COVID-19 “Severely Ruptured” Social Skills of the World’s Poorest Children

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It is a sad tale... what the civilized world has wrought upon itself. While the debates seemed to have dwindled here in my home country... proof that we were right to be concerned surfaces elsewhere.

New evidence shows that school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have “severely ruptured” the social and emotional development of some of the world’s poorest children, as well as their academic progress.

In a study of over 2,000 primary school pupils in Ethiopia, researchers found that key aspects of children’s social and emotional development, such as their ability to make friends, not only stalled during the school closures, but probably deteriorated.

... "probably deteriorated." These words could be considered damning.

Children who, prior to the pandemic, felt confident talking to others or got on well with peers were less likely to do so by 2021. Those who were already disadvantaged educationally – girls, the very poorest, and those from rural areas – seem to have been particularly badly affected.

Both this research and a second, linked study of around 6,000 grade 1 and 4 primary school children, also found evidence of slowed academic progress. Children lost the equivalent of at least one-third of an academic year in learning during lockdown – an estimate researchers describe as “conservative.” This appears to have widened an already significant attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and the rest, and there is some evidence that this may be linked to the drop in social skills.

Now - I know that different cultures, and different countries can impact the magnitude of the slide back. But here in my country - it is palpable.

a reply to: Maxmars

It's so on the nose, i can't fathom the mental gymnastics some pull of, to not feel guilty for supporting the whole lie...

A part of this was reasonably explained back in 2020. Children, and especially infants, would be developmentally "held back" from the use of masks in public and with their parents. The amount of mental development that occurs with simply seeing facial expressions was studied, recorded, and displayed for the world to see (on youtube of course). The results were astounding.

It does not surprise me in the least that social skills have been dampened among the poorest of children. Why the economic disparity occurs, it somewhat telling that the more developed (wealthy) nations and people had much less regulation or self-regulations in place. I would be generous to say that, in my opinion, all wealthy people had (have) less rules than the rest...