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Abstract
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The COVID-19 pandemic has caused havoc in the lives of the people. The fear and insecurity it has brought in its wake is not restricted to the increasing number of active reported cases and deaths, but also to the looming economic crisis and recession. Adding to this are the new realities of working from home, temporary unemployment, and home schooling of children. The pandemic has forced people out of their comfort zones and impacted their emotional and mental health (Barkur et al., 2020; Tandon, 2020). And while adults may be better equipped to handle the disruptions, children have been greatly impacted (Marsden et al., 2020).
This is best illustrated by the Indian state of Kerala, which had initially won worldwide appreciation for the way it had handled the COVID situation (World Health Organization, 2020). However, as the virus continued to spread its tentacles, Kerala's success with the pandemic was short-lived. And what came to the fore was even more alarming - that of children taking their lives. According to the official record, a total of 66 people committed suicide during the lockdown, including children (The Times of India, 2020). And in these cases, reasons were seen to be seemingly minor, for instance normal disciplining by parents for bunking online classes or playing mobile games (Thakur and Jain, 2020).
While children attend online classes, they spend the rest of their time in front of the TV and the Internet, and this in turn, has led to psycho-social problems like Internet addiction, lower self-esteem and low interest in physical activities (Marsden et al., 2020). Cyberbullying and anxiety while on social networking platforms, have also taken their toll on their mental health (McLoughlin et al., 2019).
The isolation caused by the lockdown has also resulted in children being overly sensitive to minor domestic issues (Li et al., 2020). It has also come to light that children whose parents are either affected, rendering their services in hospitals, or quarantined due to exposure to the virus are particularly vulnerable.
The Kerala state government has taken a series of steps to tackle this issue...
Language: en |