Accounts of home isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case of Peruvian indigenous students

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35622/j.rie.2023.05.007

Keywords:

Home isolation, COVID-19, Schooling in Peru, Case Study

Abstract

Most of the literature that has emerged about the impacts of home isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic suggests it causes mildly to acutely adverse psychosocial and physiological responses, particularly in children. Such responses relate to the separation children experience from their normal routine, including loneliness, anxiety, and depression, and adversities associated with school performance.

In this case study, we explore the intersection between three phenomena in Perú: (1) practice of Transcendental Meditation by school students at a (2) provincial school during (3) home isolation. The study conducted semi-structured interviews at a school in Puno with seven students, three parents, and two teachers. A proto-theoretical model of stress, the stress response, and outcomes in three psychosocial categories—cognitive, affective, and conative—guide the research. Findings suggest the practice had a salutary effect on student experience and academic achievement, including multifactorial benefits related to learning, calmness, anxiety, and grades.

Author Biographies

  • Lee Fergusson, University of Southern Queensland

    Program Director of the Master of Professional Studies (Research) program at University of Southern Queensland and Professor of Vedic Science, Education and Environment at Maharishi Vedic Research Institute in Australia. He is the author and editor of 13 books, including Living Peace: The Contribution of Maharishi Vedic Science to Global Security (2020), Redefining Sustainability (2019), What a Waste: Studies in Anthropogenic Sources of Pollution (2016), and Red Mud Futures: Repurposing One of the World’s Largest Industrial Waste By-products (2015). His research papers on education, psychology, health, systems science, sustainability and the environment have been published in many international journals,

  • Javier Ortiz-Cabrejos, Instituto Maharishi de Ciencia y Tecnología del Perú

    Independent researcher and Director, Instituto Maharishi de Ciencia y Tecnología del Perú in Lima. He is a Peruvian architect, urban planner, educator, poet, and lecturer in human development, and a consultant in Vedic Architecture at Maharishi Vāstu Alliance. Ortiz Cabrejos has lectured at universities and institutions in over 30 countries and developed educational projects in colleges and universities in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, and Medellin, as well as in schools and universities in Peruvian cities such as Lima, Callao, Cusco, Trujillo, Arequipa, Huancayo, Iquitos and Puno. In the last 15 years, he implemented Latin American projects in Consciousness-Based Education at 60 schools to more than 50,000 students.

  • Anna Bonshek, Maharishi Vedic Research Institute

    MahaGauri Professor of Vedic Science, Art and Vedic Architecture at Maharishi Vedic Research Institute in Australia, and a consultant in Vedic Architecture at Maharishi Vāstu Alliance. Dr Bonshek is the author and editor of several books, including The Big Fish: Consciousness as Structure, Body and Space (2007), and Mirror of Consciousness: Art, Creativity and Veda (2001), and has published research in international journals, including International Journal of Architecture and Urban Design, Open House International, Asia-Pacific Journal of Education, International Journal of Indian Psychology, New Art Examiner, and Artlink.

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Published

2022-10-05

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Artículos originales

How to Cite

Fergusson, L., Ortiz-Cabrejos, J., & Bonshek, A. (2022). Accounts of home isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case of Peruvian indigenous students. Revista Innova Educación, 5(1), 100-119. https://doi.org/10.35622/j.rie.2023.05.007

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