Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The COVID-19 outbreak has adversely impacted all societal domains including education. Home confinement, school closures and distance learning impacted children's, teachers' and parents' lives worldwide. This study aimed to examine the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the lives, including education, of school-age children with vision impairment (VI) and their parents in India. Primary and secondary school children with VI were recruited from the Institute for Vision Rehabilitation, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India. A qualitative research methodology, utilising a self-constructed questionnaire with open and closed questions and stem and leaf design, was employed to explore the experiences of school closure and its impact on education and attending online classes during the COVID-19 lockdown. Textual data from responses to the questions were analysed using content analysis to identify themes pertinent to the cohort studied.

This article briefly reviews the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the education sector in India. Focussing on school education, it also critically examines how effective online learning, the only major way adopted during the pandemic, has been in the delivery of education and whether it is a reliable alternative method of teaching and learning in India. It also briefly outlines a few important strategies required for the recovery of loss incurred and to face emerging challenges in education in India.

The current exploratory study endeavoured to understand the lived experiences of Indian mothers with children below the age of 10 during the COVID-19 pandemic through a feminist lens. Vignettes of two mothers from different occupational backgrounds and family units were chosen. Through in-depth interviews, and using a thematic analysis framework, themes of increased household and childcare responsibilities, evolving socio-cultural gender roles, self-compassion, self-care and meaning making emerged from the narratives. Findings indicate heightened inequalities and efforts from spouses to reduce this gap. Mothers responded by choosing a more compassionate approach towards themselves and in their mothering practices and thus making meaning of their experiences through the pandemic. Results indicate a need to establish and enforce stronger policies around recognizing and appreciating unpaid care and domestic work in keeping with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5.

Imagine a room full of university students in India: young men and women sitting shoulder to shoulder in equal numbers. Fast forward 10 years: 8 out of those 10 men are likely to be active in the work force compared to only 3 out of 10 of the women. This example illustrates one of the great conundrums of India’s female labor force participation: a low and rapidly declining participation rate (even before the COVID-19 pandemic) despite economic growth and women’s increasing enrollment in tertiary education. This policy brief demonstrates how a digital mentoring policy and practice ecosystem could attract a range of stakeholders to support the transition of young Indian women from tertiary education into the labor force.

The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in Maharashtra was confirmed on 9 March 2020. Since then, the state remained a prominent hotspot. Urban metropolitan regions of Mumbai, Pune, Thane and urban cities like Nagpur and Nasik have reported maximum number of cases in the state.  The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown greatly disrupted lives, specifically for the urban poor. It, therefore, became very clear early in the lockdown that large-scale interventions would be required to address the COVID-19-induced challenges. To support the Government in its endeavour to save lives and reduce the impact of the pandemic, UNICEF Maharashtra, along with its strong network of development partners and corporate donors, formulated and coordinated several eff orts across cities of the state to facilitate targeted actions to redress the impact of COVID-19 at the community level. This report is an attempt to present an overview of the work jointly done by the State Government, UNICEF and development partners to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, particularly for the cities of Maharashtra.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led the Indian government to announce a nationwide lockdown on March 23, 2020. This study aimed to explore the impact of the pandemic on the accessibility of care for children with cancer and to view strategies adopted by hospitals for service delivery. Weekly average of childhood cancer (≤18 years) patient registrations during pre-lockdown period (January 1 to March 23, 2020) were compared with post-lockdown period (March 24 to May 31, 2020). The effect on the scheduled treatment was investigated for post-lockdown period. A survey of health care providers was conducted to determine centers' adopted strategies.

This study highlights the evolution and use of telemedicine in child and adolescent healthcare in India, in pre and post pandemic eras. The latest research endorses telemedicine as a successful strategy in resource-limited settings to provide accessible and equitable healthcare. Telemedicine was initiated in India in 2001. The pandemic restrictions resulted in an increase in its use. The national telemedicine and telepsychiatry guidelines facilitated and enabled its widespread use. Telehealth was used by private and public health establishments, in urban, rural, and remote areas. It was used for triaging cases; managing and monitoring COVID patients in home isolation, in non-COVID medical and psychiatric care, and follow-up; continuing medical education; and health promotion strategies like teleyoga.

This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 among pregnant women at a tertiary care hospital. This was a questionnaire-based cross-sectional analysis pertaining to COVID-19 which was conducted at a tertiary care obstetric facility in India among 200 consecutive consenting pregnant women. They were assessed for demographic details and KAP score (knowledge—17 questions, attitude—9 questions and practice—8 questions). Analysis of data was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0.

India is presently in the midst of a major health crisis with the second wave of corona virus spreading at an alarming rate and claiming more lives than ever before. Although the pandemic is affecting the lives of all sections of society, adolescent girls being a vulnerable group are affected in dual manner, not just by the direct effects of the virus but also by many still underrated indirect effects. The present article aims to highlight the indirect yet sinister effects of COVID-19 on physical, mental, social, sexual and reproductive and psychological health and well-being of adolescent girls and other issues like their personal safety, peer support and long-term health issues.

The purpose of this study is to identify gaps and challenges in the use of education technology (ed tech) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu during COVID-19. Specifically, it investigated how use of ed tech differed by type of school (government or private), household socioeconomic status, and student gender—and how it changed during the COVID-19 school closures. Ultimately, it wanted to know how the use of ed tech may exacerbate or mitigate the unequal impact of school closures on student learning.

Modelling studies indicate that closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic may not be well grounded for the SARS-CoV-2 infection, as evidences indicate that children are less affected by this virus and the clinical attack rates in the 0-19 age group are low. Experts also opine that school closure might have negative effects on the scholastic abilities of a child and also an adverse impact on the economy and healthcare system, considering the responsibilities conferred upon the parents. Also, in a developing country like India, it is difficult for the rural population to afford distance online learning, which brings into importance the reopening of schools in a safe environment to avoid adversities such as increased drop-outs in the upcoming academic year, loss of in-person benefits such as mid-day meal scheme. This study highlights a field experience in relation to readiness assessment of a rural school in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, India, for a safe reopening to accept students in a safe and conducive atmosphere, which shall help prevent transmission of the virus in the schools among the children. In this regard, an indigenous readiness checklist has been developed to achieve the purpose, which assesses the readiness in three domains, viz, (i) Procedural readiness, (ii) Supplies, sanitation and infrastructure-related, (iii) Education and Training.