Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Across the world COVID-19 has impacted teachers’ lives both professionally and personally. In many parts of the world kindergarten teachers have been able to adapt practices to ensure that children’s education and care is provided. However some countries have not responded adequately to support kindergarten teachers’ ongoing employment. Bangladesh is one such country. The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of 16 Bangaldeshi kindergarten teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used an interpretive social constructionist approach, with semi-structured interviews of the 16 kindergarten teachers.

The coronavirus pandemic (CP) leading to prolonged lockdown, and restriction of movement for almost two years in Bangladesh severely affected not only the well-being (physical and mental health) of both children and adults but also their access to home-based learning. The present study aimed to explore the mental, and physical health problems of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), their use of telehealth services, and the status of their home-based learning by asking questions to their parents/primary caregivers (N = 149) during the second year of lockdown (November and December 2021). The present study was a cross-sectional self-reported survey covering as many parents/primary caregivers as possible within Bangladesh. The survey questions were selected from a larger study by Masi et al. named ‘COVID-19 impact survey’ with permission. A total of 149 parents/primary caregivers with one or more children (mean age = 5.54) having any of the NDDs took part in the survey. Data were collected via physical sitting, telephone interview, and anonymous Google form.

More than 15.5 percent of Bangladeshi girls had been forced into wedlock below the age of 15 whereas the marriage age in Bangladesh during a pandemic. With the recent reopening of Bangladeshi schools, authorities have been alarmed by the number of girls not attending classes. In Khulna district, North of Bangladesh recorded more than 3,000 child marriages in this district. The paper will assess and estimate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the education of young girls. Some case studies will be conducted in the child marriage-prone district of Khulna. Technology is not the only solution to all problems, it needs infrastructure, access to the internet or mobile, and economic solvency to provide necessary things. Since the majority of schools have moved instruction online because of the pandemic, it is now important to give girls the tools to participate in distance learning techniques. Because thousands of girl brides in southern Bangladesh whose classroom seats have remained empty after reopening of school.

While youth are routinely lauded as “changemakers” in society, they are often unsupported in refugee responses. As the Rohingya mark five years of exodus in Bangladesh, what is the state of youth inclusion across sectors? Do youth and adolescents feel supported, or are they being ignored and left behind?  To assess, information from three data streams was used: (a) desk research of available literature on youth participation and inclusion in humanitarian programming; (b)key informant interviews with practitioners from national and international non-overnment organizations and UN agencies, specifically individuals leading or coordinating sectors and working groups engaged with youth programming; and (c)focus group discussions and key informant interviews with refugee individuals and groups across 11 camps.

Covid-19 infection is an additional burden to the life of the Rohingya children living in cramped camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. BRAC has introduced Humanitarian Play Lab (HPL) for children’s playful learning in the camps since 2017. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the modality was changed from face-face interactions to a telecommunication model. This qualitative research aims to understand caregivers’ and frontline providers' practices and perceptions about children’s well-being during the pandemic. Interviews were conducted with purposively selected parents and frontline providers through telephone. Interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed. The lockdown directly and indirectly affected children’s mental and physical well-being. A shared parenting role was observed in child education and learning. Parents widely accepted tele-communication services for children as it was considered important for continuing children’s wellbeing and learning. This research highlights the relevance and timeliness of utilising telecommunications services by parents for children's psychosocial health and playful learning.

This paper tried to know the different forms of violence against children during the Corona pandemic in  Bangladesh  from 2020 to  mid-2021.  As  we have  already experienced  this  catastrophic and lives  losing  pandemic situation across the world wherein  the  people  of  Bangladesh  have  been  uniquely facing this  live  losing situation  since 2020.  World  Health  Organization  has  warned  people  to  adopt different  precautionary  measures  like  20-second hand washing, wearing  a  mask, maintaining  physical  and  social  distance,  isolation,  quarantine,  taking immediate treatment,  and  vaccination.  The real situation is that  many  countries  have  failed  to take  these measures and lost a huge  number  of  lives. In  spite  of  those  situations, many  developed  countries  have taken  precautionary  measures  to  prevent  mass transmission of the   Covid-19 virus.  But unfortunately,  many socio-economic problems  like  violence  against  children  and women have been  aroused during this pandemic situation while governments have given more concentration on Covid-19 prevention, e.g., isolation, quarantine, awareness of social   measures, and vaccination.

