An IT MCAST student approached The Third Eye, currently feeling distressed due to the lack of empathy shown by the college when it comes to their schoolwork, more specifically, their dissertation.
It is no doubt that this pandemic resulted in great stress to a lot of people, especially students that are feeling confused about how to tackle their assignments, exams, and dissertations. Some students are unable to continue their qualitative research and field tests due to the precautions taken for their health. This definitely alters their dissertation’s objective altogether. Aside from the school stress, some students also live by themselves and might have lost their jobs, it is too much on their plate.
Students are facing various mental health challenges and lack of motivation due to this pandemic’s repercussions as students are deprived of practicing certain hobbies and going out. The only activity they are seeing is their laptop slowly piling up with assignments.
Staying at home does not mean having all the time you desire – not everyone is on the same boat but everyone is coping with this pandemic differently. Students are not studying and working from home, students are staying home during a crisis TRYING to work and study. The sudden shift from exams to assignments was overwhelming and the workload has skyrocketed.
A study on mental health
The impact this pandemic left on our mental health is a prominent topic that students are currently discussing. Richmond Foundation teamed up with the leading research company Esprimi, in order to conduct a survey to see what impacts this pandemic left on mental health in Malta. It was found that more than half of the respondents were feeling depressed. This clearly shows that just because someone is in the comfort of their own home, it does not mean they are feeling their best.
An MCAST student also approached us to talk about their personal experience;
I started psychotherapy during the first semester mainly because I started to develop patterns I have never experienced before such as self-sabotaging, insomnia, and tension headaches.
Unfortunately, this pandemic made the situation even worse.
This is why I am putting my concerns forward; COVID-19 has changed our lives completely and other individuals like me are dealing with a spectrum of tough situations whilst trying to keep it together to meet deadlines. I think it is for every student’s benefit, even to just give us some space to adapt to this situation, an extension to the dissertations and other laborious projects will put our minds at ease.
Students are stressed about their dissertation and what they are getting in return are adaptation and coping strategies. On MCAST’s frequently asked questions section, it is suggested that extensions can be allowed if the request is justified. However, according to the students, this is not a matter of whether it should be justified or not, an extension should have been granted from the start.
The Third Eye reached out to KSM to see how they are tackling the situation and Bradley Debono, Vice President, informed us of the following updates:
KSM is currently working with all MCAST Directors to try to ensure to issue as many extensions as possible. We also issued several emails to the MCAST Admin with several ideas on how we can help our students during this period. We are also keeping them updated through our social media platforms and groups and we ask students to forward their concerns through our Official Complaint System.
This morning one of the members of KSM, who is in the Council of Institutes, had a COI meeting where he further discussed the situation. The suggestion is to extend the final submission to the mid/end of June so it will give students more time to cope with their work. This will not only benefit the students mentally but it will also enable them to submit more professional work.
More updates to follow.