essay on school after lockdown

The pandemic has had devastating impacts on learning. What will it take to help students catch up?

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, megan kuhfeld , megan kuhfeld senior research scientist - nwea @megankuhfeld jim soland , jim soland assistant professor, school of education and human development - university of virginia, affiliated research fellow - nwea @jsoland karyn lewis , and karyn lewis director, center for school and student progress - nwea @karynlew emily morton emily morton research scientist - nwea @emily_r_morton.

March 3, 2022

As we reach the two-year mark of the initial wave of pandemic-induced school shutdowns, academic normalcy remains out of reach for many students, educators, and parents. In addition to surging COVID-19 cases at the end of 2021, schools have faced severe staff shortages , high rates of absenteeism and quarantines , and rolling school closures . Furthermore, students and educators continue to struggle with mental health challenges , higher rates of violence and misbehavior , and concerns about lost instructional time .

As we outline in our new research study released in January, the cumulative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ academic achievement has been large. We tracked changes in math and reading test scores across the first two years of the pandemic using data from 5.4 million U.S. students in grades 3-8. We focused on test scores from immediately before the pandemic (fall 2019), following the initial onset (fall 2020), and more than one year into pandemic disruptions (fall 2021).

Average fall 2021 math test scores in grades 3-8 were 0.20-0.27 standard deviations (SDs) lower relative to same-grade peers in fall 2019, while reading test scores were 0.09-0.18 SDs lower. This is a sizable drop. For context, the math drops are significantly larger than estimated impacts from other large-scale school disruptions, such as after Hurricane Katrina—math scores dropped 0.17 SDs in one year for New Orleans evacuees .

Even more concerning, test-score gaps between students in low-poverty and high-poverty elementary schools grew by approximately 20% in math (corresponding to 0.20 SDs) and 15% in reading (0.13 SDs), primarily during the 2020-21 school year. Further, achievement tended to drop more between fall 2020 and 2021 than between fall 2019 and 2020 (both overall and differentially by school poverty), indicating that disruptions to learning have continued to negatively impact students well past the initial hits following the spring 2020 school closures.

These numbers are alarming and potentially demoralizing, especially given the heroic efforts of students to learn and educators to teach in incredibly trying times. From our perspective, these test-score drops in no way indicate that these students represent a “ lost generation ” or that we should give up hope. Most of us have never lived through a pandemic, and there is so much we don’t know about students’ capacity for resiliency in these circumstances and what a timeline for recovery will look like. Nor are we suggesting that teachers are somehow at fault given the achievement drops that occurred between 2020 and 2021; rather, educators had difficult jobs before the pandemic, and now are contending with huge new challenges, many outside their control.

Clearly, however, there’s work to do. School districts and states are currently making important decisions about which interventions and strategies to implement to mitigate the learning declines during the last two years. Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) investments from the American Rescue Plan provided nearly $200 billion to public schools to spend on COVID-19-related needs. Of that sum, $22 billion is dedicated specifically to addressing learning loss using “evidence-based interventions” focused on the “ disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups. ” Reviews of district and state spending plans (see Future Ed , EduRecoveryHub , and RAND’s American School District Panel for more details) indicate that districts are spending their ESSER dollars designated for academic recovery on a wide variety of strategies, with summer learning, tutoring, after-school programs, and extended school-day and school-year initiatives rising to the top.

Comparing the negative impacts from learning disruptions to the positive impacts from interventions

To help contextualize the magnitude of the impacts of COVID-19, we situate test-score drops during the pandemic relative to the test-score gains associated with common interventions being employed by districts as part of pandemic recovery efforts. If we assume that such interventions will continue to be as successful in a COVID-19 school environment, can we expect that these strategies will be effective enough to help students catch up? To answer this question, we draw from recent reviews of research on high-dosage tutoring , summer learning programs , reductions in class size , and extending the school day (specifically for literacy instruction) . We report effect sizes for each intervention specific to a grade span and subject wherever possible (e.g., tutoring has been found to have larger effects in elementary math than in reading).

Figure 1 shows the standardized drops in math test scores between students testing in fall 2019 and fall 2021 (separately by elementary and middle school grades) relative to the average effect size of various educational interventions. The average effect size for math tutoring matches or exceeds the average COVID-19 score drop in math. Research on tutoring indicates that it often works best in younger grades, and when provided by a teacher rather than, say, a parent. Further, some of the tutoring programs that produce the biggest effects can be quite intensive (and likely expensive), including having full-time tutors supporting all students (not just those needing remediation) in one-on-one settings during the school day. Meanwhile, the average effect of reducing class size is negative but not significant, with high variability in the impact across different studies. Summer programs in math have been found to be effective (average effect size of .10 SDs), though these programs in isolation likely would not eliminate the COVID-19 test-score drops.

Figure 1: Math COVID-19 test-score drops compared to the effect sizes of various educational interventions

Source: COVID-19 score drops are pulled from Kuhfeld et al. (2022) Table 5; reduction-in-class-size results are from pg. 10 of Figles et al. (2018) Table 2; summer program results are pulled from Lynch et al (2021) Table 2; and tutoring estimates are pulled from Nictow et al (2020) Table 3B. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals are shown with vertical lines on each bar.

Notes: Kuhfeld et al. and Nictow et al. reported effect sizes separately by grade span; Figles et al. and Lynch et al. report an overall effect size across elementary and middle grades. We were unable to find a rigorous study that reported effect sizes for extending the school day/year on math performance. Nictow et al. and Kraft & Falken (2021) also note large variations in tutoring effects depending on the type of tutor, with larger effects for teacher and paraprofessional tutoring programs than for nonprofessional and parent tutoring. Class-size reductions included in the Figles meta-analysis ranged from a minimum of one to minimum of eight students per class.

Figure 2 displays a similar comparison using effect sizes from reading interventions. The average effect of tutoring programs on reading achievement is larger than the effects found for the other interventions, though summer reading programs and class size reduction both produced average effect sizes in the ballpark of the COVID-19 reading score drops.

Figure 2: Reading COVID-19 test-score drops compared to the effect sizes of various educational interventions

Source: COVID-19 score drops are pulled from Kuhfeld et al. (2022) Table 5; extended-school-day results are from Figlio et al. (2018) Table 2; reduction-in-class-size results are from pg. 10 of Figles et al. (2018) ; summer program results are pulled from Kim & Quinn (2013) Table 3; and tutoring estimates are pulled from Nictow et al (2020) Table 3B. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals are shown with vertical lines on each bar.

Notes: While Kuhfeld et al. and Nictow et al. reported effect sizes separately by grade span, Figlio et al. and Kim & Quinn report an overall effect size across elementary and middle grades. Class-size reductions included in the Figles meta-analysis ranged from a minimum of one to minimum of eight students per class.

There are some limitations of drawing on research conducted prior to the pandemic to understand our ability to address the COVID-19 test-score drops. First, these studies were conducted under conditions that are very different from what schools currently face, and it is an open question whether the effectiveness of these interventions during the pandemic will be as consistent as they were before the pandemic. Second, we have little evidence and guidance about the efficacy of these interventions at the unprecedented scale that they are now being considered. For example, many school districts are expanding summer learning programs, but school districts have struggled to find staff interested in teaching summer school to meet the increased demand. Finally, given the widening test-score gaps between low- and high-poverty schools, it’s uncertain whether these interventions can actually combat the range of new challenges educators are facing in order to narrow these gaps. That is, students could catch up overall, yet the pandemic might still have lasting, negative effects on educational equality in this country.

Given that the current initiatives are unlikely to be implemented consistently across (and sometimes within) districts, timely feedback on the effects of initiatives and any needed adjustments will be crucial to districts’ success. The Road to COVID Recovery project and the National Student Support Accelerator are two such large-scale evaluation studies that aim to produce this type of evidence while providing resources for districts to track and evaluate their own programming. Additionally, a growing number of resources have been produced with recommendations on how to best implement recovery programs, including scaling up tutoring , summer learning programs , and expanded learning time .

Ultimately, there is much work to be done, and the challenges for students, educators, and parents are considerable. But this may be a moment when decades of educational reform, intervention, and research pay off. Relying on what we have learned could show the way forward.

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After the Lockdown: Learning From Students' Experiences

School lockdowns are traumatic. we must listen and validate students' feelings..

Posted October 18, 2022 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

• What Is Trauma?
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• Every month, hundreds of schools are forced to go into "non-drill" lockdowns because of a credible threat of violence.
• Students experience "invisible wounds" after school lockdowns that need to be addressed when creating school safety plans.
• Students may experience panic attacks, soil themselves, cry uncontrollably, and/or disassociate during or after a lockdown.

Co-authored by Annalisa Enrile and Harley London.

Harley is 14 years old and in the 8th grade. This year, her school, like hundreds of schools in the United States, was forced into a lockdown because of a suspected shooter threat. Thankfully, the police and school officials found it to be a hoax. What was not false, however, was the experience of all the kids in the school for the 45 minutes they were in lockdown. This story that Harley and I are sharing is an important one, especially for kids who have this experience. But we would like to offer a trigger warning because the experience that is described is traumatic , disturbing, and violent. Please read with care for yourself.

Swatting Incidences on the Rise

The most recent research data is from 2018, during which at least 4.1 million students had to go through at least one non-drill lockdown. Of course, lockdowns are essential to keeping kids safe, but following an actual act of school violence, there has been a rise in what the FBI refers to as “swatting” incidences. Swatting is a term that is used to describe filing false reports or threats to cause chaos and provoke a law enforcement response.

Swatting incidences are dangerous because they are fake but the response from law enforcement and the community is real. There have been incidences in which people have been injured in the process. It also can erode emergency responses if it happens so frequently in a kind of “the boy who cried wolf” syndrome where the threat becomes habitual and perhaps makes responses less urgent. Whether it’s authentic or “swatting,” the reality is an emotional and psychological cost to students, teachers, and other school personnel.

Despite the rise in “swatting,” one of the things that the tragedy at Uvalde taught is that there cannot be hesitation to act, especially when children are literally caught in the crosshairs. All schools in the United States are required to have a safety plan in place. But the need for a strategic plan on paper does not always tell the whole story of what is experienced when it must be acted upon.

First-Hand Experience

I was taking a test in math class, so the room was completely silent. Suddenly, I heard sirens and then we heard the PA system turn on, but no one was saying anything, so, we thought the principal accidentally turned it on. After a few moments, the principal said in a shaky voice, “Teachers, please lock your doors and close the blinds; we are in a lockdown. I repeat, we are in a lockdown.” 1 minute later: Everyone quickly stopped the test. I looked at my friends, and we immediately got down. Everyone was panicking trying to grab their phones and hide under the desks. One of my classmates whispered, “Guys shut up and hide.” First, we got on the ground, then my teacher had us crawl to another classroom. I crawled into a corner, but unfortunately, I was by a window so I wanted to move but was frozen there. 10 minutes later: The PA system went off again. The principal said, “Teachers and students please remain calm and silent, we are still in lockdown.” At that point, the majority of us were freaking out. The girl in front of me was crying and hugging her friend. I didn’t know what to do, so I just started praying to calm me down. I didn’t know where my friends were. I only saw two of my friends from the other class across the room, lending their phone to other classmates. One of my classmates tapped me on my shoulder and then held my hand. 5 minutes later: The phone in one of the classrooms rang, and a bunch of my classmates were whispering and crying. I realized then that the elementary students were probably so scared. 30 minutes later: Suddenly the door opens. Everyone was scooting away and hiding. But we learned that it was one of the teachers getting water for a student who had passed out. 45 minutes later: The PA system went off again. The principal announced, “Teachers, you may go back to teaching again. We will contact parents to pick up the students.” The lights turned on and everyone was crying. I ran up to all my friends hugging them and crying. I felt relieved. I don’t normally cry but I just couldn’t stop crying.

Invisible Wounds

Harley’s story emphasizes the potential trauma that children feel when they experience a lockdown, even if there is no active violence. The fear and anxiety may last well beyond the “all clear” is given. Dr. Marleen Wong , leading expert on childhood trauma and one of the original developers of Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools and Psychological First Aid calls these “Invisible Wounds.” Just as Harley’s story demonstrated, the invisible wounds of school lockdowns are immediate, urgent, and often both physical and emotional.

A Washington Post yearlong focus on school violence found that children aged as young as 4 years have participated in lockdowns where they have had to do things like hide in darkened rooms or learn how to “play dead” or camouflage themselves for survival. It is not uncommon for children and youth to soil themselves, pass out, panic, or cry during or right after these experiences.

Trauma-Informed Practices

There are some key things to address the trauma children may have following a lockdown.

I told my mom I needed a couple of days off after the lockdown and she let me stay with my grandparents. I think parents should listen to their kids. We aren’t lying when we say we are scared or nervous. Not all my classmates were allowed to do that. The next day, there was another threat called in and another lockdown. I don’t know how I would feel if I had to go through it all over again so soon. A lot my friends were sending me pictures and videos because they now carried their phones with them. One of my friends told me how scary it was—almost worse than the day before.

Dr. Kennedy, a.k.a. " Millennial Parenting Whisperer ," works with parents to help them foster resiliency and empathy, reminding parents about the power of really listening . Harley’s mom said, “I have to trust that she knows what she is feeling and validate that information. I took a look at her workload (no big assignments due), we talked about how long was appropriate (two days) and what she would do while she took time off (spend time with her grandma, paint, and journal). I want her to feel safe coming to me with what she is experiencing, but, even more, I want her to be able to name what she is feeling and act on that.”

Dr. Steve Hydon, Director of Social Work in Schools at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work states, “Parents ought to embrace Dr. Bruce Perry's six R’s: Relational, Relevant, Rhythmic, Repetitive, Rewarding, Respectful. These six R’s are what Perry identified as core considerations for trauma-informed care when implementing therapeutic interventions and experiences.

School violence remains a reality that schools, communities, and families will have to continue to face. However, engaging in trauma-informed practices can help the healing process, especially when safety plans are developed and other strategic decisions are made. Most importantly, the voices of students themselves should be expressed, listened to, and included in how solutions are created. After all, they, along with their teachers, administrators, and school staff, are right at the epicenter.

Greco, V. (2021). The Casualties You Don’t See: The Omnipresent Trauma of School Shootings. Dress Rehearsals for Gun Violence: Confronting Trauma and Anxiety in America’s Schools, 1.

Osher, D., Mayer, M. J., Jagers, R. J., Kendziora, K., & Wood, L. (Eds.). (2019). Keeping Students Safe and Helping Them Thrive: A Collaborative Handbook on School Safety, Mental Health, and Wellness [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO.

