Mental Health In Focus At SAI International’s Online Seminar on IYD

Bhubaneswar: SAI International School celebrated International Youth Day (IYD) on Sunday by conducting an online seminar in which students from 11 countries participated.

More than 500 students from 23 Round Square Schools from South Asia and the Gulf, Europe and Mediterranean, Middle East, Africa and Australia and East Asia participated in the discussion, the subject being ‘A Step Forward: A Global Conversation on Mental Health’ – a burning issue of modern times, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students – from countries like Australia, Oman, UAE, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Japan, UK and India — were divided into 12 groups called Barazzas, with each of them allotted a theme to speak on. The different themes focused on mental health issues and included Body Image, OCD, Bullying, Self-esteem, PTSD, ADHD, Gender Bias, COVID-19, Depression, Racial Stereotypes, Anxiety, Parentification.

All the ideas covered during the online seminar, will be compiled into an e-book, to be shared among all participating schools.

Dr Harish Shetty, a psychiatrist with extensive experience in the field of mental health, especially in connection with disasters, was delighted to see students from across the globe attending the seminar.

Another psychologist Dr Sriya Bhattacharyya, Post-doctoral Fellow at the Center for Health Equity at Harvard Medical School and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA, delivered the speech in the closing session.

Thanking the guest speakers, Founder and Mentor SAI International School, Dr Bijaya Kumar Sahoo delivered a talk on ‘Happiness at Home’, followed by an interactive session with the students.