November 20th is World Children’s Day. The COVID-19 pandemic, which is still raging, has a impact on the lives, education and psychology of children in many countries. How to let children grow up healthily and happily is a test for governments, schools and parents of students. Some countries and regions have gathered all forces to find ways to reduce the adverse impact of the Pandemic on children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released a report that as of November 12, more than 1 million children in the United States had been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. The pandemic has changed children’s lives and the long-term harm COVID-19 has caused to them is worrying, said Sally Goza, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Affected by the Pandemic, many schools in Afghanistan have been forced to suspend classes. The international charity Save the Children said that the Pandemic has had a huge impact on public services, health care and economy in Afghanistan, and 8.12 million children in the country are in urgent need of assistance to survive 2020. The Pandemic has also caused local prices of grain, cooking oil, sugar and so on to rise, and it is becoming more and more difficult for ordinary families to eat full.
The humanitarian crisis in Iraq has been exacerbated by the coronavirus Pandemic. The Iraq office of the United Nations Children’s Fund recently issued a communiqué saying that poor children in Iraq are facing problems such as out-of-school, malnutrition and violence. Affected by the Pandemic, nearly half of Iraqi children are at high risk in terms of health, living conditions, education and other aspects.
According to the data released by the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina, 52.3% of children in the country lived in poverty at the end of 2019. The Pandemic has made the survival of children in Argentina more severe. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, the proportion of poor children in Argentina rose to 58.6% in May this year, and the figure may rise to 63% by the end of this year.
Save the Children said in May this year that a survey conducted in many countries showed that chronic depression, social isolation and lack of outdoor activities will seriously affect children’s mental health during the Pandemic.
Milan Dalar, executive director of the Nepal National Council for Children’s Rights and Interests, said that due to the Pandemic, many Nepalese children are unable to move freely and go to school, and parents are unable to take care of their children as carefully as before due to unemployment or declining economic income-generating capacity.
Bhandari, chairman of the Nepal Child Guardians Alliance, pointed out that the biggest impact of the Pandemic on children is in education, and less than 30% of students are currently able to learn remotely during the Pandemic.
In the face of various practical difficulties, some countries and regions have actively introduced warm-hearted measures to help children tide over the Pandemic in all aspects.
On the occasion of World Children’s Day this year, the Kuwait National Child Protection Association launched a publicity campaign on social networks, calling on the whole society to listen to children’s needs and make children love reading and learning. In order to improve the ability of parents to help their children learn in the face of the Pandemic, the Kuwait National Child Protection Association invited experts in relevant fields to hold many lectures and forums offline and online to let parents learn how to help children to take online classes efficiently.
Deepak Sharma, spokesman of Nepal’s Ministry of Education, said that considering that most students do not have computers at home and cannot access the Internet, the government is issuing mobile phone cards to students free of charge on a large scale for them to use mobile data to participate in online learning.
In order to ensure that poor children in the Pandemic are well-fed and nutritious, the government department in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, with the assistance of United Nations agencies and other partners, provides food for children and their families living in refugee camps. The local education department also records teaching videos for children and cooperates with United Nations agencies to open learning centers, psychological counseling centers, etc. for children while ensuring the safety of Pandemic prevention to reduce the psychological impact of the Pandemic on children.
Affected by the Pandemic, schools in Myanmar cannot open normally. Korevin, director of the Basic Education Bureau of Myanmar’s Ministry of Education, said that they plan to broadcast courses on television and radio, so that more children can keep learning by watching TV and listening to radio.