Schildkraut, J., & Nickerson, A. B. (2022). Lockdown Drills: Connecting Research and Best Practices for School Administrators, Teachers, and Parents. MIT Press.

Annalisa Enrile, Ph.D. , is a Clinical Professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, turning classrooms into brave spaces to train the next generation of change-makers.

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A Better Education for All During—and After—the COVID-19 Pandemic

Research from the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and its partners shows how to help children learn amid erratic access to schools during a pandemic, and how those solutions may make progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring a quality education for all by 2030.

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By Radhika Bhula & John Floretta Oct. 16, 2020

Five years into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world is nowhere near to ensuring a quality education for all by 2030. Impressive gains in enrollment and attendance over recent decades have not translated into corresponding gains in learning. The World Bank’s metric of "learning poverty," which refers to children who cannot read and understand a simple text by age 10, is a staggering 80 percent in low-income countries .

The COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating this learning crisis. As many as 94 percent of children across the world have been out of school due to closures. Learning losses from school shutdowns are further compounded by inequities , particularly for students who were already left behind by education systems. Many countries and schools have shifted to online learning during school closures as a stop-gap measure. However, this is not possible in many places, as less than half of households in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have internet access.  

Many education systems around the world are now reopening fully, partially, or in a hybrid format, leaving millions of children to face a radically transformed educational experience. As COVID-19 cases rise and fall during the months ahead, the chaos will likely continue, with schools shutting down and reopening as needed to balance educational needs with protecting the health of students, teachers, and families. Parents, schools, and entire education systems—especially in LMICs—will need to play new roles to support student learning as the situation remains in flux, perhaps permanently. As they adjust to this new reality, research conducted by more than 220 professors affiliated with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and innovations from J-PAL's partners provide three insights into supporting immediate and long-term goals for educating children.

1. Support caregivers at home to help children learn while schools are closed . With nearly 1.6 billion children out of school at the peak of the pandemic, many parents or caregivers, especially with young children, have taken on new roles to help with at-home learning. To support them and remote education efforts, many LMICs have used SMS, phone calls, and other widely accessible, affordable, and low-technology methods of information delivery. While such methods are imperfect substitutes for schooling, research suggests they can help engage parents in their child’s education and contribute to learning , perhaps even after schools reopen.

Preliminary results from an ongoing program and randomized evaluation in Botswana show the promise of parental support combined with low-technology curriculum delivery. When the pandemic hit, the NGO Young 1ove was working with Botswana's Ministry of Education to scale up the  Teaching at the Right Level approach to primary schools in multiple districts. After collecting student, parent, and teacher phone numbers, the NGO devised two strategies to deliver educational support. The first strategy sent SMS texts to households with a series of numeracy “problems of the week.” The second sent the same texts combined with 20-minute phone calls with Young 1ove staff members, who walked parents and students through the problems. Over four to five weeks, both interventions significantly improved learning . They halved the number of children who could not do basic mathematical operations like subtraction and division. Parents became more engaged with their children's education and had a better understanding of their learning levels. Young 1ove is now evaluating the impact of SMS texts and phone calls that are tailored to students’ numeracy levels.

In another example, the NGO Educate! reoriented its in-school youth skills model to be delivered through radio, SMS, and phone calls in response to school closures in East Africa. To encourage greater participation, Educate! called the students' caregivers to tell them about the program. Their internal analysis indicates that households that received such encouragement calls had a 29 percent increase in youth participation compared to those that did not receive the communication.

In several Latin American countries , researchers are evaluating the impact of sending SMS texts to parents on how to support their young children who have transitioned to distance-learning programs. Similar efforts to support parents and evaluate the effects are underway in Peru . Both will contribute to a better understanding of how to help caregivers support their child’s education using affordable and accessible technology.

Other governments and organizations in areas where internet access is limited are also experimenting with radio and TV to support parents and augment student learning. The Côte d’Ivoire government created a radio program on math and French for children in grades one to five. It involved hundreds of short lessons. The Indian NGO Pratham collaborated with the Bihar state government and a television channel to produce 10 hours of learning programming per week, creating more than 100 episodes to date. Past randomized evaluations of such “edutainment” programs from other sectors in Nigeria , Rwanda , and Uganda suggest the potential of delivering content and influencing behavior through mass media, though context is important, and more rigorous research is needed to understand the impact of such programs on learning.

2. As schools reopen, educators should use low-stakes assessments to identify learning gaps. As of September 1, schools in more than 75 countries were open to some degree. Many governments need to be prepared for the vast majority of children to be significantly behind in their educations as they return—a factor exacerbated by the low pre-pandemic learning levels, particularly in LMICs . Rather than jumping straight into grade-level curriculum, primary schools in LMICs should quickly assess learning levels to understand what children know (or don’t) and devise strategic responses. They can do so by using simple tools to frequently assess students, rather than focusing solely on high-stakes exams, which may significantly influence a child’s future by, for example, determining grade promotion.

Orally administered assessments—such as ASER , ICAN , and Uwezo —are simple, fast, inexpensive, and effective. The ASER math tool, for example, has just four elements: single-digit number recognition, double-digit number recognition, two-digit subtraction, and simple division. A similar tool exists for assessing foundational reading abilities. Tests like these don’t affect a child’s grades or promotion, help teachers to get frequent and clear views into learning levels, and can enable schools to devise plans to help children master the basics.

3. Tailor children's instruction to help them master foundational skills once learning gaps are identified. Given low learning levels before the pandemic and recent learning loss due to school disruptions, it is important to focus on basic skills as schools reopen to ensure children maintain and build a foundation for a lifetime of learning. Decades of research from Chile, India, Kenya, Ghana, and the United States shows that tailoring instruction to children’s’ education levels increases learning. For example, the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach, pioneered by Indian NGO Pratham and evaluated in partnership with J-PAL researchers through six randomized evaluations over the last 20 years, focuses on foundational literacy and numeracy skills through interactive activities for a portion of the day rather than solely on the curriculum. It involves regular assessments of students' progress and is reaching more than 60 million children in India and several African countries .

Toward Universal Quality Education

As countries rebuild and reinvent themselves in response to COVID-19, there is an opportunity to accelerate the thinking on how to best support quality education for all. In the months and years ahead, coalitions of evidence-to-policy organizations, implementation partners, researchers, donors, and governments should build on their experiences to develop education-for-all strategies that use expansive research from J-PAL and similar organizations. In the long term, evidence-informed decisions and programs that account for country-specific conditions have the potential to improve pedagogy, support teachers, motivate students, improve school governance, and address many other aspects of the learning experience. Perhaps one positive outcome of the pandemic is that it will push us to overcome the many remaining global educational challenges sooner than any of us expect. We hope that we do.

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Read more stories by Radhika Bhula & John Floretta .

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Going back to school during the covid-19. - voices of children, children tell about their feelings and challenges they face.

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Starting a new school year is always full of emotions and especially during a pandemic.

Part of the schools in Georgia started teaching at classrooms, other part continues the distance learning. But children in every city or village are looking forward to meet their friends and teachers in person.  

We asked children to tell what they feel, how their lives have changed and how they handle these challenges.

Natia Samnashvili, 10 years old.

"I am happy to return to school. Distance learning was hard, working with computer caused pain for eyes and fingers. I could understand the online lessons, but it was easier when we had face-to-face meetings with the teacher. One more thing I am happy about is to see my friends, meet new teachers. If the lessons were distance again, we won't have a chance to get introduced with teachers. We have new teachers this year." 

Andria Khocholava, 9 years old.

"Don’t remind me about online lessons. Going to school is cool. There are many changes though: you can’t hug the teachers, they always wear masks, hugging friends is not allowed either, but we violate this rule sometimes. Breaks are shortened and we have to wash our hands many times. Also, you are not allowed to lend something to others. I am carrying water in the bottle as the water dispensers are turned off. Still, it’s good to go to school. We are repeating the materials from the previous year and I understand everything better in class than on the online lesson. We have a new game called “Coronobana” – it’s like a game of catch." 

Teona Jghiradze, 13 years old.

"I didn’t have a personal computer and was attending online lessons from a mobile phone. We had to either write the homework in the workbook and then send the photo of it or type it on the keyboard.  Sometimes there were technical problems with the internet or electricity and we were missing the lessons, now we will cover those materials too. I am happy to return to school, it was boring at home and also I missed my friends and I am happy to see them."

Lasha Devlarishvili, 11 years old.

"Yes, I am happy to return to school. It was boring at home. I was playing or reading books. In school, there will be more positivity and better learning process". 

Elene Melikadze, 12 years old.

"Online classes were interesting at the beginning, but now I think going to school is better. We could only see the face of the teacher at online lessons, eyes were getting tired and you miss the human interaction. But it was good that the exams were cancelled.

Now I am back to school. My friends got taller in this period. I am happy to return to school because I can see the people and talk to them. I am having fun on breaks, but we all remember that we must be careful. We have to avoid getting the virus or transfer it. Yes, we have lots of homework, but I don't complain. I like school and I am happy. If the online lessons are back, I don't know what will I do. I think I will start drawing instead of studying."

Data Sulaberidze, 10 years old.

"I am happy to return to school because I really missed my friends and teachers. I love school and I think that interaction with my peers is part of the education process." 

Nino Khvichia, 10 years old.

"I am very happy to go back to school. I was very nervous on the first day about the mandatory distance, and I was looking forward to hug everyone, I missed everyone so much. I am getting up early in the mornings not to be late and get to school early. Sometimes I was forgetting about the lessons when we were on distance learning and could not join the classes, could not interact with children normally and sometimes I was shy to ask questions. I love the lessons held in school, they are more interesting and joyful." 

Giorgi Alavidze, 6 years old.

"School is good. Very good. It is fun there. There are many friends of mine from kindergarten. We have two new students too and I made friends with one of them. From lessons, I like Georgian more than math, teachers read books and it is like a literature club. I like drawing club too. I want the breaks to be longer to have more time for playing with friends. I want to go to school by school-bus and make friends with more people. Teachers were masks and gloves at school. I know if anyone catches the virus in school, it will be closed again."

Aleksandre Alasania, 7 years old.

"I was happy to return to school. It was different though, our class was split into half. We wore masks and maintain the distance, and we could not play and "go crazy".

When we turned back to distance learning, I was very upset. I am not able to communicate with friends and miss them. The software is always laggy during the lessons, I can't hear the voice well. When everyone starts to talk together, I am getting tired and turning off the software. We again have to sit at home to avoid getting infected by "Conora" (he calls Coronavirus like that)." 

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The first day of school: how COVID-19 has changed our schools and how we can be public supporters of public education

Assistant professor of social studies education william toledo looks at the changes coming this back-to-school season.

In just a few days, public schools in Reno and across Northern Nevada will reopen their doors to K-12 students. The first day of school is often met with some anxiousness and excitement from teachers, parents, and students, as they consider the challenges and successes they will encounter over the course of the school year.

However, this year brings with it a whole new set of challenges. Since March 2020, the world has struggled to adapt to and deal with COVID-19, a dangerous novel virus still with many unknowns  [1] . As researchers continue to study COVID-19, we are finding answers to some of our questions, including an important one as schools open: yes, young people can carry, transmit, and catch COVID-19  [2] . Which leads to an important new question: how does COVID-19 change the profession of teaching?

The first change is the most important one: schools must be physically safe for students’ and educators’ return . Safety in the era of COVID-19 encompasses many factors, an important one being the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests within a county or city. The American Federation of Teachers states that in-person school is safe only when fewer than 5% of coronavirus tests in an area are positive  [3] . Beyond this important statistic, NPR reports that there are a variety of factors that should be in place as public schools open: 6-feet of physical distance between desks, small class sizes, consistent, mandatory mask policies for adults and children, frequent replacement of HEPA filters in air ventilation systems, and more. It is key that teachers, parents, and community members examine their district’s reopening plan to determine if a district is ready to open safely. If not, encourage the district to implement strict safety protocols and to only open when COVID-19 numbers are sufficiently low in a community.

Second, teachers face an enormous pedagogical change: educators must meet the needs of in-person and remote (online) learners, sometimes simultaneously . This is a big undertaking for our teachers and educational support staff as districts try to iron out specific plans for what the physical structure of schools will look like. For teachers, there are different steps to take to help with a smooth transition to new blended class formats: using similar or the same curricular materials and sequencing for in-person and remote learners  [4] , facilitating student engagement with one another from safe social distances and online  [5] , and relying on one another for support and guidance. In a world of “physical distancing,” it is important for teachers to not “socially distance” from one another. Educators should stay connected, and rely on one another for support and collaboration as they adapt to new modes of instruction.

Third, and closely related to each of the first two points: we must all be generous with ourselves and one another as we enter uncharted waters . The fall 2020 return back to school is not going to be “business as usual,” and we must all be flexible. It is quite likely that some schools will open, and close, possibly even more than once. It is also quite likely that mistakes will be made, and that safety protocols need to be amended or adjusted. A key to the success of our public schools during COVID-19 is public support. It is important that parents and community members be flexible and understanding of this shift as educators begin teaching in the midst of what is currently uncharted territory. Additionally, it is key for teachers to be generous with themselves; we are currently asking a great deal of our educators, working in already underfunded public schools. They are now being asked to return to the classroom as frontline workers, and they deserve and have earned public support. We must listen to teachers, and what they tell us about what is or isn’t working as schools reopen, and adjust accordingly.

There is no doubt about it: COVID-19 presents a significant challenge for public education. However, as we have seen time and time again throughout history, our teachers are resilient; they are qualified; and they are doing one of the most crucial jobs in the world: preparing future generations of citizens to engage in an everchanging and evolving society. If you are a teacher, please know this: your community supports you. If you aren’t a teacher yourself, make sure a teacher gets the message: we have your backs, and we are in this together. 

• What We Know and Still Don’t Know About COVID-19 by Carla Cantor and Caroline Harting (July 22, 2020).
• Nearly 100k children tested positive for COVID-19 in last two weeks of July by Ben Kesslen (August 10, 2020)
• How Safe Is Your School's Reopening Plan? Here's What To Look For by Anya Kamenetz, Patti Neighmond, Jane Greenhalgh, Allison Aubrey, & Carmel Wroth. (August 6, 2020)
• How to Make Lessons Cohesive When Teaching Both Remote and In-Person Classes by Sarah Schwart (August 5, 2020)
• How to Make Lessons Cohesive When Teaching Both Remote and In-Person Classes by Sarah Schwartz (August 5, 2020)

William Toledo is an Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education in the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Toledo's research focuses on (a) social studies education in pre-K-12 classrooms and (b) the experiences of LGBTQ+-identifying teachers in public schools.

