Over 20 Meghalaya schools adopt AIIMS-Delhi's Project MATE to help kids cope with stress

NEW DELHI: More than 20 schools in Meghalaya have adopted a programme developed indigenously by AIIMS-Delhi to help children cope with stress and anxiety. Project MATE (Mind Activation Through Education), led by Dr Nand Kumar, a professor in the Department of Psychology at AIIMS-Delhi, is being implemented through the Meghalaya Programme for Adolescent Wellbeing with CSR support from Oil India Limited.

The programme designed for students from Classes 6 to 8 is aimed at developing the children's abilities and capacity to cope with the day-to-day stress for their better biopsychosocial development, said Dr Kumar. He also said that several educational institutions across the country have expressed interest in adopting this programme.

According to Dr Kumar, school-going children are increasingly under stress because of various reasons such as peer pressure, traumatic experiences in early childhood, competition, social media, gaming and pressure at schools. To help children cope with these issues, Project MATE was conceived and developed by AIIMS-Delhi in 2020. The aim is to focus on wellness and positive mental health among school children, Dr Kumar said. "The backbone of MATE is a concept of MATE-5 (developing five friends), he said.

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Impact of single-child culture

"The single child culture or a big gap between siblings, as observed in families now, has resulted in children getting ensconced in a cocoon without any solid emotional and social connect, and support to express themselves freely," Dr Kumar explained. Back in the days of joint family culture, children had a lot of opportunities to express themselves to any family member or neighbour, resulting in emotional and social wellness, he said.

"MATE-5 is an initiative to create those qualitative bonds with encouragement to develop the fantastic fist of 5 friends who would understand and support each other," Dr Kumar stated. The MATE excellence awards were given to young changemakers AIIMS-Delhi to encourage the concept of the MATE-5 among school children across India. The core concept of the award is social and interconnectedness. The MATE is implemented through experiential workshops with students of classes VI, VII and VIII in a year along with parents and teachers.