Children resisting school after a long summer break isn’t new for any generation, but this academic year has been plagued with the added anxiety of returning to screens. Add to that the distress of losing classmates to the annual reshuffle, and having to build a rapport with new teachers and new subjects [if any], and all of it in a virtual environment, isn’t appealing. This writer’s seven-year-old has been finding ways to dodge school — waiting for the WiFi to be down or for there to be a power outage. Of all the things, he misses the school playground the most.

Clinical psychologist Manasi Bhatt says, “Every year, kids are excited to return to school not just to finish the syllabus and give exams but to meet friends, share tiffin, play in the corridors, scuffle on the playground — all of this is missing in online schooling. In a school, apart from academics, there is so much more learning that happens and they are missing all the excitement. Among younger children, they miss the interaction and rewards they get from teachers and peers. This is crucial for their understanding of the environment and making sense of each other’s behaviour, which is an important milestone in their development.”