By: William Toledo, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education

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Student Editorial Contest Winner

It Took a Global Pandemic to Stop School Shootings

We are honoring each of the Top 10 winners of our Student Editorial Contest by publishing their essays. This one is by Lauren Koong, age 17.

By The Learning Network

This essay, by Lauren Koong , age 17, from Mirabeau B. Lamar Senior High School in Houston, is one of the Top 10 winners of The Learning Network’s Eighth Annual Student Editorial Contest , for which we received 11,202 entries.

You can find the work of all the winners and runners-up here .

I despise hearing the lunch bell ring at noon every day. My lunches are permanently scarred with the memory of me sprinting out of the cafeteria, running for my life.

In my freshman year, a gang-related shooting occurred just outside the lunch tables, resulting in the tragic death of a senior. Minutes after the shooting, a student, either as a joke or as a reaction to the event, yelled “Shooter!” in the middle of a crowded cafeteria, resulting in a massive stampede and a lockdown that lasted for what seemed like years, but in reality was a few hours. Although the threat was not directly on campus, the fear was — and it spread faster than the coronavirus.

In March of 2020, when we received notice that we would be subjected to the chaos of a hastily put together online class due to the pandemic, I felt a small core of relief amid the roaring vortex of confusion and negativity inside of me. While I lamented the loss of prom, sports and social interaction, I was secretly grateful: no more traumatizing active shooter drills, no more instinctive searching for exits every time I entered a room, no more running for my life. Despite my isolation, I was safe at home.

During the yearlong lockdown, school shootings dropped to historic levels. In fact, March of 2020 was the first March in 18 years with zero school shootings. Of the 10 total reported school shootings in 2020, five of them occurred in January, before the first mass quarantine.

As we inch closer to achieving herd immunity through vaccinations, schools have begun to reopen, with more students returning to in-person classes. With this steady renewal of prepandemic life comes another indication of normality: gun violence. In 2021, there have already been 17 reported incidents of gunfire on school campuses across the United States, despite most schools still operating at a limited capacity.

No student should have to go to school wondering if they will leave in the afternoon. School is a place for learning, not violence, but our lawmakers and politicians have enabled a society where school shootings are so common, they barely warrant a headline. Even an inept administration with no preventive mask messaging could stumble their way to the fastest vaccine development in the history of modern medicine; yet no administration has been able to brainpower their way to a vaccine for gun violence. So far, the most effective solution to ending school shootings has been a global pandemic that sent the entire world into lockdown. As the Covid-19 pandemic comes to an end, it is time to focus on the true pandemic for the youth of America: school shootings.

Works Cited

Cramer, Maria. “ Mass Shootings in Public Spaces Had Become Less Frequent During The Pandemic .” The New York Times, 19 March 2021.

“ Gunfire on School Grounds in the United States .” Everytown Research, 12 April 2021.

Maxwell, Lesli, Holly Peele and Denisa R. Superville. “ School Shootings in 2020: How Many and Where .” Education Week, 2 March 2021.

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Life after lockdown: how do we best recover from the pandemic?

I t was October 2020 when I realised I was going to have to ask for help. I’ve always been anxious, but thanks to the pandemic, I developed debilitating health anxiety. A dire winter was coming and any respite we’d had over the summer felt like it was slipping away. I couldn’t get to sleep and when I finally did, I had nightmares. My stomach churned and my hands shook so badly I had to give up caffeine. I developed a chronic reflux cough and, on more than one occasion, got into such an irrational spiral about it being Covid that I had to book a PCR test just to be able to function.

“One of the most diabolical things about this pandemic is the on and on-ness of it all,” says Amanda Ripley, author of The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why . “Humans can withstand a lot of turmoil and instability if they can recover.” Prior to Covid, Ripley studied people who survived tornadoes and terror attacks, emergencies for which the mental health consequences are much better understood than the long, slow-burn, seemingly endless one we find ourselves living through.

As Ripley knows, this is not the first disaster humans have had to live through, so are there things we can learn from other disasters about what they do to our brains, relationships and communities? And, more importantly, how to make things better?

“There’s a tremendous amount we can learn from how we’ve responded to previous emergencies,” say Dr Brandon Kohrt, professor of psychiatry at George Washington University, who works in Liberia, Uganda and Nepal, dealing with the mental health aftermath of everything from Ebola to earthquakes. “Many low- and middle-income countries, like South Africa, India and Uganda, immediately rolled out mental health and psychosocial plans in February, March and April 2020. They had experienced prior disasters, but these approaches could be just as beneficial in high-resource places like the US and UK,” he tells me, and I can’t help wondering, do we in the Global North think of ourselves with such superiority that we find it hard to learn from the experiences of the Global South?

“With population-wide trauma, a war or a terrorist attack, we heal socially,” says Kohrt. “Being together when the awful thing happens and then healing together is really crucial. People who come together in that healing process tend to do better than those who either self-isolate as a response to distress or are ostracised. So I think what’s happened with Covid is that although the stress isn’t necessarily as acute or sudden as an earthquake or an explosion, the isolation we all experienced in the context of stress and trauma is eating away at us psychologically.”

Not everyone who experiences a disaster will develop a mental health problem: people survive trauma well all the time, but “between 5 and 10% of people who’ve been through traumatic events such as a terrorist attack will go on to develop clinical levels of PTSD,” says Dr Sarita Robinson, who studies the psychobiology of survival at the University of Central Lancashire.

Around one in five people who experience a humanitarian emergency will go on to develop a mental health problem (prevalence of common mental health problems in the global population is about 1 in 10), and rates of serious mental health disorders, such as schizophrenia, increase from 2-3% to 3-4%. “Research from 2018 suggested mental health problems double in emergency settings. I wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be the result of the pandemic, too,” says Ashley Nemiro, senior adviser for the global MHPSS Collaborative , which helps people working in crises.

The psychological challenges of Covid are huge, but many practitioners feel they aren’t being addressed at all. Willem van de Put is co-founder of the Mental Health in Complex Emergencies course. “Covid has made things worse and, to the chagrin of leaders in global mental health, everybody is saying we should do something but, basically, absolutely nothing is happening. Governments are not willing to address it.” Investment in mental health is so low that, as Nemiro puts it: “Every country is a developing country when it comes to mental health services.”

Research this year by the Centre for Mental Health , a thinktank, suggests that 8 million British adults and 1.5 million children will need mental health support in the next 10 years as a direct result of the pandemic. Office for National Statistics data already shows rates of depression doubling since the pandemic began, but it isn’t being evenly felt, says Leila Reyburn of mental health charity Mind . “The people who’ve been impacted the most and are continuing to feel that impact are people who had pre-existing mental health problems, people of colour, those living in deprivation and young people.”

“In the UK, we have a system based on late intervention and crisis response,” says Andy Bell from the Centre for Mental Health. “Only a third of people with common mental health problems get support. We don’t offer it quickly and we tend to wait until people’s needs are so severe that they need specialised treatment.”

But work by Kohrt and colleagues shows that early intervention is effective, especially for common mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety – and that it doesn’t always have to be carried out by highly trained professionals. He implements a community-level post-emergency support programme called Problem Management Plus, first developed by the World Health Organization in Pakistan and Kenya in 2015, which he then successfully trialled in Nepal (with similar programmes now running all over the middle- and lower-income world).

Through the programme, anyone with a high-school education can be trained in just a few weeks to deliver psychological support to those who need it, often embedded in places where people seek help for problems with housing or employment, rather than specifically for mental health. Clients get five weekly 90-minute sessions, usually one-to-one, or longer sessions in a small group, and are taught stress-management skills, breath control, problem solving, how to overcome inertia and how to develop a social support network. The final session is about how not to relapse.

“We’re taking interventions that were developed for earthquakes, floods or war, which we’ve used for years, and using them in New York City right now,” Kohrt says. “It doesn’t have to be by psychiatrists or psychologists in a specialised clinical location.”

Similar early intervention projects do exist in the UK, but they’re few and far between. A coalition of charities, including the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition , Mind , YoungMinds and the Children’s Society , is currently trying to push government to “Fund the Hubs’’ and create a network of informal community support centres for children and young people, to which they can self refer. One such hub, the Nest, is already up and running in the London borough of Southwark – and 78% of its users say their wellbeing has improved.

This won’t shock you, but the ongoing nature of the pandemic really isn’t good for us. “Our brains operate in a very different way when they experience prolonged threats: you’re constantly on edge and alert, and that shrinks our ability to empathise with others,” says Kohrt. “We become much more focused on a very tight-knit group, and everybody else seems a threat. What’s most challenging about the pandemic is that even family members became threats – especially pre-vaccines. If kids are going to be a threat to their grandparents’ health or vice versa, suddenly we’re on alert even with people who should be helping us.” This disrupts our ability to be empathic in general. “We become more prejudiced, we become more stigmatising, we become more discriminating.” And if we’re discriminating against our loved ones, imagine how much worse our broader societal discrimination and stigmatisation is.” Which explains quite a lot about now, doesn’t it?

Some of us may find it harder to regulate our emotions, too, says Kohrt, something I can identify with. “We call it ‘self-regulation’, but it’s always a mix of self-regulation and regulation with others. Total reliance on self-regulation of emotions doesn’t work. We’ve evolved to constantly regulate our emotions with our peers.” But even if you were locked down with your family, that might not have helped. “Family units are connected to many other people as well, and if they don’t have contact with extended family, friends, peers, then that family’s own emotional regulation gets disrupted.”

“In humanitarian emergencies, one of the biggest things we do is make sure people have a sense of control and agency,” says Nemiro. “Often that is taken away when their social fabric is destroyed – and the pandemic did the same thing.” While schools, churches and community centres weren’t reduced to rubble, as they might have been in other disasters, they became so hard to access that they might as well have vanished. “Lack of social connection, lack of community and feeling out of control all break down mental health,” says Nemiro.

“The first thing we need is to realise that we have to repair the social fabric,” says Amanda Ripley. “People come to me all the time saying: ‘We don’t know what to do – our church, our school, our town is exploding with conflict.’ There’s so much pent-up frustration, alienation and sadness that has not been dealt with – we will find a target of convenience. After every disaster, there’s a short golden hour of solidarity [rainbows in windows! Clap for carers!] followed by a deep valley of division. Repairing the social fabric needs to be an explicit mission.”

Luckily, the repairs can be simple. “Say I’m a head teacher and I’m going to have parents come to an event in person. Afterwards, I don’t just let everybody go – these are opportunities for connection and we are in a deficit situation – so I serve drinks and snacks outside for half an hour afterward.” So is the casual socialising that we previously thought so little of – the school plays, the church fêtes – more important than we noticed at the time? “Those things are not just pleasant and fun: they’re investments in your future sanity and wellbeing. The way you build community resilience is through knowing each other so that we don’t assume the worst, so that it gets a little harder to demonise each other, and that prepares us for the next disaster,” says Ripley.

Bruce Daisley, former VP of Twitter, has written a book about resilience, Fortitude . “Police and firefighters who were in the thick of the events of 9/11 have been well researched and generally the closer they report being to their colleagues, the better protection to their mental health they felt,” he says. “Resilience is social strength, and social connectedness helps us recover better from operations, prevents us from falling into depression and generally improves wellbeing.”

“A huge part of emotional regulation requires positive interactions with others, including touch – if you look at other species, the way that that’s done is through grooming and other non-sexual touch among group members. We’ve had so little opportunity for that,” says Kohrt. Connecting when we’re in distress is even more powerful. “If I’m not the one in distress, I can help you regulate your distress,” he says. “There’s a feedback loop between the helper and the helpee with neurobiological changes that are health-promoting for both, to the point where helping others probably reduces our inflammatory responses and improves our antiviral responses.”

If we remain in Ripley’s valley of division, though, then “we’re vulnerable to conflict entrepreneurs,” she says. “It is incredibly easy to turn us against each other, whether you’re a politician, pundit or social-media platform. We need to know that and remind ourselves that we don’t want to be played this way. We’re not going to be chumps.”

One way to offset that particular danger as well as helping us to cope with the aftermath of an emergency is to deliberately tell ourselves a story of the experience which allows us to have agency within it. “Reappraisal is one of the main ways we manage our emotions as humans, and it’s probably one of the most sophisticated tricks of the mind,” says Ripley. “Are there stories we can tell ourselves that are true, but also leave us some hope? Yes there has been real suffering and hardship, but maybe you or your child showed remarkable resilience in finding a way to adapt or to be with that loss and still create new things.”

Ripley suggests spending 15 minutes writing your own story of the pandemic, but as though you were a benign third party, observing (you can also do this with kids). “With writing there’s a kind of organisation of the experience that happens in the brain, that you don’t have the space to do when you’re in a disaster that keeps going on and on. Writing a story can create that space and since there’s not enough space for recovery in this type of slow disaster, we have to create it.”

Coincidentally, I recently tried something similar, inspired by an article by Daisy Dowling in the Harvard Business Review . Rather than a story, she encourages us to list our achievements throughout the pandemic – which could include not snapping all your child’s pencils in an impotent rage while home schooling, or cooking 654 dinners in a row since March 2020, as well as more traditional wins. It was an uplifting way to look back and reframe the shitshow of the last two years.

Does writing a story give the emergency a longed-for ending, too? “The brain wants an ending because the brain needs psychological certainty,” says Ripley. “There is no end, but by repeatedly creating a narrative that has a conclusion maybe we could give it an end.”

Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email [email protected]. You can also contact Mind at 0300 123 3393

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Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on mental health of children and adolescents: A narrative review with recommendations ☆

Shweta singh.

a Additional Professor, Department of Psychiatry, KGMU Lucknow. India

Deblina Roy

b Psychiatric Nursing, Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India

Krittika Sinha

c Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India

Sheeba Parveen

Ginni sharma, gunjan joshi, associated data.

COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown has brought about a sense of fear and anxiety around the globe. This phenomenon has led to short term as well as long term psychosocial and mental health implications for children and adolescents. The quality and magnitude of impact on minors is determined by many vulnerability factors like developmental age, educational status, pre-existing mental health condition, being economically underprivileged or being quarantined due to infection or fear of infection.

This paper is aimed at narratively reviewing various articles related to mental-health aspects of children and adolescents impacted by COVID-19 pandemic and enforcement of nationwide or regional lockdowns to prevent further spread of infection.

