From their academic success to their social skills and mental health, the pandemic is a crisis for today’s children – and the fallout may follow them for the rest of their lives. The school closures are one of the most visible – and controversial – means by which Covid-19 is affecting young people. According to Unesco, the education of nearly 1.6 billion pupils in 190 countries has so far been affected – that’s 90% of the world’s school-age children. All of which has made a full return to normality difficult for most children. And when that is combined with the other stresses of living in isolation under quarantine, it may have some serious consequences – delaying their cognitive, emotional and social development. For those in the most critical periods of adolescence, it may even increase the risk of mental illness. Social exclusion and early school drop-out is a general phenomenon in our society, particularly in the context of the worldwide pandemic crisis. Situations of social injustice occur in both rural and urban areas, which is why our project does not differentiate between different areas. The supranational significance of social inclusion is a major need in all EU countries. Combating social and cultural disadvantages in the school environment becomes a fundamental need for our countries and the fight for social inclusion must be a priority for all European institutions, particularly in the wake of the worldwide pandemic crisis. In this context, our Inclusive Impro Theatre project aims to promote social inclusion and fight against early school leaving through creativity and theatre, in primary and secondary schools. Building Europe with instruments that reach all countries is a daunting task, and we must start with our schools and with our young people. Theatre and creativity, culture and creativity go hand in hand to solve everyday situations of inequality and social exclusion. Creativity and collaborative and team work are vital characteristics to dilute social exclusion in our society. The narration and dramatisation of everyday current problems through the values latent in universal, traditional and classical stories, are an important source in the lives of young people because of their connection between imagination and reality, because of their capacity to make people live adventures and because they stimulate the capacity to see the world as something new and different. When all this can be expressed, preparing and interpreting a story in a theatrical key, divergent thinking, imagination, fantasy, social inclusion and creativity are encouraged.
By implementing ”Inclusive Impro Theatre” Project through adapting and interpreting lifetime classical stories, young people have developed the empathy necessary in our societies to solve serious problems of adaptation and justice. Creativity and its application to the world of theatre promoted divergent thinking, imagination, fantasy, social inclusion and equality. We aimed for a tool to reach schools in each partner state through which teachers can help students in need, affected by distancing and exclusion, depression and school dropout, to find themselves and properly manage their anxiety states and removal they faced. This tool is given by the theatrical techniques, which brought the students together again, regardless of their personal, social or cultural conditions and from a perspective of equity, cooperation and solidarity. In theatre, with the dramatization of those daily and current situations of inequality, each person in the group is an important and valuable member with responsibilities and with the role of supporting the others. Collaborative and team work as a basis for theatrical dramatization is an effective and prodigious instrument to achieve inclusion in the school environment.Thanks to the fantasy allowed in childhood and youth, the character in the story overcomes his or her difficulties. These characters, dramatized in the school environment are the ones that were able to enter the real world of their complexes and conflicts and help them to understand those who are different.
In the specific situation of our days, such as the one in which we live as a result of the emergence of the COVID 19 virus, which also affected the educational field in many way, the closure of schools and the transition to online education in most European states brought to the surface the problems faced by the European schools. It was necessary to find solutions to ensure equal access to education in the online teaching method. An European study carried out worldwide, including in Romania, revealed that two thirds of pupils and students reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, with an associated state of anxiety related to health, the risk of losing a sense of achievement and self-esteem. Following the application of online activity evaluation questionnaires in schools, it was found that this separation caused by the way of working in school during the pandemic had a negative impact on students. They became socially isolated, due to the loss of interaction with peers and the interruption of important annual events that they shared with others - graduation, exams or extracurricular activities - isolation that had a negative effect on mental health. The total lack of reaction of some students to questionnaires and the absence from the online classes drew our attention to the fact that in certain situations there is a risk of school dropout, especially at the primary and secondary levels. In these difficult circumstances, the need for projects to bring students back together has proven urgent.