Background

While growing up, through a student’s time at home and at school - two most important avenues of learning and education, what they struggle with the most is lack of access and relatability with those who mentor us. With our teachers, family, mentors - there is a world of respect and reverence, and in many instances a lot of awe. However, what is missing perhaps is the fact that one could hardly relate to them.

What our best friends understand about our speech and intentions, is nowhere close to what the others who don’t share our age group would. In our educational systems, particularly here in India, this is a glaring problem. The distance between the student and the mentor is manifold and because of this lack of access, a lot remains unsaid, hindering the growth of a student, both academically and holistically. In such a spirit, the Medical Education Unit at University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi, started a programme in 2009 for faculty mentoring of first-semester students. Near-peer mentoring was viewed as beneficial by many faculty respondents and mentees. First year students in colleges find themselves increasingly confused, as if wandering into hostile territory because of a lack of network which would provide an ease of access and transition. The same is the case with schools, universities, and places of work, which seem intimidating from a distance, hence discouraging students from taking that leap.

To counter this problem, an efficient system of healthy learning and relationship building, as an added supplement is practically non-existent in our education system, with mostly all the onus put on the designated teachers, and with learning compartmentalized into strict boxes, hence depriving children of a very important aspect of education.