Methodology

We conducted a review and collected articles and advisories on mental health aspects of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. We selected articles and thematically organized them. We put up their major findings under the thematic areas of impact on young children, school and college going students, children and adolescents with mental health challenges, economically underprivileged children, impact due to quarantine and separation from parents and the advisories of international organizations. We have also provided recommendations to the above.

There is a pressing need for planning longitudinal and developmental studies, and implementing evidence based elaborative plan of action to cater to the psycho social and mental health needs of the vulnerable children and adolescents during pandemic as well as post pandemic. There is a need to ameliorate children and adolescents’ access to mental health support services geared towards providing measures for developing healthy coping mechanisms during the current crisis. For this innovative child and adolescent mental health policies policies with direct and digital collaborative networks of psychiatrists, psychologists, paediatricians, and community volunteers are deemed necessary.

1. Introduction

There are more than 2.2 billion children in the world who constitute approximately 28% of the world's population. Those aged between 10 to 19 years make up 16 % of the world's population ( UNICEF, 2019 ). COVID-19 has impacted the lives of people around the world including children and adolescents in an unprecedented manner. Throughout the world, an essential modus of prevention from COVID- 19 infection has been isolation and social distancing strategies to protect from the risk of infection ( Shen et al., 2020 ). On these grounds, since January, 2020, various countries started implementing regional and national containment measures or lockdowns. In this backdrop one of the principal measures taken during lockdown has been closure of schools, educational institutes and activity areas. These inexorable circumstances which are beyond normal experience, lead to stress, anxiety and a feeling of helplessness in all.

It has been indicated that compared to adults, this pandemic may continue to have increased long term adverse consequences on children and adolescents ( Shen et al., 2020 ). The nature and extent of impact on this age group depend on many vulnerability factors such as the developmental age, current educational status, having special needs, pre-existing mental health condition, being economically under privileged and child/ parent being quarantined due to infection or fear of infection. The following sections discuss about findings of studies on mental-health aspects of children and adolescents impacted by COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns being implemented at national or regional levels to prevent further spread of infection.

2. Material and methods

We searched the electronic data bases of MEDLINE through PubMed, Cochrane Library, Science-direct and Google Scholar databases, from January,2020 till June,2020. We carried out the search with the following methods like, MeSH or free text terms and Boolean operators were employed for PubMed; COVID-19 and Children [All Fields] OR (Children and COVID-19 effects [Terms] OR & Psychological effects of COVID-19 on children &Quot;[All Fields] OR (&Quot; COVID effects on children &Quot;[All Fields] AND " &Quot;[All Fields]) OR effects on Children of COVID-19 " Psychological effects of COVID, Children "[All Fields]) OR ("COVID-19 and children "[MeSH Terms] OR " Psychological effects of COVID-19, Children "[All Fields]. This search strategy and terms were modified for other databases as appropriate. The searches were done by five independent reviewers. A manual search was also conducted of the references of the related articles to gather information about the relevant studies. Initial PubMed search with the term with “ COVID-19 in children” showed only 12 results. Among these, only four articles were related to “Psychological effects of COVID in children”. Therefore in order to make the review more comprehensive and informative, we also included studies that reported the effect on older children and impact of COVID1-19 on their lives. This was done keeping in mind the varied terminologies used to describe the phenomenon of ‘Children and COVID-19”. After using the above strategy, our search showed 112 results. Only articles in English language peer reviewed journals were included. Grey literature such as conference proceedings were not included due to possibility of insufficient information. We included case studies and review articles and Advisories by the WHO (World Health Organization), APA (American Psychiatric Association) and NHS (National Health Services) and Government of India Ministry of Health. Based on these inclusion criteria we included 22 articles. Three independent authors participated in study selection and all authors reached a consensus on the studies to be included. Being a narrative review, we did not attempt computation of effect sizes or do a risk of bias assessment for included papers.

The studies included were categorized under eight headings divided in various thematic sections and discussed with studies and reports found. The data is qualitatively analysed and reported in the paper. A summary of the papers included in this narrative review is presented in Table 1 .

Articles on mental health and psycho-social aspects of COVID among children and adolescents.

2.1. Impact on young children

Stress starts showing its adverse effect on a child even before he or she is born. During stress, parents particularly pregnant mothers are in a psychologically vulnerable state to experience anxiety and depression which is biologically linked to the wellbeing of the foetus ( Biaggi et al., 2016 ; Kinsella and Monk, 2009 ). In young children and adolescents the pandemic and lockdown have a greater impact on emotional and social development compared to that in the grown-ups. In one of the preliminary studies during the on-going pandemic, it was found younger children (3-6years old) were more likely to manifest symptoms of clinginess and the fear of family members being infected than older children (6-18 years old). Whereas, the older children were more likely to experience inattention and were persistently inquiring regarding COVID-19. Although, severe psychological conditions of increased irritability, inattention and clinging behaviour were revealed by all children irrespective of their age groups ( Viner et al., 2020a ). Based on the questionnaires completed by the parents, findings reveal that children felt uncertain, fearful and isolated during current times. It was also shown that children experienced disturbed sleep, nightmares, poor appetite, agitation, inattention and separation related anxiety ( Jiao et al., 2020 ).

2.2. Impact on school and college going students

Globally, the pre-lockdown learning of children and adolescents predominantly involved one-to-one interaction with their mentors and peer groups. Unfortunately, the nationwide closures of schools and colleges have negatively impacted over 91% of the world's student population ( Lee, 2020 ). The home confinement of children and adolescents is associated with uncertainty and anxiety which is attributable to disruption in their education, physical activities and opportunities for socialization ( Jiao et al., 2020 ). Absence of structured setting of the school for a long duration result in disruption in routine, boredom and lack of innovative ideas for engaging in various academic and extracurricular activities. Some children have expressed lower levels of affect for not being able to play outdoors, not meeting friends and not engaging in the in-person school activities ( Lee, 2020 ; Liu et al., 2020 ; Zhai and Du, 2020 ). These children have become more clingy, attention seeking and more dependent on their parents due to the long term shift in their routine. It is presumed that children might resist going to school after the lockdown gets over and may face difficulty in establishing rapport with their mentors after the schools reopen. Consequently, the constraint of movement imposed on them can have a long term negative effect on their overall psychological wellbeing ( Lee, 2020 ).

A study found that older adolescents and youth are anxious regarding cancellation of examinations, exchange programs and academic events ( Lee, 2020 ). Current studies related to COVID-19 demonstrate that school shut downs in isolation  prevent about 2-4% additional deaths which is quite less if compared to usage of other measures of social distancing. Moreover, they suggest to the policy makers that other less disrupting social distancing strategies should be followed by schools if social distancing is recommended for a long duration ( Lee, 2020 ; Sahu, 2020 ; Viner et al., 2020a ). However, in current circumstances, it is controversial whether complete closure of school and colleges is warranted for a prolonged period.

It has been reported that panic buying in times of distress indicate an instinctual survival behaviour ( Arafat et al., 2020 ). In present pandemic era there has been a rise in the hoarding behaviour among the teenagers ( Oosterhoff et al., 2020a ). It is also found that among youth social distancing is viewed primarily as a social responsibility and it is followed more sincerely if motivated by prosocial reasons to prevent others from getting sick (Oosterhoff et al., 2020a). Further, due to prolonged confinement at home children's increased use of internet and social media predisposes them to use internet compulsively, access objectionable content and also increases their vulnerability for getting bullied or abused ( Cooper, 2020 ; UNICEF, 2020b ). Worst of all, during lockdown when schools, when legal and preventative services do not functioning fully, children are rarely in a position to report violence, abuse and harm if they themselves have abusive homes.

2.3. Impact on children and adolescents having special needs

There are about 1 in every 6 children within the age group of 2-8 years who have some or the other neurodevelopmental, behavioural or emotional difficulty ( CDC, 2019 ). These children with special needs [autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, cerebral palsy, learning disability, developmental delays and other behavioural and emotional difficulties] encounter challenges during the current pandemic and lockdown ( CDC, 2019 ). They have intolerance for uncertainty and there is an aggravation in the symptoms due to the enforced restrictions and unfriendly environment which does not correspond with their regular routine. Also, they face difficulties in following instructions, understanding the complexity of the pandemic situation and doing their own work independently. With the closure of special schools and day care centres these children lack access to resource material, peer group interactions and opportunities of learning and developing important social and behavioural skills in due time may lead to regression to the past behavior as they lose anchor in life, as a result of this their symptoms could relapse ( Lee, 2020 ). These conditions also trigger outburst of temper tantrums, and conflict between parents and adolescents. Although prior to the pandemic, these children had been facing difficulties even while attending special schools, but in due course they had learnt to develop a schedule to adhere to for most of the time of the day ( APA, 2020 ; Cortese et al., 2020 ; UNICEF, 2020a ). To cater to these challenges, it is difficult for parents to handle the challenged children and adolescents on their own, as they lack professional expertise and they mostly relied on schools and therapists to help them out ( Dalton et al., 2020 ).

Since every disorder is different, every child has different needs to be met. The children with autism find it very difficult to adapt to the changing environment. They become agitated and exasperated when anything is rearranged or shifted from its existing setup. They might show an increase in their behavioral problems and acts of self-harm. It is a huge challenge for parents to handle autistic children due to lockdown. The suspension of speech therapy and occupational therapy sessions could have a negative impact on their skill development and the achievement of the next milestone, as it is difficult for them to learn through online sessions ( UNICEF, 2020a ). The children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), struggle to make meaning of what is going around them from the cues they get from their caregivers. It is difficult for them to remain confined to a place and not to touch things, which might infect them.  Due to being confined to one place the chances of their hyperactivity increases along with heightened impulses and it becomes difficult for the caregivers to engage these children in meaningful activities ( Cortese et al., 2020 ).

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) among the children and adolescents is estimated to be of 0.25%–4% among children and adolescents ( CDC, 2019 ). Children with OCD are suspected to be one of the most affected ones by this pandemic.  Due to obsessions and compulsions related to contamination, hoarding, and somatic preoccupation, they are expected to experience heightened distress. Cleanliness is one key protective measure against the spread of COVID-19. According to United Nations’ policy guidelines to fight the infection one has to be careful about washing their hands six times a day, and whenever they touch anything ( APA, 2020 ; United Nations, 2020 ). The lockdown, which has made the healthy population distressed about possessing enough food and prevention related resources like masks and sanitizers, has made it worse for people with hoarding disorder ( APA, 2020 ; Mukherjee et al., 2020 )

2.4. Impact of lockdown on underprivileged children

Social inequality has been associated with the risk of developing mental health challenges. The pandemic and lockdown world has experienced global economic turn-down which has directly worsened the pre-existing social inequality. In developing countries, with the imposed lockdown, the underprivileged children face acute deprivation of nutrition and overall protection. The prolonged period of stress could have a long term negative impact on their development. For instance, in India, which has the largest child population in the world with 472 million children, the lockdown has significantly impacted 40 million children from poor families. These include children working on farms, fields in rural areas, children of migrants and street children ( Dalton et al., 2020 ; Rosenthal et al., 2020 ). An increasing number of poor and street children now have no source of income, making them a high risk population to face abuse and mental health issues with greater vulnerability and exposure to unfavorable economic, social and environmental circumstances ( Birla, 2019 ).

A home represents a source of security and safety in most families. However, for the poor and the underprivileged it is just the opposite. With the restriction of movement due to lockdown, these children have increased risk of being exploited and become victims of violence and abuse ( Cooper, 2020 ; United Nations, 2020 ).  The Deputy Director of ‘CHILDLINE 1098’ India, announced that India saw a 50 per cent increase in the calls received on helpline for children since the lockdown began ( PTI, 2020 ). This increase in rate is alarming and has made an increasing number of child victims in their own homes.

During the time of lockdown an increasing number of poor families have no source of daily wages which lead to frustration and feelings of helplessness. By the reason of displacement, the frustration and family conflict may manifest itself in the form of violence towards children. This can make the child more vulnerable to depression, anxiety and suicide ( Jiao et al., 2020 ; Petito et al., 2020 ; Solantaus et al., 2020 ) School closure coupled with economic adversity may force children and adolescents into child labour. Likewise, children without parents or guardians are more prone to exploitation ( United Nations, 2020 ).

In order to cover up the loss of education during lockdown, many schools have offered distance learning or online courses to students. However, this opportunity is not available to underprivileged children as a result of which they face a lack of stimulation and have no access to online resource material to study. A study pointed out that in underprivileged families, in comparison to boys, girls have decreased access to gadgets, this may diminish their involvement in digital platforms of  education ( McQuillan and Neill, 2009 ). Due to this gender inequality, increasing number of girls are prone to bear the consequences of school dropouts once the lockdown is lifted ( Cooper, 2020 ; PTI, 2020 ).

2.5. Impact due to quarantine and separation from parents

COVID-19 infection is expressed differently in children and adolescents. Yet the incidents of infection in the minors have been reported worldwide, which result in children being quarantined. Moreover, in many cases a single parent or both the parents are infected and quarantined. In either condition children are separated from their parents. Many countries have laid down strict quarantine policies as a measure to fight COVID-19 pandemic. Such as in China several adults, adolescents and children have been put in complete isolation to control the spread of infection. Although quarantining measures are for the benefit of the community at large, its psychological effects cannot be ignored ( Liu et al., 2020 ). The children who are in isolation require special attention as these children might be at risk of developing mental health problems due to grief caused by of parental separation. As during the formative years of life, the role of parents is very crucial, any disruption in the form of isolation from parents can have long term effects of perceived attachment of the child. It is found that separation from the primary caregivers can make a child more vulnerable and can pose a threat to a child's mental health ( Cooper, 2020 ; Jiao et al., 2020 ; Liu et al., 2020 ). The children may develop feelings of sadness, anxiety, fear of death, fear of parents’ death and fear of being isolated in the hospital which may have a very detrimental effect on their psychological development ( APA, 2020 ; CDC, 2019 ; Dalton et al., 2020 ). Children have emotionally pent up feelings of distress which may turn inwards into emotional fear or outwards towards acting out behavior ( Liu et al., 2020 ). They might feel separated or alone as they have limited knowledge and level of maturity to understand the implications of the current pandemic situation in their limited world.

