Child Safety and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a disruptive influence on modern civilization in a way few other global events have been in recent times. The highly infectious strain mutating progressively into more severe variants has compromised even the best healthcare systems of the world and has claimed close to four million lives in less than two years. Social distancing and lockdown, as preventive measures against successive waves, have again severely disrupted economic and social lives. One of the less talked-about casualties of this situation are the children. Childhood is the formative period of life critically dependent on socialization. Pandemic and social isolation is depriving young children of transformational social experiences encountered in schools, playgrounds, and daily public interactions. This is bringing up a generation with a developmental experience that is significantly different from that of their predecessors, raising important questions about the long-term impact of such encounters, in both positive and negative ways. While online classroom activities have implications in making the youth tech-savvy, they raise concerns about digital divide, victimizing children who do not have access to technology. Even for the privileged children, long screen hours, lack of physical activity, and early exposure to social media is raising concerns for physical and mental health. Again, children who are directly exposed to the pandemic, being infected or having family members infected or killed by the virus, face disruption of life, security, and physical and mental well-being. This chapter traces the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the children worldwide, and possible steps that may be taken to ensure that the long-term impact of the pandemic does not last beyond the eradication of the virus.