Quote:
Originally Posted by b1crunch
The pandemic was devastating for the metal health of some kids, but closing schools for a couple week here and there was not the main driver. It was the societal fear around Covid, the loss of work for family members, the financial hardships, the feelings of helplessness and dread, etc.
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Those might be your personal observations. But the studies on the impact of school closures and remote learning on the welfare of children cite:
* The loss of a safe space for children from distressed households.
* The effects of social isolation during crucial stages of development.
* The long-term effects of learning loss, now estimated to be one-third to half of a school year in rich countries.
* The disproportionate effect of all of the above on disadvantaged and less educated households.
None of this is a surprise to the paediatrics associations the world over that implored governments not to close schools. Now that we have data showing the harm has been even greater than the experts feared, hopefully we will recalculate the tradeoffs the next time we’re faced with a serious contagion. For instance, we should prepare contingencies to keep schools open even when 25 per cent of teachers are absent.