2.6. Advisories of international organizations

With the objective of universal prevention and mental health promotion, the International organizations and advisory bodies have issued various guidelines taking into account the mental health needs of children during the COVID-19. They have suggested parents to interact constructively with the children by communicating with them about the current pandemic, according to their maturity level and their ability to comprehend the crisis. Parents should plan their children's tasks one at a time, involve them in various home activities, educate them about following hygiene habits and social distancing, engage in indoor play and creative activities. In addition to these activities, adolescents are advised to be involved in household chores and understand their social responsibilities ( WHO, 2020b ) .  Interventions supervised by adults can help them in understanding their concerns. The activities of children and adolescents should include more structure in home schooling activities. Children should be encouraged to socialize with their friends and classmates through digital forums under adult supervision ( WHO, 2020a ).

The advisory committees have also provided guidelines for managing children with special needs and neurodevelopmental disorders ( UNICEF, 2020a , 2020b; WHO, 2020a ) . The children prone to risk for trauma and heightened anxiety. The children need early identification prompt management involving the parents and experts to prevent long term mental health morbidity.

2.7. Recommendations

It is imperative to plan strategies to enhance children and adolescent's access to mental health services during and after the current crisis. For this direct and digital collaborative network of various stakeholders is required. Recommendations for ensuring mental well-being of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown and the role of parents, teachers, pediatricians, community volunteers, the health system and policy makers are being discussed. In addition a brief summary of the roles is given in Table 2 .

Mental health care of children and adolescents by various support systems.

2.8. Role of Parents

In the times of paramount stress and uncertainty, a secure family environment which the parents can provide is a strong protective factor ( Schofield et al., 2013 ). There is evidence to show that parental practices and coping measures affect the children's post disaster mental health ( Cobham et al., 2016 ). Parents need to respond to the needs of their children based on the developmental phase of the child is being discussed below:

2.9. Young children

• 1. Compared to adolescents, younger children demand  more attention  of their parents They need their parents’ physical presence and need to engage in more indoor play related activities with them. Parents should devote time to provide the child with undivided, positive attention and reassurance.
• 2. With the aim to  increase children's awareness about COVID 19,  it is crucial for parents to communicate with  young children in an age appropriate manner by using simple terminologies about COVID-19. Children need to be given fact based information with the help of presentations and video material provided by authorized international organizations like WHO and UNICEF or government resources which have been tailor made especially for children.
• 3. To  alleviate the anx iety of children regarding the current uncertain situation ( Wang et al., 2020 ), children's exposure to news should be limited and be through fact based neutral news channels only. The tabloid news should be avoided by all means.
• 4. The parents are recommended to  model appropriate preventive measures and coping mechanisms  which the family as a team and children individually are motivated to follow. For this use of reminders through phone may also be used.
• 5. Efforts should be made so that a  consistent routine is  followed by the child, with enough opportunities to play, read, rest and engage in physical activity. It is recommended that family plays board games and engages in indoor sports activities with the child to avoid longer durations of video games. Parents should ensure that particularly the bedtime of a child is consistent. It is possible that before the bed time children may need some more time and attention.
• 6. Focus should be on the  ‘good behaviour’  more than ‘bad behaviour’ of a child. Parents must tell more about options regarding what to do rather than what  not to do. Provide more praise and social reinforcements to children compared to material reinforcements.
• 7. It is quite possible that parents observe some amount of change in the behavior in children during the times of a pandemic. If the  behavior problems  are minor and not harmful for children and others, parents should consider ignoring and stop paying attention to them, this may lead to decrease in the recurrence in behavior and would also help in giving space to each other.

2.10. Adolescents

Apart from areas discussed above, certain areas which need especial focus in the phase of adolescence, are being described below:

• 1. Parents are the best ‘role model’  for children and home is practically the best place to learn the ‘life skills’. Hence, this is the best time for parents to model the most important life skills i.e. coping with stress, coping with emotions, and problem-solving with their children. Due to the cancellation of exams handle disappointments and uncertainties more positively. For each disappointment and uncertainty, there should be an alternative. Moreover, to inculcate a sense of control in adolescents whenever possible, parents can include adolescents in the decision-making process especially in matters related to them.
• 2. Adolescents are expected to have better  knowledge about COVID 19  compared to young children. Therefore, communication has to be more open and non-directive. On the other hand, judgmental statements about adolescents should be avoided.
• 3. This is an opportunity for older children to  learn responsibility, accountability, involvement, and collaboration.  By taking some responsibilities at home on an everyday basis, for instance maintenance of their belongings and utility items. They can learn some of the skills including cooking, managing money matters, learning first aid, organizing their room, contributing to managing chores like laundry, cleaning and cooking.
• 4. Excessive internet  use e.g. internet surfing related to COVID-19 should be avoided as it results in anxiety. Similarly, excessive and irresponsible use of social media or internet gaming should be cautioned against. Negotiations with adolescents to limit their time and internet-based activities are recommended. More non-gadget related in door activities and games are to be encouraged.
• 5. In such conditions taking up  creative pursuits  like art, music, dance and others can help to manage mental health and well-being for everyone. Inculcating self-driven reading by making them select books of their choice and discussing about them helps in adolescent development.
• 6. Adolescence is a phase of enthusiasm and risk-taking, hence some may feel invincible and  try not to follow guidelines  related to distancing and personal hygiene. This has to be addressed with adolescents assertively.
• 7. It is crucial to value the  peer support system  of the adolescents. Parents should encourage adolescents who are introverts to keep in touch with their peers and communicate with them about their feelings and common problems they face. This may also lead a way for appropriate problem-solving.
• 8. It is advised to  parents to take care of their own mental health  needs and try to cope with stress adaptively.

2.11. Role of school teachers/school counselors

In the present times when most schools and colleges are organizing online academic activities, teachers are in regular touch with students, and therefore are in a position to play a critical role in the promotion of psychological well being among youngsters. Their role during COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown are as follows:

• 1. Teachers can devote some time related to  educating about COVID-19  and preventive health behavior by using the guidelines of the international organizations, according to the maturity level of the students. They can explain to the students about the need to act with responsibility during the current pandemic. They can model and enact through their behavior the preventive measures.
• 2. They can  conduct creative online  academic and non-academic sessions by making their classes more interactive, engaging students in the form of quizzes, puzzles, small competitions, and giving more creative home assignments to break the monotony of the online classes. Standard educational material can be used. For instance, UNESCO has offered many online educational sources (UNESCO, 2020)
• 3. Teachers have a role to play in the  promotion of mental health among students . They can discuss what is wellbeing and how it is important for students. They can assist in teaching simple exercises, including deep breathing, muscle relaxation, distraction, and positive self -talk. Virtual workshops can be conducted in which ‘life skills’ related to coping in stress can be in focus by using more practical examples.
• 4. Teachers can make children understand the importance of  prosocial behavior  and the importance of human virtues like empathy and patience among others. This can help them to understand their role in the society and understand how social distancing is not equivalent to emotional distancing.
• 5. The teachers need to  interact with parents  online or through phone regarding feedback about students and their mental health. Because of the digital divide they can call parents, make their contact available to parents and devote a time slot when they can be available to parents to communicate.
• 6. They can serve as a doorway for  identification and referral to specialty mental health providers . They have a role act as a catalyst between the parent based on their interaction with students and findings of screening tools. If they observe any problem in the child, they can talk to parents and refer children and adolescents to mental health professionals.
• 7. With the support of school authorities, teachers need to make arrangements to ensure that the  reading material  related academics and life skills is made available to the underprivileged children  who do not have access to the internet. If possible arrangements can be made for them to use internet.

2.12. Role of pediatricians

During a child's formative years when their personalities are shaped,  parents are in regular  touch with pediatricians, as parents reach out to their local pediatricians whenever they encounter health/ behavioral complaints associated with their children. Parents expect answers from them as they trust them. Hence a pediatrician's role is paramount in promoting mental health, developing resilience, recognizing mental health problems, and coordinate with the mental health care providers when it comes to mental health care of children. In the backdrop of COVID 19 specific roles of  pediatricians are enlisted below:

• 1. They must be equipped with a  teleconsultation  facility and must use it as much as possible. They must generously keep the option open for tele or online consultation for parents.
• 2. They should  educate parents  about the developmental needs of the children in various phases of childhood and also disseminate simple and specific mental health promotion reading material online or through handouts to parents.
• 3. Paediatrician is in a position to  recognize the physical manifestations  of stress and emotional health problems in children e.g. the various internalization and externalizing conditions, for instance, aches, pains, or acts of self-harm.
• 4. They also need to ask about the relevant information related to various  predisposing factors associated with the child  i.e. temperament, functioning, adjustment in school, peer group, routine and general activities of the child.
• 5. Various  psychosocial and medical determinants and stressors  of mental health like family history, economic stressors, family environment, neighborhood, etc. which may lead to underlying problems can be assessed.
• 6. Mental health check-ups  should be conducted with the help of brief standardized screening tools by which they can easily screen various mental health problems in children especially including ADHD, autism, anxiety disorders, and depression.
• 7. They need to  develop stronger networks  and build partnerships with mental health providers, for instance, clinical psychologists, child psychologists, and psychiatrists. They should work in collaboration with them and refer children to them as and when the need arises for special mental health care. There is a need to develop online CMEs with the help of partnerships with Psychologists.

2.13. Mental healthcare workers

During times of paramount stress when the mental health of children and adolescents around the globe is directly or indirectly impacted, the role of mental health care workers, including clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychiatric social workers is crucial keeping in mind their professional responsibilities and social challenges.

• 1. There is a need for  ‘tele mental health compatibility’  in place of in-person assessments and interventions. The objective of the mental health care providers should be to reach out to the general public at large. They need to work towards the production and dissemination of audio-video material related to healthy parenting, mental health awareness, reduction of stigma, practice mental health hygiene, promote health behavior, and psycho-educational material associated with the mental health care of children and adolescents.
• 2. There is an urgent requirement of  coordinated and innovative mental health  care delivery. For this, coordination with people who are playing a key role in the mental health care of children and adolescents e.g. parents, pediatricians, teachers, school counselors, community volunteers, NGOs, police, etc. should be involved and oriented about the mental health condition and briefly trained in providing basic psychological support and psychological first aid.
• 3. Providing online orientation for teachers  or the creation of material for school teachers and school counselors related to mental health promotion, life skill training, coordination with parents, and referral to mental health care professionals.
• 4. Conducting brief online training of  pediatricians  for mental health screening of vulnerable children, assessment of psychosocial factors, providing inputs relevant for the management of mild stress and anxiety in children, and referring to mental health care professionals is included.
• 5. Creating material for  special schools  for mental health promotion and management of behavior problems using contingency management, providing psychological first aid, referring to mental health care professionals would be required.
• 6. Create material for  community volunteers  for identification of high-risk children, e.g. underprivileged children, children of migrants, provide psychological first aid, and coordinate with caregivers and mental health care professionals.
• 7. Mental health care workers should focus on the construction and administration of  online questionnaires  to detect psychological distress and other stress symptoms in children if they or their parents are quarantined and also provide extra ad hoc supportive interventions.
• 8. Clinical Psychologists should design and implement tele based or in-person  short term focused behavioral interventions  for the management of known conditions in children [e.g. ADHD, autism, intellectual disabilities] mostly parent-focused, initiated using digital and electronic medium. The pathological consequences of crisis e.g. PTSD, depression, substance abuse in adolescents should also be addressed on similar lines. There is a requirement for creative solutions, often on a case-by-case basis.
• 9. Psychiatrists need to carefully weigh  the risks and benefits of psychotropic medications  for children and adolescents e.g. anti-depressants, anxiolytics, anticonvulsants, etc., and if possible, arranging medicines for those who cannot arrange.
• 10. There is a need for mental health care workers carry out longitudinal  and developmental studies  on short term and long term mental health impact of the COVID 19 pandemic and lock down on children and adolescents.

2.14. Health system and policy makers

It has been recognized by the world that the traditional pre-COVID-19 models and policies for children and adolescents' mental health are no longer applicable during COVID 19 era. Hence, the need is felt for the transformation of policies that can take into account not only lock down duration but also times following the lockdown. The following recommendations may be useful for guiding the functioning of the health system and policy making related to mental health care  of children and adolescents :

• 1. The focus of the health care system should be prevention, promotion, and treatment according to the  public mental health system  to meet population- mental health needs of the general population at large.
• 2. No single umbrella policy would be able to take into account various mental health aspects of children and adolescents dwelling in different environments. Hence the health system and policies should be based on  contextual parameters  that are different for each country or region depending on the degree of infection and the phase of infection they are in.
• 3. Since there is a dearth of mental health care workers in most developing countries. There is a need for  inclusive approaches  in which health care workers e.g. pediatricians, general physicians, schools, non-governmental organizations sectors are involved. Moreover, brief basic mental health care training for these arms should be planned.
• 4. Separate rules for the rural, suburban, and concrete domiciles in growing countries spotting the variance among college districts, which includes city, suburban, and rural districts.
• 5. It is critically important to develop  flexible strategies  that can be revised and adapted to school and throughout the community and done with close communication with state and/or local public health authorities.
• 6. Policies should be formulated taking into account the  developmental stage of the child  e.g. preschoolers, school age, adolescents.
• 7. There is a need for full translation dominant therapy approaches to  telehealth compatibility, but clear rules and regulations regarding the same are mandatory.
• 8. It should be ensured that the vulnerable sections of the society (medically prone, underprivileged, having developmental challenges, or having disabilities) are not neglected.
• 9. The  school re-entry policies  should be defined considering strict implimentation of key principles of social distancing and hygiene. This should be done keeping in mind the importance of in-person learning for children in the school set up.
• 10. Ensure adequate  fund allocation  and proper monitoring and utilization of the funds for policy implementation.

2.15. Critical appraisal of the studies included

The studies included in the review were collected after setting criteria to have a comprehensive view of the global vision in managing the crisis of children in the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the studies included in the review were based on online self-reports( Bhat et al., 2020 ; Jiao et al., 2020 ; Oosterhoff et al., 2020b ). The adults and older children were the respondents of the study( Lee, 2020 ; Liu et al., 2020 ; Viner et al., 2020b ; Wang et al., 2020 ).  The studies are mainly carried out in the developed nations and the East Asian countries. Studies have reported the concerns may not be generalizable throughout the globe. There are variations in the number of samples as well, thus they make it difficult to generalize the findings of their study alone.

The cross sectional studies are useful in understanding the immediate or short term impact apparent at a certain point of time. However the limitations of these cross sectional studies are that these studies cannot conclude about the long term impact of COVID-19, given that certain pre-existing vulnerabilities, high risk factors and stressors could be multiple, ongoing or recurrent and also the manner through which they work may vary. Consequently, there is a pressing need for carrying out longitudinal and developmental studies to be able to apprehend multiple layers of dynamic determinants playing role during this time of global crisis ( Holmes et al., 2020 ).The literature suggests the need for evidence based elaborative strategies and plan of action to cater to the mental health needs of children and adolescents during the period of pandemic ( Wade et al., 2020 ).