Educational disruptions during COVID-19 in periods of lockdown have redirected attention to homes and parents as key partners in schooling. Educational literature explores multidimensional disadvantages faced by communities in England. COVID-associated school closures changed the relationship between school and home. Parents and family played an important role to provide support for their children’s education. There is little reflection on the experiences of parenting during this time of uncertainty. The paper focuses on the parenting experiences of Bangladeshi and Pakistani families with GCSE years children (years 7-11) in supporting their children’s education during periods of abrupt school closures. Qualitative data were collected during the third national lockdown from 19-families in England using semi-structured narrative interviews.

COVID-19 has exacerbated the existing crisis that the vulnerable refugee population faces. More than a million Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh. COVID-19 has affected both males and females. It is critical to understand how this population group is coping during this trying period. They are constituted by 52% women and 55% adolescents. The socioeconomic and physiological repercussions of the pandemic on the Rohingya people are contextualised in this study. The socioeconomic and health impacts of COVID-19 on Rohingya women and adolescents in Bangladesh are investigated. Because of the restrictions imposed, over 63% of Rohingya adolescent females suffered from food scarcity. The vast majority of respondents (87%) stated that they had reduced their meal frequency, resulting in a protein deficiency. Since their arrival in Bangladesh, they have had limited access to medical and educational facilities. The pandemic has further exacerbated the situation. Girls are more vulnerable to sexual and gender-based abuse, early marriage, school dropout, and pregnancy. This research aims to add to existing knowledge on refugees, Rohingya, women, and adolescents

The onset of COVID-19 severely disrupted economies and increased acute household food insecurity in developing countries. Consequently, a global rise in childhood undernutrition was predicted, especially among vulnerable populations, but primary evidence on actual changes in nutritional status remained scarce. This paper assessed shifts in nutritional status of urban slum children in Bangladesh pre- and post- the country’s first wave of COVID-19 and nationwide lockdown. It used two rounds of cross-sectional data collected before and after the pandemic’s first year in two large slum settlements (Korail and Tongi) of Dhaka and Gazipur, Bangladesh (n = 1119).

The COVID-19 pandemic has already had many consequences for social life. This paper focused on the early impact of COVID-19 pandemic on pandemic-period childbearing plan that was made before the onset of the pandemic. Data were collected by posting survey questionnaire on social networks in Bangladesh. A total of 384 Bangladeshi men and women of reproductive age were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses after adjusting the data by applying sampling weights. One out of every five respondents was found to cancel their pandemic-period pregnancy plan by considering potential crises related to COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 school closure has caused a worldwide shift towards technology-aided home schooling. Given widespread poverty in developing countries, this has raised concerns over new forms of learning inequalities. Using nationwide data on primary and secondary school children in slum and rural households in Bangladesh, the authors examine how learning time at home during the early months of school closure varies by access to technology at home.

As of 2021, more than 80 million people worldwide have been displaced by war, violence, and poverty. An estimated 30 to 34 million of these are under age 18, and many are at risk of interrupting their education permanently—a situation aggravated in recent years by the global COVID-19 pandemic. This article adopts an intersectional conceptual framework to explore the roles gender and other social inequalities have played in shaping adolescents’ access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines two refugee populations: the Rohingya, who have been excluded from formal education opportunities in Bangladesh, and Syrian refugees in Jordan, who have access to formal education in their host country. It provides novel empirical data, as well as insights into the adolescent refugee experience and the short-term consequences for education resulting from the pandemic. The article draws from quantitative survey data on 3,030 adolescents, and from in-depth qualitative interviews conducted in the spring of 2020 with a subset of 91 adolescents who are part of an ongoing longitudinal study. A 40 key informant interviews with community leaders and service providers was also conducted.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated and drawn fresh attention to long-standing systemic weaknesses in health and economic systems. The virus – and the public health response – has wrought significant disruption on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) in Bangladesh. Known negative health outcomes include increased domestic and gender-based violence, child marriage, negative mental health, and adverse child health outcomes. This scoping paper for the Covid-19 Learning, Evidence and Research Programme for Bangladesh (CLEAR) aims to inform future research and policy engagement to support response, recovery, progress, and future health system resilience for SRHR and MNCH in Bangladesh, following the Covid-19 crisis. We present what is known on disruptions and impacts, as well as evidence gaps and priority areas for future research and engagement.