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State’s Mashaal portal: 70% plaints from girl students
Over 200 kids from across the state have logged complaints on the portal, of which 70% are girls
A month after the state education department launched the Mashaal project to take up psychological and scholastic challenges faced by students of Classes 8 to 12, over 200 kids from across the state have logged complaints on the portal, of which 70% are girls. This was revealed by Jyoti Soni, state coordinator, guidance and counselling cell.
“Almost all the girl complainants have stated that they faced one or the other form of harassment at home. The girl students have also complained that due to poor financial conditions, they have to reside in a single room with five to ten family members due to which they are not able to study and revise lessons,” Soni said.
Launched in November, the Mashaal portal was introduced to provide psychological counselling to students with an aim to impart career guidance and assist them in making informed educational and occupational choices.
“The girl students, mostly from Classes 10 to 12, have also said that they stay overburdened with household work, leaving them little to no time to study. A majority of the students have shared that they have to work before and after school hours to earn their livelihood. Most have complained that they reach school without having breakfast as their parents have to leave home early morning for work,” Soni said.
Soni said, “Many students have shared their problems anonymously by mentioning their school name and district on the Google sheet available on the portal. Around 30 students have shared their problem in the sheet and the counsellors have been told to resolve their issue by counselling them as part of a group. The idea is to help
the student without identifying them.”
“We have around 700 trained counsellors in the state. Besides, school principals are also informing the students regarding the portal and flex boards are also installed at government schools to make them aware,” she said.
REPORT PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
The Mashaal portal is available at mashaal.ssapunjab.org for students of Classes 8 to 12 of government schools across the state. Students can share their problems in English, Hindi or Punjabi by mentioning their name, age, class, gender, school and district in the space provided. Students can also choose to be anonymous by entering the details of only their school and district in the Google sheet link provided on the website.
The website has two separate columns for students and teachers wherein they can share their problems and counsellors reply them with solutions.
The portal is also aimed at guiding and mentoring adolescents to achieve optimum physical and mental health and choose suitable careers in keeping with their abilities and aptitudes. The initiative is taken to introduce short counselling training programs for teachers to enable them to give personal and career guidance to students.
This website offers all necessary information about local training and educational institutions that a student may want to join for after-school studies, along with eligibility criteria, fees and length of courses. It also gives details of available scholarships and reservations.