3. Limitations

The review articles for this review have been selected during the time of global lockdown, where the issues and challenges were new and the global crisis was at peak times. In our review, we were unable to track the measures of management targeted towards the children. The strategies reported in the studies were isolated to geopolitical conditions. The recommendations provided in this review can be modified to suit the needs of the places according to their local resources and geopolitical scenarios. Due to strict selection criteria and the short period of data collection and the only use of electronic databases for our research, there is a possibility of missing studies relevant to the care of children and adolescents.

4. Conclusion

Although the rate of COVID-19 infection among young children and adolescents is low, the stress confronted by them poses their condition as highly vulnerable. Many cross-sectional studies have been conducted to analyze the impact of COVID-19 and lock down on children and youth. The results of these studies show that the nature and extent of this impact depend on several vulnerability factors such as the developmental age, educational status, pre-existing mental health condition, being economically underprivileged or being quarantined due to infection /fear of infection. Studies show that young children show more clinginess, disturbed sleep, nightmares, poor appetite, inattentiveness, and significant separation problems.

The containment measures like school and activity centers closures for long periods together expose the children and youth to the debilitating effects on educational, psychological, and developmental attainment as they experience loneliness, anxiety, and uncertainty. Compulsive use of internet gaming and social media puts them at higher risk. Children and adolescents with mental health conditions are not used to variation in the environment. Hence there could be an exacerbation in symptoms and behavioral problems.

The children who receive training, therapy, and other treatments are at high risk of being derailed from therapy and special educations. Economically underprivileged children are particularly prone to exploitation and abuse. Children quarantined are at high risk for developing higher risk for mental health-related challenges.

There is a need to ameliorate children and adolescent's access to mental health services by using both face to face as well as digital platforms. For this collaborative network of parents, psychiatrists, psychologists, pediatricians, community volunteers, and NGOs are required. There is a need for ‘tele mental health compatibility’ and be accessible to the public at large. This would be crucial to prevent during and post-pandemic mental challenges in the most vulnerable and underprivileged section of the society. The focal point of the health care system and policymaking should be prevention, promotion, and interventions corresponding to the public mental health system to meet the mental health needs of the population at large by taking the regional contextual parameters into account.

Disclosure of prior presentation of study data

This paper has not been submitted in full or part in any conference and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.

Financial disclosure

This is a completely researcher initiated study without any external funding whatsoever.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Shweta Singh: Writing - review & editing, Software, Validation, Supervision, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Conceptualization, Methodology. Deblina Roy: Validation, Visualization, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Software. Krittika Sinha: Visualization, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft. Sheeba Parveen: Visualization, Investigation. Ginni Sharma: Visualization, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft. Gunjan Joshi: Visualization, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft.

Declaration of Competing Interest

There is no known conflict of interest.The authors whose names are listed below certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants, participation in spakers’ bureaus arrangements, consultancies, memberships, stock ownerships, or other equity interest, or expert testimony and patent licencing arangements) or non financial interests such as ( personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs)in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. All the authors confirm that, all of them has contributed in the conception of design; analysis, interpretation of data; drafting the article; critically revisiting the article for important intellectual inputs; and approval of the final version. This paper has not been submitted elsewhere or is under review at another journal or publishing venue. The authors have no affiliation with any organization, with a direct or indirect financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the manuscript.

Acknowldegment

We would like to Acknowldge the efforts of Mrs. Meenakshi Seth and Mr. Prakhar Bhanu, who were involved in improving the language of the manuscript. Additionally the authors are gratefull to the CORONA Warriers i.e. the Health Care Workers for their selfless and tremendous service to the mankind.

☆ This paper is aimed at reviewing articles related to mental-health aspects of children and adolescents impacted by COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. There is a need to carry out longitudinal and developmental studies and plan strategies to enhance children's and adolescent's access to mental health services during and after the current crisis. For this direct and digital collaborative network of psychiatrists, psychologists, pediatricians, and community volunteers are of vital importance.

Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113429 .

Appendix. Supplementary materials

• Photo Stories

Reopening Of School After Lockdown – A Journey From Fear To Joy By Amlan Chakraborty

Covid-19 Pandemic is probably one of the biggest disasters after World War Two. The entire world suffered partial or complete lockdown. A virus that cannot be even seen via a normal microscope stopped the entire world.

It is anticipated, Novel Corona Virus, SARS-CoV-2originated in bats and jumped to humans at one of the open-air markets of Wuhan – a cosmopolitan town of China in December 2019. Due to its rapid infectious nature, the virus started spreading from one to other humans rapidly, and gradually the virus was spread to each of the countries. World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020 and a pandemic in March 2020. People across the world tried to return to their homes. Due to interaction with people in airport/ rail station and public transport the virus was spreading exponentially. On January 27, 2020, the first case of Covid-19 was detected in India. The patient was a 20-year-old lady from Trissur, Kerala. In our state West Bengal, the first case of the same disease was detected on 17th March 2020. The situation in India was gradually getting worsened from that day. Considering the scenario, the honorable Prime Minister of India first declared a Janta Curfew (People’s Curfew) to on 22nd March Sunday followed by a Complete Lockdown in the country from the midnight of 25th March 2020.

From that time the entire world started suffering from fear. The situation bore a resemblance to the great novel “The Plague” by French novelist Albert Camus. Like the novel, the government organized special words in the hospitals for the Covid patients but all the beds were getting filled within few weeks. Doctors were confused about how to handle the situation. Homes were quarantined. People stopped socializing. Public transports were completely closed and the roads were empty. None dared to go out of the home except those who had to go to purchase medicine and bare minimum food. But even in those cases, police asked them to stop. Everybody was frightened.

A huge number of offices were completely stopped their business. As a result, a large number of people lost their jobs. To curb the spread of the coronavirus most of the offices asked their employees to work from home via online media. Even the academic sector was also started running online. But it created several issues, especially for the school students. All stakeholders, like students, guardians, teachers were in trouble. First, the internet connection was not stable to give or follow the lessons, secondly, all the families were not well off to provide smartphone or tablet to their children, thirdly, school students were feeling severe depression without the physical presence of their beloved friends even they were getting unfit without any physical activity, Moreover, it was hardly possible for the parents to monitor kids to prevent possible misuse of internet. Somehow the educational system was running with hiccups.

Unlock process was partially started from the mid of July 2020. Different sectors were reopening. But educational sectors were still functioning online. The Central Government of India asked State Governments to take decisions about the same. Though some of the states decided to start classes on school campuses it caused a sudden hike in the number of daily affected patients. Other states were skeptical whether to reopen the school campuses or not.

Finally, in February 2021, the school campuses in West Bengal were set to reopen for offline classes. Considering the board examination, the pupils of class IX, X, XI, XII were asked to attend classes from school.

To observe the process of reopening the school campus, I visited to a renowned and reputed government school of College Street (the education hub of Kolkata) where students belonging to middle or lower-middle-class families usually come. Moreover, I was interested to check, how a government school be compliant with the Covid-19 protocols with limited resources.

Visiting the school first I noticed a tense scenario. Haphazard classrooms without students mirrored the insanity and fear in the educational system of the society. Tensed teachers were discussing among themselves to make guidelines for adhering to the Covid-19 protocols. A parent-teacher meeting was scheduled prior to the reopening date. In the said meeting, the school authority proclaimed the rules to follow. Guardians were also naturally scared and quizzical about their kids.

Finally, the D-day came. First, the school campus was completely disinfected and students started coming. The joy and excitement of their eyes were shadowed by the fear of being affected by the deadly virus. Probable risk caused by disinfecting chemicals also frightened them. At last, the classes were started. Gradually the teenage students started overcoming the fear and at last, the student life got back to the normal rhythm.

In this photo story, the process of reopening the school and the way to get back to normal rhythm from fear has been shown.

About Amlan Chakraborty

I am Amlan Chakraborty from Kolkata. By profession, I am a solution architect of Tata Consultancy Services. Apart from my job I am a traveler, travel writer, blogger, and photographer. I use photography as a medium of expressing my views about nature, people, cultural and socio-political incidents. I was graduated from the University of Calcutta and completed Earlier, I was a painter and completed a Senior Diploma in Fine Arts from SarbabharatiyaCharu-o-KarukalaNiket.

My travelogues and photographs have been published in national media like Live History India and local newspapers and magazines like The Telegraph, EiSamay, SukhiGrihokon, Apon Path, etc.

You can find Amlan Chakraborty on the Web:

Copyrights: All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Amlan Chakraborty.  Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.

• Indian Photographer
• Indian Photography
• Indian Photostory
• Kolkata Photography
• Photo Essay
• Photo Series
• Photo Story

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First Day at School Post-Pandemic

18 February, 2022

Lockdown has changed our lives drastically. It has restricted us to the vicinity of our homes. It has also changed the way we used to function and has created a new normal for us. This includes working and studying from home. For the first few months, most of the workers were working from home and students were unable to join the school and they had to pursue their studies online. It was a huge adjustment as studying at home meant staring at screens for the entire duration of the classes. This also meant limited interaction with their friends and teachers and no sports for most of the time.

The situation is getting slightly better now, and everyone is going out for their daily chores. The best schools in Gurgaon have also been reopened and students cannot wait to start their schools, meet their friends and teachers. The first day at school is usually filled with familiar faces and welcome-back hugs. However, this year, going back to school can be full of anxiousness due to the pandemic as it is still not completely over. Many students are discovering their first day at school isn’t exactly what they’d dreamed of. Meeting up with friends and getting together for a game of football is no longer a fantasy but students are facing difficulty in going back to school. The classes are no longer limited to screens and social interactions are surely beneficial for children.

If you are a resident of Gurgaon and looking to enroll your child in the  best school in Gurgaon , then Alpine convent school which is the best school in Gurgaon is a perfect choice for you. The school is ready to welcome their students with the same familiar atmosphere but with all the precautionary norms to keep students safe and healthy. The classrooms, assembly hall, sports complex, school buses and library are well sanitized. Sanitizer outlets are installed in the school premises at many spots. Every student must go through a temperature check to make sure they are healthy to join the school.

The vision and mission of Alpine school and how exactly they fulfill it makes them the best CBSE school in Gurgaon . They wish to mold their students in such a manner that they become a responsible citizen of the world. They teach their students values and morals that make them stand out in society. The students are provided with a safe environment where they learn how to modulate their thought process and learn beyond textbooks. It helps them become the leader of the future and take ownership towards their own growth. If you wish to make your child the best version of themselves, Alpine convent school is the best school in sector 10. The school has a legacy since 1966 of advanced infrastructure, course curriculum, highest quality education and enriching their lives with morals and values.

The Alpine school is one of the best schools in Gurgaon sector 10. It has highly qualified and professional teaching staff. Affiliated with the  Central Board of Secondary Education  (CBSE), the school is a perfect blend of Indian roots with updated and international course structure. This helps the students stay ahead of time and learn valuable lessons. The lessons learnt in classrooms are beyond textbook knowledge.

They enable the child to learn through real life examples and educational concepts. The school inculcated the feeling of togetherness and yet teaches individuality to every student enrolled in their school. The lesson plans are planned by the best of the faculties in the form of projects, charts, assignments and extra-curricular activities. The school boasts about the quality of teaching methods and staff. Their hiring process is thorough and takes on cream-of-the-cream for their students. It is their firm belief that a teacher can help a student achieve their utmost potential.  The teaching staff at Alpine school is empathetic and supportive which makes the institution the best school in sector 10 albeit best CBSE school in Gurgaon.

The practicality of the course structure keeping the overall growth and development of the children requires for them to get together. Learning values such as leadership and kindness happens when children get to interact with each other. Not only limited to values, the practical courses that required lab work also lagged in the time of lockdown. Alpine school takes care of the course curriculum planning in such a manner that it is helping students adjust to the new normal and course structure.  the course every year is an amalgamation of Indian and International study material. This helps the students stay updated on the subject matters.

Even though students might be anxious or excited to return to their classrooms, nothing has changed at Alpine accepts the precautionary standards. The teaching staff is available to help the students reach their potential and learn new things in the classroom every day. If you want to invest in the future of your child, Alpine convent school is the way to go. Send your child to the best schools in Gurugram  and watch them soar to new heights of excellence.

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My First Day of School After Lockdown Essay

My first day of school after lockdown essay.

As we know, students have not been to schools and colleges since the pandemic started in the year 2019. 

Now, the government of India has decided to open schools and colleges. In this article we are going to discuss;

Essay on reopening of schools after lockdown.

So let's begin. 

A day before my first day of school, I was very excited to see my school again. I was also excited to meet my school friends, whom I was missing a lot. I also was missing my teachers who are very supportive and encouraging to us. They always keep us motivated for our studies.

In the morning of that very day, I got dressed up and ready for school. 

I boarded on a school bus and reached the school within 30 minutes. I was amazed to see teachers checking masks and hand sanitizers at the school gate.

As I entered my school campus, I happen to see my friends and teachers. But was not able to hug my friends as it is not allowed because of the safety measures. Teachers welcomed us with their kind expressions. 

I was feeling new. It was a new world for me. And then we did some exercises. It freshened our bodies. 

We entered the classroom and there were only a few benches. And we were instructed to maintain social distancing.

Our teachers started teaching us subjects one by one. But to be honest, I was not in a learning mood. I was there to enjoy with my friends. The first few minutes, it was a kinda awkward moment but then It felt really good to have offline lectures. 

And at 1:00 PM we were granted the launch break. But everyone was instructed not to share food. And we followed our teacher's instructions. Everyone followed the social distancing. 

The first day of my school was exciting. I met my friends and teachers. The friendly behavior of the teachers was excellent.

Some points to remember.

• We should always follow the instructions of our teachers.
• We should not indulge in bad activities.
• We should maintain social distancing.
• We should not share food with our friends.

My First Day of School After Lockdown Essay in 200 Words

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Essay on Lockdown

Students are often asked to write an essay on Lockdown in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Lockdown

What is a lockdown.

A lockdown is when people must stay where they are, usually due to an emergency. This can happen for different reasons, like a dangerous person in the area or a disease outbreak. During a lockdown, you can’t go to places like school or the park. It’s a rule to keep everyone safe.

Lockdown and Staying Home

In a lockdown, you stay home to avoid getting sick or spreading germs. Schools and shops may close, and you might not see your friends for a while. It’s important to listen to adults and stay inside.

