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Thursday 19 May 2016

Evaluating the effectiveness of discontinuing the school bell to strengthen students’ mental health - a pilot from Bangladesh

Following recent research which suggested that the mental health of students may be improved by discontinuing the use of the school bell Educate the World [UK] undertook a pilot in 10 schools in Bangladesh under the supervision of one of our volunteers Md Bayazid Khan who also works for the Education Department of the Bangladesh Government.  His report on the pilot is below.


Piloting Districts         :  Tangail & Sylhet
Number of Schools     :  10 (Urban-09, Rural-01)


Students Information:

Class
Number of Students
Students with disabilities
Pre-Primary
366
02
One
492
02
Two
553
01
Three
561
03
Four
577
04
Five
612
02
Total
3161
14


Number of Teachers :    82                                  Male :     04                    Female : 78

Steps taken to launch the initiative:

  • Meeting with teachers
  • Without informing students functioning/operating bell was suspended for 2-3 days
  • Hanging class routine on classrooms’ wall
  • Using hand watch/wall clock/mobile phone clock by teachers to start and finish teaching-learning activities/lessons

Teachers’ Reaction:

  • 80-85% teachers faced difficulties to finish the lesson as well as enter into the next scheduled teaching-learning activities
  • 70-75% schools faced disturbances to start & finish daily assembly, to finish daily school activities and to maintain daily leisure time

Observations from teachers:

  • It is possible to run school activities smoothly having discontinued the school bell, but it will take time for both teachers and students to adapt
  • There should be a wall clock and a visible class routine with timetable in each classroom
  • In Bangladesh classrooms are overcrowded and both inside and outside classrooms there is a lot of noise. So, it could be a challenge for both teachers and students to perform their responsibilities smoothly without a functioning bell as the sound of the bell is the heart of running school activities.
  • School bell is the tradition of schools in Bangladesh. So, discontinuation of  school bell may loose schools’ tradition
  • It will  dispel sound pollution that may strengthen students’ mental health


Observations from students:

  • Students were curious to know the reason of not ringing bell
  • Students didn’t face any difficulties as they followed teachers’ commands

Number of students who gladly accepted the initiative: 105
Reasons for accepting: Appreciating the new approach

Number of students who had no comments on the initiative: 3056


Parents’ Reaction:
90-95% parents are against discontinuing the school bell as they think that the functioning of school bell means the school is running smoothly and teachers are performing their duties. They feel that there are sounds and noises everywhere at schools. So, the school bell is crucially important for the running of the school's activities.

Author's observations:

In our culture we have tendency of not appreciating any change to or to accept it at first, but after few days of commencement, we gladly accept the change. Although teachers admitted that the initiative did have a positive impact on development of students’ mental health, the challenges of managing larger number of students in a noisy environment they meant they declined to accept the change for the time being.

Friday 13 May 2016

Exam Stress & Anxiety

Being a student isn’t without its stresses and strains. While of course it is also a wonderful time of self discovery and new experiences, there is no doubt about it but it does bring with it a lot of pressure for young people.

Students have to deal with consistent deadlines and imminent exam dates. This all requires a degree of composure but crucially it requires an element of organisation. Students need to be organised in order to keep on top of all of their course work in order to succeed.


This info-graphic from Study Medicine Europe gives a good indication about the stresses that students are prone to around the world. It also highlights some interesting statistics and pinpoints some possible causes of this stress. It also focuses on some possible solutions to this common problem. Check it out below.