THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Teenage, a time when the heart and soul flies behind the whims and fancies of worldly attractions. Teenagers’ immature minds may not identify between good or evil. Parents too feel that two eyes are insufficient to monitor children and they almost wish they were blessed with two more behind their heads. It is under such circumstances that the ‘Save a Teenager’ project was launched in June 2011. It was jointly implemented by the National Service Scheme and the Vocational Higher Secondary Department. After the launch of its second phase, in August 2011 at theGovt VHSS Manacaud, the school has been successfully tackling the issues which had been burning inside these tender minds. Just two months into its launch, the project has been able to redress the psychological and health problems of students who hail from varied family backgrounds and situations. The project has been going on in full swing since the launch of its second phase, where many students received a companion to open up their grievances. Students of plus-one and plus-two classes are being trained as volunteers to give timely advice to the teenagers in standard eight on an experimental basis. Accordingly, before implementing the project, students underwent a training camp, where three students from the school were trained. At the camp, students received coaching to thoroughly understand various behavioural patterns of students through real-life situations. According to Preetha P V, programme officer of VHSE in VHSS Manacaud, “one advantage of the project is that the complainant can take the student mentor into confidence and can disclose any kind of problems. Social issues are not what disturb a child, but psychological problems. Majority of the students approached us with these kind of problems. When the problems are beyond the capacity of a student counsellor, students are also provided with the assistance of a counsellor, who is a trained person sent by the government, In VHSS Manacaud, 100 mentors have been trained in this manner so as to provide relief to the students of standard eight in nine divisions. Explains Kalyani V S, a plus-two student of Maintenance and Operation of Bio- Medical Equipment: “Teachers at times send to us students who suffer from various problems. We also spot some students by the way they appear or behave. During the interval time or free hours, they are given proper advice.” Akhila P J, another volunteer who is in plus- two Creche and Pre-school Management, says: “Within some two months after its implementation, we have so far not received any cases that demanded a serious intervention from a counsellor.” Many students come with problems such as difficulty to study, problems caused by a drunkard father, sleeplessness and the like, the student mentors say. Says Arpitha (name changed), who sought the help of student mentors: “My father had a drinking problem. My younger sister and I were not able to study. He used to come home late at night and our mother would be beaten up. As per the advice of ‘chechis,’ I told my father to stop drinking. Though he did not comply in the beginning, I continued with my efforts and now he has stopped drinking,” the girl is all smiles. In the next academic year, the school is planning to extend the programme by opening a space for ninth standard students to redress their grievances.
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