Learning in Lockdown

Even in a lockdown, you can keep learning. Schools might do classes online, so you can study from home. You’ll use a computer or tablet to see your teacher and classmates. It’s different but still a way to learn.

Fun at Home

Lockdown doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. You can play games, read, or do crafts. It’s a chance to spend time with family and try new hobbies. Remember, it’s not forever, just for now.

250 Words Essay on Lockdown

A lockdown is when people must stay where they are, usually in their homes, to stay safe. This can happen when there is a big problem, like a dangerous virus spreading. During a lockdown, schools, offices, and shops can close, and people must work, study, and shop from home if they can.

Why Lockdowns Happen

Lockdowns are used to stop people from getting sick or hurt. When too many people get sick at once, hospitals can get too busy. By staying home, fewer people get sick at the same time, and hospitals can help everyone who needs it.

Life During Lockdown

Life changes a lot in a lockdown. You can’t visit friends or go to the park like before. Many turn to books, games, and the internet to learn and have fun. Families spend more time together, and people find new ways to connect, like video calls.

Challenges of Lockdown

Lockdowns can be hard. People might miss their friends or feel sad and worried. It’s not easy to stay inside for a long time. Some people also worry about their jobs and money if they can’t go to work.

After a Lockdown

When a lockdown ends, things slowly start to open again, like schools and stores. It’s important to be careful and listen to rules to keep everyone safe. Lockdown teaches us to be strong, care for each other, and that by working together, we can handle big challenges.

500 Words Essay on Lockdown

A lockdown is when people are told to stay where they are, usually in their homes, because of an emergency. This could be because of a health crisis, like a big outbreak of sickness, or for safety reasons, like when there’s a danger in the community. During a lockdown, schools, offices, and shops may close, and people have to follow special rules.

Reasons for a Lockdown

Lockdowns are used to keep people safe. For example, if a new sickness is spreading very quickly and making lots of people ill, a lockdown can help stop it from reaching more people. It’s like hitting the pause button on normal life so that the problem doesn’t get bigger.

Life During a Lockdown

When there’s a lockdown, daily life changes a lot. People can’t go to school or work like they usually do. Instead, they might have classes or meetings online. Being at home all the time can be hard. Families have to find new ways to stay busy and happy without leaving their houses. This can mean playing games, reading, or learning new hobbies.

The Good and the Bad

Lockdowns can be helpful because they keep people safe from danger. With fewer people moving around, it’s easier for doctors and nurses to take care of those who are sick. But lockdowns can also be tough. People might miss their friends or family members who don’t live with them. Some people might even feel sad or worried because of all the changes.

Following Rules

During a lockdown, it’s important to follow the rules set by leaders. This usually means staying home unless you need to get something important like food or medicine. Washing hands and keeping clean is also very important to stay healthy. People who work in hospitals or stores might still go to work to help others.

Learning from Lockdown

A lockdown can teach us many things. We learn to be patient and to take care of each other. We also learn how to solve problems in new ways, like studying from home or talking to friends and family online. It shows us that by working together and helping each other, we can get through tough times.

After the Lockdown

When a lockdown ends, things slowly start to go back to normal. Schools and shops open again, and people can go outside more. But it’s important to remember what was learned during the lockdown. We should keep washing our hands well and stay home if we feel sick, so we can keep ourselves and others safe.

Lockdowns are not easy, but they are sometimes necessary to protect everyone’s health and safety. By understanding what a lockdown is, why it happens, and how to deal with it, we can all do our part to help during these times. And when it’s over, we can appreciate being able to go out and see our friends and family even more.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Essay On Human Life after Lockdown

• Post author: admin
• Post published: May 19, 2020
• Post category: Health sciences / Human resources / Management / Personal development

Introduction

During lockdown people have to work online from homes, students have started studying online by taking online classes, some people have started their online businesses, such as selling clothes, or other accessories, some people are helping others by donating the resources and helping the poor ones by giving them money and safety products (Lau, 2020). Finally, the world is almost at the end of the lockdown which was caused by an awful virus called Coronavirus. Even though there are some rumours that there is no confirmation or surety of what is going to happen in these last days (Blithe, 2017). But in case the lockdown is lifted, every individual would be going back to their work, and everyone back to the life before lockdown, but it does not mean that life should go back to normal rapidly (Thelwall, 2020). People still have to be aware and cautious about the virus and focus and follow more safety and precautions than before in lockdown, such as avoid mass events or gatherings, keeping distance, and wear masks and gloves if travelling, or going out.   

Travelling and Tourism after lockdown

Travelling after lockdown is going to be recovered for sure, but it would be stage by stage and steadily (Alvarez, 2020). The travelling criteria and allowance to travel will vary by region and country by country. There is a possibility that it could take 18 months for the recovery of international travel. If an individual migrates from one country to another which could be at the top of the outbreak of the infection, there is going to be an isolation period of 2 weeks even if that individual has been tested negative for COVID-19 (Gottschalk, 2016). In short, travelling in coming days would be only for a valid purpose so that there could be less crowd and this would lessen the chances of spreading the virus, such as for some business meetings or dealings, and these businesses travelling have to be for limited employees who would be travelling for the company (Peto, 2020). Travelling through trains or taking flights would get more expensive and there is a possibility that the management of airlines shortens the number of travellers because of social distancing, like leaving the middle seats empty. Travelling has to be more concerned and have strict rules for an individual who would be travelling. There should be more safety measures considered during travelling, such as providing masks, sanitizing the travellers, and keeping the distance (Taylor, 2015).

Markets after lockdown

Most of the shops and markets have started reopening in all over the world and its nations (Chagoya, 2017). People have also started visiting markets in the form of a huge crowd. This shows a big threat of an increase in the spread of the virus. People are visiting markets and buying stuff without having any safety gadgets. But in some nations, the government is providing safety measures and not allowing the continuation of the markets and other crowded places (Chintalapudi, 2020). After the lockdown, people still have to keep this in mind that the virus has not fully vanished, and to consider all the important precautions, such as wearing medicated masks and gloves, sanitizing their hands, and avoiding crowded places. When the markets would be reopening after lockdown, everything might get more expensive, because many sales and businessman have already faced a huge loss in the business due to the outbreak of this virus.   In some countries and cities, the government and the citizens are following the strict safety rules to lessen the chances of being infected (Jones, 2017). After the reopening of the markets, the shopkeepers and the management of big stores or shops, have to provide the safety for the customers, by making the salesmen wear gloves and masks and communicating through distance.

Schooling system after lockdown  

Schools, colleges, universities, and every educational institute all around the world have been closed during lockdown since these few past months. This has led to some online sessions and classes for the students according to their courses. Students are attending online classes, giving examinations, and doing other online activities. In the upcoming days, even after the end of lockdown, the government should not allow the reopening of schools or universities and any other educational institute. Because it would be so difficult to manage and keep the safety measures during the school timing when the classes would be full of students. It would not be possible to keep the distance between everyone at school, and this could cause more chances of someone being infected. Lives could get in danger because there is no proper vaccine invented for the cure of this infection in today’s date. The only cure for being safe from the COVID-19 virus is to protect yourself from any direct contact with each other or any other surface which could be carrying the virus. So there should be no reopening of educational institutes until the scientists finally invent a vaccine for the cure of this virus. So, it would be better for the students to stay at home and take online lessons.

As the government has decided to lift the lockdown, many shopkeepers and other workers are already back to the jobs, and many people are going out recklessly, without any safety equipment. Some places, which are mostly crowded such as shopping malls, parks, and clubs have still not got permission to be reopened (Buser, 2015). There is still an increase in the cases of infected people by COVID-19, all around the world, and there is no vaccine for the cure yet. The only way to stay safe is to maintain social distance, not to make any direct contact with each other, wear gloves and masks when going outside, sanitizing hands, and wash them more frequently (Lin, 2020). Even after the end of lockdown, people should work from the home, and students should study online to keep the social distance. If the people would start going outside n a form of a huge crowd, there could be more chances of frequent spread of the virus and that could cause more lockdowns in upcoming days. It would be better if the government does not allow the opening of crowded places, such as malls and parks. Because of this lockdown and this situation, most of the shopkeepers are facing a huge loss in the business, and now they have started opening the shops and continued selling products. If this is how it is going to work, then there are more chances of the spread of COVID-19 in upcoming days, and that would lead to more strict lockdowns.

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Essay on Lockdown in English for Students and Children

This long essay on lockdown in English is suitable for students of classes 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, 11, 12, and also for competitive exam aspirants. All important information related to how to write an amazing essay about Lockdown.

• 1.1 Definition
• 1.2 Introduction
• 1.3 Online Education During Lockdown
• 1.4 Advantages of Lockdown
• 1.5 Disadvantage of Lockdown
• 1.6 Lockdown 2021
• 1.7 Conclusion

Long Essay on Lockdown in English 800 Words

Lockdown essay in English – Lockdown is a term that exploded collectively around the world in the year 2020. With the widespread attack of an invisible virus, known as the Novel Coronavirus , the entire world was devastated by the Pandemic of this virus. It occurs during a wide variety of emergencies and it disrupts normal life.

Many words became popular after the arrival of Coronavirus, the term “lockdown” being one of them. A lockdown is a period of time when people have to stay home and are only allowed to travel in an emergency. During this period everything is closed except for some essential services like hospitals, grocery stores, medical stores, etc.

Introduction

Coronavirus has been considered the most contagious virus ever in the history of mankind. Its effects have become catastrophic within a short time. To prevent the spread of this Coronavirus in the country, our government has taken some drastic steps.

One of the most important measures implemented is a lockdown, where all businesses have been closed, all people have been confined to their homes and almost all professional, personal, and economic activities have come to a standstill.

The lockdown was announced and enforced on the 25 th of March, 2020. It has been extended, in phases, to continue till mid-June. The government has issued advisories to all citizens to practice social distancing and stay at home. The purpose of the lockdown is to prevent community transmission of this deadly virus so that the chain of transmission can be broken.

Each and every person faced many difficulties during this period but for the daily wagers, it was much more difficult. Work from home, online education , and online business were some of the options during this period, and the Indian government also helped the people a lot.

Online Education During Lockdown

For the first time, schools in India have moved to online classes. It is a struggle for the teacher as well as the students. School students, children, and their parents felt the impact to close schools and educational institutions.

The lockdown situation prompted people to learn and use digital technology and as a result, increased digital literacy.

The teaching material is easily shared among the students and the doubt questions are solved on Telegram, WhatsApp, E-mail, and various social media. Students need to learn digital skills for their own sake and improve the quality of education as well as changes in syllabus, textbooks, teacher training, and examination systems, but at the very least, the quality of online education must also improve needed.

Advantages of Lockdown

Due to the lockdown, on the one hand, while people have been forced to remain imprisoned in the house, on the other hand, many big benefits are also being seen. Some important benefits of essay on lockdown:-

• The rapidly spreading Coronavirus has been controlled by applying Lockdown.
• Due to the lockdown, the movement of vehicles has been reduced very much, factories have been closed, and the air of the cities has started to clear due to the rein in such activities.
• The impact of the lockdown is also being seen on global warming. In early April, scientists showed a hole of 1,000,000 square kilometers in the ozone layer above the North Pole. According to NASA, it has started filling these holes now.
• Earth’s vibration has been reduced by 30 to 50 percent due to less traffic, machines, and noise pollution.
• Due to Coronavirus, there has been a change in the cleanliness habits of the people. People are being more vigilant. Due to the lockdown, more time is also available for cleaning the house.
• People are learning to live with limited resources and insist on being self-sufficient (or Aatmnirbhar ) in the future so that they can produce themselves.
• During this lockdown period, we have got a lot of time for self-development and self-awareness.
• Most people in Lockdown are cooking at home and eating the same. Health will also be good due to good food.

Disadvantage of Lockdown

Some important disadvantages of the essay on Lockdown:-

• Many migrant laborers got trapped in different cities and they could not return to their homes due to which they had to face many difficulties.
• Many industries like agriculture, education, and entertainment are suffering. It has negatively impacted the world economy.
• Unemployment has increased rapidly due to the lockdown. Because of this many people have lost their jobs.
• All schools and colleges were closed due to the lockdown, due to which the students were not able to study well.

Lockdown 2021

The lockdown was imposed due to Coronavirus in March 2020 last year. The same situation is being seen again. Again in April 2021, Coronavirus is spreading rapidly due to which lockdown is being imposed in all the states one by one.

In view of this spreading Coronavirus, the CBSE board canceled the class 10 examination and postponed the class 12 examination.

Lockdown is something that affects people from all backgrounds and especially the daily wagers. Some of the main problems during a lockdown are employment, poverty, and starvation.

Overall, we should keep in mind that lockdowns are only imposed for our welfare, so it is always our duty to follow the rules of lockdown.

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I hope you like this post “ Essay on Lockdown in English “. If you want to give any suggestions then comment below. Share this essay with your friends.

My Name is Mukesh Kumar. I am a Teacher, Blogger, Educational Content Writer, and Founder of CBSE Digital Education.

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Essay on Lockdown

‘Lockdown’ refers to the suspension of the usual privileges of citizens, regarding their movement and socializing. It is imposed by a competent authority to prevent any untoward incident. In India, a lockdown was imposed for many months by the government to contain the spread of novel coronavirus disease. Find here some well-described essays to know in detail about the lockdown.

Short and Long Essay on Lockdown in English

Following short and long essays on Lockdown in different word limits are given here that is useful for students of classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and class 12 in English in 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 500 words. Also find short Lockdown essay 10 lines.

Lockdown Essay 10 Lines (100 – 150 Words)

1) Lockdown refers to the prevention of citizens from moving and socializing as usual.

2) Lockdown is imposed by the government in case of any emergency.

3) India has undergone a lockdown to control the widespread of the Corona virus.

4) The government of India imposed the first lockdown on 25 March 2020, Wednesday.

5) India observed continuous 150 days complete shutdown in the lockdown.

6) Except for the emergency services, everything was closed and restricted.

7) The lockdown was continued for a few months in four parts.

8) The lockdown helped in controlling the widespread coronavirus and massive deaths.

9) Lives and works of many people were affected by the lockdown.

10) Lockdown was not fruitful for the economy as India suffered negative GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

Essay 1 (250 Words)

Introduction

Lockdown is an emergency protocol implemented by the government of India with an objective to contain the spread of a novel coronavirus epidemic. The government implemented a 21 days countrywide lockdown at the beginning which was continued for many months in 4 parts in the entire nation and further the state governments implemented it as per their states need. India was under lockdown for more than 150 days continuously.

