Daily Times

This study would investigate the post-traumatic psychological symptoms developed in children and adolescents after the terrorist attack on a school in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. What were the effects of trauma on the academic performance of the students?

A traumatic event may be man-made or natural, having serious effects on the wellbeing of the trauma victim. Trauma is defined as a deeply depressing and distressing event experienced by the individual or group of people. Often, students demonstrate a decline in academic performance following exposure to traumatic events. These changes occur due to complications in completing the homework tasks due to recurrent thoughts of the direct or indirect exposure to a traumatic event that may be natural or man-made. Due to post-traumatic stress or anxiety, the child cannot focus on school tasks. Anxiety and depressed mood affect the students’ motivation and their cognitive and academic performance.

The effect of the traumatic events can be demonstrated at three different levels: the people (student or staff), the system of the school, and/or the community around the school. The most observable and easiest-to-detect impacts on the students or staff are physical injuries

On the morning of December 16, 2014, a brutal terrorist attack was directed on Army Public School, Warsak Road, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The nature of the attack included hostage-taking, suicide bombing, spree killing and shooting. As per the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) report, seven terrorists entered the school around 10 am, reached the auditorium where schoolchildren had gathered for a ceremony and opened fire on them. After 15 minutes, the Special Services Group (SSG) team entered the school to start the rescue operation. Seven terrorists were killed while they managed to rescue many hostages. A total of around 150 people lost their lives in the attack, including 132 children. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the responsibility of this attack; stating that it was their revenge against Operation Zarb e Azb and Pakistan army. This attack sparked a huge reaction or a series of reactions in Pakistan. Public, political and religious parties, journalists, government everyone condemned the attack. The whole nation came close and stood together to express solidarity with the victims of the APS Peshawar attack. Many countries and international organizations condemned the attack and expressed their condolences. National and international media coverage of the incident took place.

The effect of the traumatic events can be demonstrated at three different levels: the people (student or staff), the system of the school, and/or the community around the school. The most observable and easiest-to-detect impacts on the students or staff are physical injuries.

The frequently occurring disruptions are psychological and cognitive disruptions, which are relatively more difficult to recognise.

For instance, the most common reactions to a school-based traumatic event are meddling with the student’s ability and staff focuses on learning. Other events occurring frequently after the traumatic events are school system disruption, which changes the regular functions and routines of the school (changes to safety protocols). Furthermore, the concern of the parents often rises significantly after traumatic events and when not Addressed properly, may extend the disturbance in the regular school routines. Huge scale events may gather concentrated attention from both the community and media news. This can bring about prolonged disturbances across the broader community, with frequent exposure to media coverage possibly causing significant trauma-associated symptoms in students. According to the research, the students or children with traumatic stress are unable to fulfil the routine tasks of resettlement because of the remembrance of the loved one, which reminds them of trauma, with the consequent development of traumatic symptoms.

The writer works in the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore