The ability to regulate emotions in adolescents is affected by various social, biological, and psychological changes. Emotions of school adolescents are largely developed at the school environment.
Importantly, the behaviour of teachers and peers provides the roots for the development of emotions. No doubt, parental climate streamlines the behaviour of children.
Psychological and physical broken families have adverse effects on the behaviour development of children. Physical changes increase adolescents’ capacity for emotional awareness, self-management, and empathy.
Parents and adults can support positive emotional development among adolescents and help youth by modelling healthy behaviour.
Managing anger and resolving conflicts with others needs to be taught successfully particularly to school adolescents. For healthy emotional development, values including respecting others, honesty and justice should be practically taught to school adolescents.
Emotional Wellbeing and School Life
Unfortunately, mostly school system is limited to teach the words of values that is not enough for the practical contributions of youth to promote respect, honesty and justice.
This is one of the major reasons that the societies look to be stagnant in promoting values. Emotional wellbeing of school adolescents should be the priority of schools.
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Children learn more from the behaviour of their teachers. Schools should set the goals for the emotional wellbeing of adolescents. Feelings and experiences of adolescents during school timing should be well assessed and the targeted outcomes should include the nature and impact of the feelings and schooling experiences on the emotional development of adolescents.
What is happiness? How can we keep our life happy? What is the impact of laughing on our emotional and psychological health? How can we promote laughing? These questions should be well addressed in the classroom.
Such parental, school and social activities should be supportive for the adolescents to make their lives happy. Assigning overburden of homework keeps the children away from happiness.
Teacher’s harsh attitude leads to depression, anxiety and disappointment among the school adolescents. There is significant contribution of unpleasant school climate in the disappointed and hopeless lives of school adolescents.
Challenging behaviour among the school adolescents is the symbol of unhealthy emotional life of adolescent. Ignoring emotional wellbeing of adolescents also leads to drop out of adolescents from school.
Various research studies concluded that challenging behaviour in adolescents is one of the major causes of dropout of adolescents particularly at secondary school level.
School violence means ignoring the emotional wellbeing of school adolescents. Physical, emotional and sexual violence has been reported among the school adolescents across the globe.
Severe incidents of violence have been reported among the school adolescents particularly at secondary school level. Violence exists among adolescents and among adolescents and teachers as well.
Emotional Wellbeing of Adolescents in Global Perspectives
The rising situation of violence among the school adolescents represents no more hope for a healthy society. The habitual violent attitude among the school adolescents causes intensions of crimes in future.
In addition, a report by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO in 2023 indicated that that bullying in schools keeps millions of children away from their fundamental rights of education.
Further, CNN reported that at least 18 school shootings had been reported in United States until April 2024. According to the National Post of October 2, 2023, teachers across Canada are reporting a rise in student violence and harassment.
Also, on March 28, 2024, BBC captured views of teachers showing that pupil behaviour was getting worse at schools in England. Instead of comprehensive policies and practices, the rising incidents of violence among adolescents are alarming situation across the globe.
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It shows the need to focus more on emotional wellbeing of adolescents. In 2023, New Straits Times reported that more than 9000 school bullying cases recorded since 2021 in Malaysia.
Furthermore, UNESCO, in its 2023 report revealed that 30 percent of the world’s students are victims of bullying with long term consequences on their physical and mental health.
Way forward
Consequently, there is need to revisit the policies and practices of emotional health of school adolescents. The reported cases of crimes and violence among adolescents and youth indicate failure of the initiatives for the emotional health of adolescents and youth.
However, strategies should be developed, keeping in view the ground realities of violence and crimes among adolescents and youth.
Adolescents and youth are the future of any society. Emotional health of adolescents and youth have dominant effects on any society.
Therefore, educational institutions should properly launch academic programs for the emotional wellbeing of new generation.
A generation without emotional wellbeing has no more positive contributions for the development of a society. A society remains stagnant without emotional wellbeing of new generation.
The author Dr. Muhammad Nasir Khan is working as Assistant Professor at Department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan.
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