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Eleven-year-old Hashini has modelled a beautiful clay figure of a doll. With tiny red shoes and a red cap, she says it resembles a doll she had and lost when she was little. When asked if she wouldn’t like to get a new doll now, she smiles. “I’m too grown-up for dolls now,” she says.

Nearby her classmate Udara has made a little clay aeroplane with the name of the international football star, Ronaldo on it. His ambition is to become a football player too.

Hashini, Udara and the rest of their class at Museaus College, Kalutara are being helped by trainee teachers from the Pasdunrata National College of Education to use methods of nonverbal communication that lets them express their thoughts and feelings. This is part of a Psychosocial Programme (PSP) introduced by the American Red Cross, which aims at training teachers to identify signs of stress in children and help them express their emotions.

Anjana Dayal, Country Manager for PSP of the American Red Cross, says stress and trauma are often harder on children, because they are unable to communicate in the same way as adults. They struggle to express their feelings or don’t know whom to turn to for help, thus delaying their recovery.

“Sometimes children don’t know they need to express themselves, they may struggle to process what has happened and appear confused,” says Ms. Dayal. “The responsibility lies with parents, teachers or other adults to identify if a child is dealing with an issue, and find creative and expressive activities to help the child communicate their emotions.”

This programme was initiated in the aftermath of the tsunami of 2004, when the psychosocial support staff of the American Red Cross visited several schools in the South to help children overcome the ordeal. As they worked with teachers, training them on the basics of Psychological First Aid (PFA), which helps identify and cope with common stress reactions, they realised the need for a shift in attitudes in the student-teacher relationship.

“Teachers play such an important role in a child’s life,” says Brian Hatchell, Press Officer of the American Red Cross Tsunami Recovery Program, stressing on the importance of building a safe and secure relationship, based on trust, between a teacher and a student. Through this programme, they learn to listen, comfort and help their students express their emotions, as well as find their own solutions. He adds that while psychosocial programmes are initially introduced after a crisis situation such as the tsunami, they can afterwards be applied to any aspect of life.

“We are also working on strengthening the parent-teacher relationship,” says Ms. Dayal, adding that life at home and school should not be segregated.

Sydney Jayawardane, a second year student at the Pasdunrata National College of Education, says that the innovative training programme will change the methods of teaching in the country in a most positive way. “As teachers it will help us understand the students and their learning capabilities, as well as be able to help them deal with personal problems,” he says.

At present the training is being conducted at three of the National Colleges of Education – Pasdunrata, Ruhunu and Nilwella. Following the success of the initial programme, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has requested it to be extended to the other 14 Colleges, and integrated into the curriculum of teacher training.

Dr. Jitu Lalchandani, a psychosocial education specialist with the American Red Cross, who has already trained hundreds of students at the Pasdunrata College, is himself a survivor of the Gujarat earthquake. This gave him the confidence to become involved in PSP as a way of changing people’s lives for the better, he says.

By helping children develop creative ways of expressing themselves, he adds, they build resilience, in addition to expanding their capacity for expression. Having already trained over 120 pre-service teachers, he hopes that each of them – through the change of attitude and behaviour – will affect the lives of thousands over time.

“At first our curriculum focused mainly on academic aspects, such as how to make lesson plans and finish the syllabus on time,” says Rozmin Nifa, a student at the Pasdunrata College, “now, from this programme we know that it is more about understanding the student and his background, and giving them the practical tools to face any life situation.”

“When I started the training programme, many of the students at the teachers’ college were stiff and quiet,” says Dr. Lalchandani. As the training continued, he says, the atmosphere changed and became more relaxed. They were encouraged to express their own thoughts and feelings, and many broke down in tears. It helped them understand how such expression can bring about healing, he says.

Over the next three years, the Psychosocial Support Program plans to train more than 2,200 teachers island-wide.