UNB :
The pandemic and the consequent curbs on social interactions have had a marked effect on the mental health of teens and youths worldwide.
With educational institutions-schools, colleges and universities-reopening in a staggered way across Bangladesh, some students are returning to physical classes, having experienced some level of stress and anxiety-symptoms of depression.
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Sylhet is one of the few academic institutions in Bangladesh to have taken an innovative and positive stride in supporting the students’ transition back to classrooms from remote learning.
The varsity is offering a mental health service for its students through the ‘SUST Moner Kotha’ Facebook page, an online platform under the supervision of Director of Student Welfare Prof Zahir Uddin Ahmed and psychologist Fazilatunnesa Shapla.
The mental health service is available on demand for students across departments-not to mention that confidentiality is the key to wooing the young minds.
The unwanted deaths of Torabi Binte Haque and Asiya Akhtar, both students of SUST’s Bangla department, Touhidul Alam Pratyay of Physics department, and Sabbir Ahmed of Chemistry department, during Covid have shaken the entire student community.
