#PisayGiveUsABreak
dealBREAKer
A pulsating pinch on the neck, a small burning sensation in the eyes, and a throbbing migraine; all of these do not matter in the race of time versus finishing modules. Usually, this is no sweat for Pisay students whose cramming skills are refined from years staying in a rigorous science high school, but even the brightest star will start to lose its light after some time. In this case, the burning torch that scholars proudly carry is starting to lose its flame too.
After seven months of quarantine, teens and millennials manifest symptoms of poor physical strength and mental health. Being social beings, this drastic change parallels to when light suddenly abandons a room, leaving our irises to slowly adjust and accommodate to the darkness that surrounds it. The sudden change in brightness can cause a throbbing pain in our eyes due to the unanticipated adjustment in brightness level. Comparable with how our eyes take time to adapt, us human beings are simply having difficulty in adapting to the new normal. In addition to this struggle, the new online learning setup is the cherry on top, the dealbreaker to the overall wellbeing of students in the Philippines, specifically, students from Philippine Science High School who literally break and share their complaints in the ever-so popular platform namely Twitter.
But what made these students break exactly?
Starting the day with a bright squared screen is not the best way to greet your eyes a happy morning. The bright led drying your eyes brings out the all-too familiar burning pain that students became accustomed to at this new normal. As what our parents and professionals say, staring into these gadgets for long periods can be detrimental to our ocular health, so it is recommended that one should take breaks in between. This general rule however is deviated all the time now that one of the ways we can get our education is through staring at the screen for six to seven hours, five days in a week.
Back problems have also started to manifest due to slouching in the wee hours of the morning when the roosters crow to the ungodly hours of the evening while the crickets’ chirp. Students are starting to become more accustomed to the pinching pain in the neck and the back ache that accompanies it after staying in one position for hours and fours until no end. While sitting for long periods of time is normal in a face-to-face setting, this new setup forces us to stay in a back-ache inducing position to complete all modules before the short-hand hits the 5 o’clock mark.
Let us not forget the mental health of the students that is gravely affected by the quarantine alone. Without the open window of opportunity to take care of themselves, teens resort to suppressing their emotions and cutting short their “me time” to finish that pending module due in a few hours. The weekend that was usually spent on regenerating their motivation, drive, and energy is now sacrificed for the sake of passing that graded assessment.
At the 20th hour of October 19, 2020 twitter user @nkk_pgpabagabag initiated the idea #PisayGiveUsABreak, she tweeted it with the intention of alarming the system of the struggles the students are facing in this new online learning set up.
According to the student behind the account, “I do acknowledge all the mental health programs and seminars they have. And while it is helpful, it’s not enough. If they have the power to remove the primary source of our stress (overloading of requirements), then they should.” With this in mind, she had hoped that it would reach the system so that it would grant us the break that was needed.
What followed the tweet was a union between students from different campuses tweeting and trending the hashtag in hopes to finally make a change in this online setup. The chorus of cries caught the attention of certain PSHS campuses who were willing enough to alleviate the problem by modifying its guidelines or by fulfilling the students wishes to receive that long-awaited academic break. Such an act of online mass gathering embodies the true fighting spirit of the scholars and their bright flaming firebrand.
The pulsating pain in the neck and the throbbing headaches are just a few of the struggles the students go through as they continue learning through their online platforms. With the hit #PisayGiveUsABreak, hopefully everyone under the system can experience the academic break for them to regenerate and relight the dimming torch that they carry.
