Kids land up at shrinks’ door

Kids land up at shrinks’ door
Switch In Medium Of Teaching At Std V Leading To Learning Disorders
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: In one month, January 2008, 20 kids between the ages of 10 and 13 were referred to the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB), Bambolim, for assessment as they were ‘not up to the mark’ in class. An examination revealed that 12 of them had learning disorders.
“Many children from standard V to VIII are referred to us by schools with complaints of learning disorders. This problem is mostly seen amongst kids who shift from Konkani or Marathi as a medium of instruction till standard IV to English in standard V,” says IPHB’s clinical psychologist Dr Mita Majumdar.
Socio-economic problems may not be the number one reason why children dropout of school. “Learning disorders are a cause of depression and behaviour problems which leads to poor self-image and makes children dropout,” said Dr Majumdar. On an average about 40% of the students dropout by the time they reach Std X.
IPHB sees about 1,000 children every year at its child guidance clinic, a majority of them having learning disorder problems, adds Dr Majumdar. Learning disorder is a type of learning disability in which the child of average intelligence faces problems in reading, writing and calculation.
Director of education Celsa Pinto agreed that the switch from the vernacular to the English medium is still a problem at the standard V stage. “We are making concerted efforts to improve the situation,” she said.
Though in the absence of a study, it’s difficult to state the exact magnitude of the problem, both educationists and psychiatrists agree that the problem is grave.
The medium of instruction in 1,088 primary schools, both government and aided, is either Konkani or Marathi, with English as the second language. Just 131 primary schools have English as the first language, but from standard V, all schools have English as the medium of instruction and Hindi as the second language with Konkani or Marathi as the third language.
“In such a situation, by the time the children acquire a good grasp of the language, they have to change to a new language which leads to a lot of confusion,” said Prachi Khandeparkar, member of the Goa State Commission for Children.
Though learning difficulties in children are seen even at the pre-school age, it’s not taken seriously by parents or teachers at the primary level. “Once in standard V, children are detained. Also at this stage they move from the vernacular to the English medium that further adds to their learning difficulties,” said developmental and behavioural pediatrician Dr Nandita de Souza.
However, there is some good news. About six government aided high schools have started the resource room concept to deal with the problem.
Covered under the scheme for children with special needs and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a teacher attends to children with learning disorders or other disabilities.

2008 May 12 Times Of India Goa