The Problem of Meeting The Social and Emotional Needs of Students in Indian Schools

Attending classes at Thompson Rivers University threw a different light on the problem I faced as a teacher back home in Mumbai. There were several courses that spoke about the incorporation of Emotional Intelligence in the curriculum. One course in particular caught my attention, it was History and Philosophy of Education. It was because of that particular course and the readings in the course that I began thinking about the experiences I had as a teacher in Mumbai. In believe, many times schools in India put too much emphasis on test scores in defining the purpose of education. This is a mistake because the purpose of education to me entails more than a test score. “. . . the countless hours we had spent in existentially meaningless and forced assimilation of content materials in competition for good grades and, presumably, future security, and happiness”.

I believe the aim of education is to attempt to instill a desire for learning and teach children how to think for themselves rather than what to think. Throughout the master’s program I was exposed to the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) concepts and its inclusion in curriculum. I realize the importance of SEL and how essential it is to incorporate in elementary schools in India. I strongly believe that developing SEL in students at a young age cultivates effective leadership skills, it also leads to development of social interaction skills and awareness of self and others. Thus, it is of paramount importance that it is incorporated in the Indian education system especially at elementary level as younger children are quite impressionable and imbibe new qualities easily.

Mayer & Salovey (1997) in their research on Emotional Intelligence have found that teachers struggle to identify the exact skills and knowledge students need to be successful in life. It is very common to consider Intelligence Quotient (IQ) over EI to determine a student’s success rate. Mayer and Salovey (1997) argue that other factors, especially emotional intelligence, play a greater role in determining whether one is successful or not. Unfortunately, schools in India focus very little on these other factors — like emotional intelligence — that contribute to how successful a person might be in life. My experience as a teacher made it very obvious that the students’ social and/or emotional needs were not being met. How could I expect them to focus on the assignment at hand? And, a bigger question loomed. How would these students acquire the social / emotional skills necessary to realize their full potential and become contributing members of society if they did not learn them at home or at school?

Indian society and its upbringing have always focused on the best of social and emotional development. Since Vedic era the focus used to be on the good habits formation, development of traits like respect, love, care, friendship, bravery, courage, sharing, and cooperation. There used to be a great amount of ability to control emotions in people but they were weak in expressing them, as expressing too much of emotions was considered as a sign of weakness. Today with the change of times, the social and emotional development of children has become weak because of the parental pressures and overwhelming focus on cognitive development.

Elementary schooling is often a time when students’ foundational needs; physical wellbeing, safety and social acceptance, are developing. Along with the physical and emotional changes brought on by every passing year, they face an onslaught of academic expectations based on the general assumption that all students are genius. Some students thrive when faced with these challenges, while others simply learn to "survive" the maze. But, far too many fall behind, ill-equipped to master rigorous academic content because they lack foundational social emotional supports. Once they fall behind, their schooling experience often reinforces self-doubt, negative self-perception and the belief that they lack what it takes to make it in this or future systems, which in turn, can lead to various behavioral, truancy and/or self-esteem problems.