Government school students in Jharkhand will soon be provided stress management classes to tackle post-lockdown anxiety and address behavioral issues that may aggravate once regular classes resume after several months, officials from the Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) said on Wednesday.

JEPC has already started training around 8,000 teachers in child psychology and ways to tackle restlessness among children with assistance from Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), said state in-charge of quality education Arvind Kumar.

“These 8,000 teachers will become master trainers and train other teachers using online mediums. Counselling of students will start before we resume regular classes at schools, so we can put a check on behavioral issues among children once schools reopen,” said Kumar.

However, counselling sessions for students would not be restricted to the ongoing period of offline classes. Stress management lessons for students would become a part of the curriculum once regular classes resume, and every school would try and provide stress management lessons for an hour every day to the students.

“We will continue providing stress management classes to students even after the schools reopen. Addressing psychological issues is a gradual process and psychological barriers cannot be removed overnight in one or two online sessions,” Kumar said.

The JEPC has also issued SOPs to deal with mental issues among children once schools reopen, said JEPC director Shailesh Chourasia. Every government school in the state would have to follow the SOP, he added.

The lockdown triggered mood disorders and behavioral issues in many children across the state, say psychiatrists. They fear that the transition phase from days of lockdown to normal days at schools will also trigger similar psychological issues among children.

“Adapting to changes in lifestyle often triggers stress. Many students suffered from anxiety during the early days of lockdown as they found it difficult to adjust with the changes in their regular lifestyle,” said Dr Nishat Goyal, assistant professor at CIP. “Many students may have to deal with similar adjustment problems once they resume normal life, so counselling becomes important at this stage,” he added.

So far, around 800 teachers have already been trained to impart stress management lessons in the first lot. More teachers would be trained in days to come, JEPC officials said.

“We have selected teachers from each of the 24 districts for the training sessions in a bid to ensure that students in all parts of the state can get benefitted from counselling,” said Kumar.

According to the school education and literacy department, there are over 44,000 government schools spread across Jharkhand.