from the routine. In the last year the routine of teenagers' life has changed completely - they are awake at night and sleep during the day. "To say that you will manage on your own and we will go to work, but even at this age, parental control and presence are critical. When the child is awake at night and the parent is not at home during the day, then these children grow up as a generation without parents."
"Children shut themselves up in homes, disconnect from friends."
Brigade students' mall protest (Photo: Reuven Castro)
A., a 15-year-old from Tel Aviv, a tenth-grade student, can identify with Yakar's words.
He gets up every day at two in the afternoon and sits down to play on the computer, occasionally he meets up with some friends in the park near his house towards evening, and at night he goes back to play.
Until last year A. was an outstanding student, but the Corona forfeited the cards.
He used to connect to zoom classes from bed, with the camera off, and usually fell asleep during them.
He recently had an important math test that determines how many units of study he will study for matriculation.
The disappointment he felt after him was not surprising.
Precious warns of the possible consequences for the adolescent's continued life.
"At these ages, children build their identity and some of it is done alongside their friends, and all this is avoided. They are not in enough personal interactions in the last year, and once they are socially disconnected then all these processes are delayed. The children are mostly with themselves, they are in some illusion. "Games and tic-tac alternate human interaction, and that's not true."
"Part of what school and routine does is help the child develop properly. It will be completed, but we do not know what the damages are, we know to say that in the disasters in previous days saw the psychological effects days ahead, like after Katrina in the United States," he explains.
"At these ages children build their identity."
Brigade students in Raanana (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Liqueur has a full stomach for decision makers and priorities.
"There is an illusion in the public that we have returned to routine," he says, "but in fact the children of Z-Y have not returned to any routine. And in fact they do not study, they only study one and a half days a week. So the restaurants have opened, and the bars have opened, but the children continue. "In the corona and damage is accumulating. And these are not the corona damages, these are the damages of those who decide on priorities."
He said that despite the sharp increase in the number of referrals, the state did not allocate additional resources to local authorities in order to reinforce the psychological system.
As a result, only the powerful authorities, such as Tel Aviv, can afford to run an intensified psychological service.
"The key to the standard of educational psychologists is one in every thousand children, which means that my ability to reach everyone is very limited. Given the distress of educational psychologists even before the corona, we have now reached the limit of ability."
"There is an illusion in the public that we have returned to routine" (Photo: Shlomi Gabay)
Ricky Shumen, director of an educational psychological service in Givatayim, also
reports an increase in the number of referrals.
Shumen runs the open-line service, which is run by the municipality to help residents overcome the mental damage of the past year.
"We have experienced an increase in parental inquiries about parental authority. It is difficult to be nice all the time with the children when they are at home. We recognize the aggravation of depression and depression. We have received quite a few inquiries about the relationship between siblings who remain at home. Tension has risen.
"Some parents say that their children refuse to connect to Zoom, and there are those who hardly leave the room. We have cases of children who have not met friends for half a year. The child says he does meet friends at Zoom or computer games. They play all day at Fortnite and for them there are They have virtual friends. "
"Children with social anxiety felt relieved during the Corona period, it was not bad for them. But it's really not a good thing, they did not practice what was difficult for them before, they stayed in their shell instead of coping. There are also quite a few children who went into 'over-preservation', "They were not willing to leave the house for fear of getting infected," she says.
However, Shumen adds that it is important to maintain "optimism and hope for readjustment, which of course will take time, and should meanwhile support parents and educators and their significance especially these days."
Middle school children are the most vulnerable
"Seventh-tenth graders were ostensibly enrolled in a school, but I'm not sure how many studies they had," says
Professor Sequel Levy of MIT
.
Levy lives in the United States and recently wrote his opinion as an education expert in a petition to the High Court filed by the National Parents' Leadership regarding the state's conduct regarding seventh- through tenth-grade students who have been studying at home for an entire year.
Levy talks about the educational damage done to children in the past year, citing as an example the great freedom.
"We know this phenomenon, the students who return from the great freedom do not return to the same place, they retreat. According to the studies, the level of retreat is proportional to time and even beyond. Even in Israel today they understand that even basic skills, such as reading and arithmetic skills."
Aside from impairing learning skills, Levy notes the physical damage done to many children in the corona year, one of which is obesity.
"We know that during the big holiday the children gain weight and do not lose back to their previous weight. Obesity is a risk factor and disease both in young children and in older ages. Even as a result of a temporary period of obesity can be obtained metabolic diseases, and others."
Levy adds: "I'm not talking about sleeping habits, eating habits, depression anymore. Middle school children are the most vulnerable because they understand more about what is happening to them, social connections are more important, and their brains are much more influential. If you lost a month "In this year as a child, it is not something that can be easily returned, because your mind is being shaped during this period, the child is developing his independence, emotionally and socially."
"The middle school in Israel has no clear goals"
Eli Horowitz, CEO of the Trump Foundation for Education,
sees a close connection between the perception of middle schools by the Ministry of Education and the alarming results of the international PISA tests.
"Middle school in Israel has no clear goals and therefore is treated as a long active break in the backyard and neglected. It is no coincidence that middle schools were the last to open after the corona closures. However, many countries around the world have long understood that middle school is a critical step in the educational process. Age when forming their own identity and built foundations for the future. therefore, not to the OECD decided to hold the end of junior international PISA tests, checking the degree of readiness of the younger generation into the modern world. "
Horowitz also offers solutions." Israel can and should Make middle school a major step. "This, by upgrading the curricula and giving students the choice of which subjects to study in depth." This is a process that has already started from below, even in the corona year local authorities and school principals across the country have opened more excellent classrooms that allow students And students learn at a high level that incorporates relevant content.
The Technion, the Weizmann Institute and the University of Haifa wrote special study materials and high-tech companies opened their doors.
"When the Ministry of Education leads the move and calls everyone to the flag, it will find a broad partnership in the field waiting to give a shoulder," he concludes.
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