Several students taking up the board exams in Tamil Nadu as well as younger children have been feeling anxious and low owing to the COVID -19 pandemic and the ongoing lockdown. Seeking to address this, the Tamil Nadu School Education department along with UNICEF has launched a new initiative- ‘Take it Eazy’.
Students need to give a missed call to 92666 17888 following which an automated call would be placed back to their mobile phones and the “Take it Eazy” story of the day will be played. Since not every student will have access to a smartphone, the School education department has chosen phone calls as the medium to reach out to them.
Stories have been created for 30 days and each day, students who leave a missed call will get to listen to the story of the day which has been narrated by children, for around five minutes.
These stories, which are followed by activities seek to address several concerns that students might be currently facing- how the anxieties of their parents at home might be internalised by them, disruption of their routines, lack of physical space and mobility or even how anxiety might manifest itself physically and how they can address it.
In the last one week, the ‘Take it Eazy’ line has received around 27,647 calls from students.
D. Deepa, a class 10 student from Perambalur who has called in thrice and listened to their story of the day said that the thoughts shared as well as activities were helpful. “One of the stories I heard was about the importance of following a routine and ensuring I stick to a schedule during the last leg of my preparation. We were also encouraged to write a few lines everyday and maintain a journal,” she said.
