Contemporary Issues Affecting Adolescents

About this chapter

Contemporary Issues Affecting Adolescents opens with India's demographic dividend argument (The Economic Times, Nov 18, 2014) — that investments in adolescent health and education are urgent because depression, suicide, substance use, bullying and other alarming trends are on the rise. It then walks through six contemporary problems that face adolescents (ages 11-14 onwards) and the school's preventive role: (1) bullying — aggression with repetition and power imbalance, including cyber bullying; (2) substance use and abuse — alcohol, tobacco, narcotics, inhalants and the link with HIV, violence and theft; (3) teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (HPV, HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis B); (4) depression and suicide — sadness, irritability, weight loss, suicidal ideation; (5) juvenile delinquency — minors under 18 and the Riyadh Guidelines (1990); (6) compulsive internet use — WHO definition of addiction, pathological internet use. For a Paper II teacher of ages 11-14, the chapter emphasises 'prevention is better than cure' — schools nurture self-esteem, life skills, counselling, parent partnership, co-curricular activities and a respectful classroom climate. CTET Paper II tests this through definition items, case-recognition stems, role-of-teacher items and Riyadh-Guidelines items. The four tests — Practice 15, Quiz 15, Hard 15, Mastery 30 — cover all six topics at CTET Paper II depth.