Lockdown – The Only Remedy against Novel Coronavirus

Novel coronavirus disease is highly contagious and it spreads fast from person to person. No other disease before has been known to spread such a fast rate as the novel coronavirus. There is no option other than to treat the affected symptomatically; however, the final recovery depends largely on an individual’s stamina and immunity. From the perspective of this scenario, the lockdown seems to be the only practical and effective solution to prevent the spread of the disease.

Although we cannot imagine such scenario for more time our government courage to take such a bold step. It was implemented to keep safe from this deadly virus. Lockdown badly effected our economy and today it is in its fracture mode.

Success of Lockdown

Although we felt safe when the government took such a major but some experts remark lockdown as an unplanned action and it has directly affected the entire nation. Apart from India many other countries also adopted lockdown but they are strong enough to cope up with the economic damage caused due to lockdown.

It would not be wrong to say that the lockdown reduced the flow of this virus, but at the same time cases started to increase rapidly after it was unlocked in India. India became the second-highest infected country. So, in this term, we cannot say that lockdown was truly successful.

Even today schools, colleges, parks, public spaces, cinemas in India are closed. The lockdown can be still seen but the cases are decreasing comparatively. The vaccine has been developed and soon people will get rid of this deadly virus till than keep wearing your mask, wash your hand frequently, use sanitizer and follow social distancing.

Essay 2 (400 Words)

‘Lockdown’ as the name implies is a complete lockdown imposed on the usual movement of the general population of a place. A lockdown can be localized or applied over a wide area, depending on the purpose.

Lockdown in India

• First lockdown : It was 25th March 2020 when it was implemented for the first time, till the 14th of April. When the entire nation was completely shut except for some necessary grocery shops and health facilities.
• Second Lockdown : The second lockdown was announced from 15th April to 4th May with the same set of rules and regulations.
• Third Lockdown : It was implemented from the 4th of May to the 17th of May but in this phase of lockdown some special trains were run to help the daily wages workers. Some people stuck abroad were also bought back. This operation was named ‘Operation Samudrsetu’.
• Fourth Lockdown : It was implemented up to 31st of May and further different states extended as per the condition of their state. Districts were divided into three zones as per the COVID cases in the area. Red zone for most infected areas, Orange for few cases in the area whereas Green for areas with no infection.

Impacts of Lockdown

• On Novel Coronavirus Disease

This is the most significant and most desirable impact of the lockdown. The novel coronavirus is highly contagious, spreading fast from person to person. Lockdown makes social distancing effective; prohibiting human to human contact at the highest level possible. This social distancing helps a lot in containing the spread of the disease.

But at the same time, we cannot imagine continuing lockdown for a long time, because it has directly affected us in many ways.

• On The Economy

A countrywide lockdown isn’t good for the economy and is a setback for the economic growth and development of the nation. With transport suspended, railways and road transport agencies suffer losses to the tunes of crores. Small businesses and daily wage laborers are the most affected. Our GDP is going in negative decimals which is -9.6% this year and it is really a matter of fear because it will directly cause inflation.

• On Pollution Level

This is a significant positive impact of the lockdown. With all types of transport being suspended and also the people being forbidden from roaming unnecessarily, the air quality index improves drastically. The change was felt within a day or two of the lockdown.

• On Emergency Services

Lockdown was good for the emergency services and the personnel in a way that didn’t put additional stress on them. With no traffic and rush like usual days, their job becomes extremely easy and convenient.

Lockdown was very necessary for containing the coronavirus epidemic and preventing it from spreading to the community level. Despite its negative impacts; lockdown was very important. Even today although we have developed the vaccine there are many public places still closed. It is quite good in many ways.

Essay 3 (500 – 600 Words)

Lockdown is an emergency protocol imposed by the government that prohibits people from leaving their homes and venturing into public areas. In the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic spread, several governments across the globe have imposed lockdown in their respective jurisdiction, to prevent the disease from spreading further. The government of India also imposed a countrywide lockdown from midnight of 25th March and followed up to 4 months in every state and further different states followed as per the COVID cases in their states.

Why Is The Lockdown Necessary?

Ever since the coronavirus disease was first reported in China in November 2019 it affected millions of people globally. The disease is highly contagious and spreads at an unprecedented rate as never witnessed before.

The motive of a lockdown is to implement social distancing, preventing people from socializing and unnecessary gathering, so that to prevent the spread of disease from one person to another.

Effects of Lockdown

Lockdown wasn’t easy and was quite harsh experience for daily wage laborers, small businesses, and marginalized sections. These people were devoid of their livelihood and with less saving, find the lockdown financially crippling. That been said; lockdown is still necessary to save lives.

People with permanent employment, usually have the opportunity of working from home and are least affected by the lockdown. Suspension of all modes of transport for the common public caused inconvenience during this period.

Local administration relaxed the lockdown for a couple of hours every day to let people buy the necessary groceries and do other works. However, despite the relaxation people were not allowed to gather in large numbers, roam unnecessarily, and Necessary government offices and emergency services like municipalities, hospitals, police, etc. worked as usual.

Solidarity in Lockdown

Though the lockdown in India is harsh on marginalized sections of the society; people from different walks of life and several organizations have come forward for help. As soon as the lockdown was imposed, many prominent film producers, actors, and business houses have paid thousands of crore of rupees as donation to the Prime Minister Relief Fund. This money was used to be spending on food and providing monetary help to the poor during the lockdown.

Government officers distributed food packages, making sure that no person is left without food in the lockdown phase.

People of India have also displayed a great amount of respect for their emergency services personnel and medical professionals by clapping and celebrating within the premises of their own houses.

Apart from this lockdown today India is second in the list of most affected countries in the world. Lockdown saved us from community spread in India. The vaccine has been developed and soon it will be on the market. Still, some public places, schools, theatres are still closed and it is necessary until and unless all of us get the vaccine.

Lockdown is necessary to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease. It is imperative that we should be strict with the guidelines of lockdown for our own health and safety. The lockdown has been resumed but still, there are some public places under lockdown. Follow the guidelines and cooperate to stay safe and also keep others safe in this epidemic.

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions on Lockdown

Ans . Lockdown is the policy that restricts the movement of people and states them to stay in one place.

Ans . The national emergency lockdown in India was implemented for the first time on the 25th of March, 2020.

Ans . The movement of people was restricted in the Covid-19 lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 infection.

Ans . Rajasthan was the first state in India to implement lockdown during Covid-19 phase 1.

Ans . Red zones are the areas that are highly infected.

Ans . The first lockdown was implemented by China in Wuhan on 23rd January 2020.

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Lockdown lifted, person detained after reports of student armed with a gun at Blanche Ely High School

By nbc6 • published april 19, 2024 • updated on april 19, 2024 at 2:15 pm.

A precautionary lockdown has been lifted at a Broward County school after deputies received reports of a possible student with a gun on campus, Broward County Public Schools confirmed to NBC6.

According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, just after 11 a.m., deputies received reports of a person possibly armed with a weapon at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach.

BSO deputies and detectives with BSO’s Threat Management Unit were contacted and were at the scene investigating the incident.

Aerial video taken by Chopper 6 showed heavy police presence outside the school.

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According to investigators, an individual was detained for questioning, but no weapon was found and the lockdown has been lifted.

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Police respond to West Ottawa schools after phone threat

• Updated: Apr. 19, 2024, 4:43 p.m. |
• Published: Apr. 19, 2024, 10:45 a.m.

Three candidates have filed so far in the race to become the next Ottawa County sheriff. John Tunison

• John Tunison | [email protected]

UPDATE : Police say students at the district’s two high school buildings were dismissed at noon. Police also were assisting with the dismissal of the district’s middle school and elementary schools.

OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- Police are at several school buildings in the West Ottawa Schools district after a phone threat was made about 9:30 a.m. Friday, April 19.

Stories by John Tunison

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‘Staff and students did an amazing job’: Walker PD addresses elementary school lockdown

WALKER, Mich. — A local elementary school went on lockdown Thursday afternoon after reports of a man, possibly armed with a weapon, suffering from a mental health episode nearby.

It happened just after 12 p.m. Thursday.

The Walker Police Department responded to the area near Cummings Elementary School on Schoolcraft Street help the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office with the welfare check.

Officers found the man in the woods, just south of the elementary school.

Walker officers stayed at the school to help clear the playground and maintain a visible security presence at the school, while others worked to take the man into protective custody.

Investigators say he was compliant and taken to the hospital for mental and medical evaluations.

Walker PD says, “Cummings Elementary staff and students did an amazing job responding to the sudden interruption of normal activities, doing as trained for this type of unfolding situation.”

Investigators add that the man had no ties to the school, nor did he go on school property.

They say the lockdown was done out of an abundance of caution, and no one was hurt.

Grandville Public Schools also sent a letter to district families to notify them of the situation. District administrators said, “Our students and staff did a great job responding to the lockdown situation. We are grateful to the Walker Police Department, the Grandville Police Department and Safety Director Mark Easterly for their guidance and expertise during this brief and stressful situation.”

The district says Walker PD lifted the lockdown at 12:45 p.m.

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25 years after Columbine shooting, schools are safe despite public perception of danger

Although understandable, our response to school shootings − requiring students to participate in active shooter drills, arming teachers − is out of proportion with the actual risk..

When it comes to mass killing, April 20 is a day of infamy. On that date 25 years ago, two teenagers became arguably the most notorious school shooters in American history by gunning down a dozen classmates and one teacher at Columbine High in Littleton, Colorado.

The 1999 Columbine massacre was neither the first nor the deadliest school shooting in our nation’s past, but by all measures it's the most significant in its impact on school policies, public attitudes and popular culture.

For the first time, the horrific drama was broadcast live. Recordings of the two assailants planning and practicing for the assault were released publicly. Regrettably, a Columbine video game, T-shirts and other cultural artifacts gave the two shooters the celebrity status they sought.

Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris fully expected to achieve fame and notoriety. As one of the assailants predicted in the so-called Columbine Basement Tapes, “I know we’re gonna have followers because we’re so (expletive) God-like.” And their influence has persisted ever since with  more than 100 copycats  committing or attempting to commit similar attacks at schools across America.

The Columbine effect is much wider than the occasional acts of copycats. It includes ways in which schools have been transformed in terms of security and the widespread perception of students and their parents that schools are unsafe.

Columbine gave rise to school lockdown drills

In the aftermath of Columbine, parents began to purchase bullet-resistant backpacks for their children. And schools began to stage lockdown drills that have questionable value  but unnerve many impressionable children with attempts at realism.

Columbine might have been the catalyst for widespread panic, but various data reports have served to reinforce and increase the sense of danger.

For example, the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s K-12 School Shooting Database suggests that the number of incidents has grown exponentially − with nearly 1,000 cases since 2021 . Importantly, the  definition of a school shooting  used in this database is quite broad: “a gun is fired, brandished, or bullet hits school property, regardless of the number of victims (including zero), time, day, or reason.”

My analysis, as a professor of criminology , of the K-12 school school shooting data for the past three years indicates that nearly 90% of the shootings did not take place inside the school itself, but in parking lots, athletic fields or school buses, where lockdown drills and metal detectors are not relevant.

The math on school shootings: As students head back to school, should parents worry about shootings? The math says no.

Of course, frightened parents think about the threat of a Columbine-type massacre when confronted with these statistics. However, the overwhelming majority of incidents have little to do with the safety of their children while in school.

The fears of students and their parents are focused more on active shooters, whether they are students or outsiders, roaming the hallways armed with a powerful instrument of death. 

Based on my review of FBI documents, since Columbine there have been 50 of that specific type of attack, resulting in victim injuries or fatalities, for an average of two per year. Of course, that is out of nearly 130,000 schools in America .

Congress has ignored gun violence. Here are the voices of the victims from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Although understandable, our response to school shootings − requiring students to participate in active shooter drills, arming teachers, installing security equipment − is out of proportion with the actual risk.

These actions intensify fears, rather than alleviate them, by suggesting to students that a bullseye is on their backs.

Threat of school shootings needs context

While there might be a handful of students who idolize the Columbine shooters and decide to follow their lead, history suggests that we might reduce fears as well as the risk by downplaying the threat of school shootings.

From 1996 through 2001, there were eight multiple fatality school shootings in the United States, prompting newsman Dan Rather in March 2001 to declare that school shootings were a national epidemic . But then there were none for the next four years.

Once the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks took place, Americans shifted their attention and concerns away from school shootings and squarely on a different threat to their safety.

I’m certainly not suggesting that we invite a tragedy to deflect attention from school shootings, only that we keep the risk in its proper perspective. Schools are indeed safe. Offered structure and supervision, children are safer in school than out.

James Alan Fox is the Lipman professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University and author of " Violence and Security on Campus: From Preschool through College ."

1 detained, lockdown lifted at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach after reports of student with gun on campus

POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - One person was detained after reports of a student with a gun prompted a lockdown at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach

The Broward Sheriff’s Office arrived at the school, located at 1201 NW 6th Ave., just after 11 a.m., Friday.

“It’s scary. This is the third time that happened,” said a parent who identified herself as Marissa.

7Skyforce hovered over the scene, where several cruisers surrounded the school.

After the school was place on lockdown, parents lined up outside the school.

When asked whether she’s tired of these incidents, Marissa replied, “Yes, I’m planning on moving out, moving away from this area. I’m done, it’s too much.”

Deputies and K-9 units were seen searching the campus for any threats.

“One of my kids ran out earlier. He jumped the gate,” said Marissa. “The other one said he was in class, he was OK so, you know, I thought it was a fake alarm or something like that, so when [my son] texts me that he was on the news, I said, ‘No, I have to go.'”

Students said it all started with a fight. One student recorded video after the school was placed on lockdown.

Other students ran out, afraid when they heard there could be a gun in school.

“I guess a lot of people saw it in his bag. I didn’t get to see it,” said student Justin Toussaint. “I see everybody running. You know if everybody’s running, we’ve all gotta run.”

A staff member reportedly tried to lure the student who was detained back to school.

No weapon was located, but the incident left parents waiting for answers.

“They don’t come out and say nothing. Officers went back in there. Three or four cars went in there; no one comes out and says something [about] what’s going on,” said Marissa, “so, I don;t know, it’s just trying to keep calm.”

The lockdown has since been lifted and an investigation is now underway.

It remains unclear whether the student will face disciplinary action from the school district or any criminal charges.

Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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About 1 in 4 U.S. teachers say their school went into a gun-related lockdown in the last school year

Twenty-five years after the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado , a majority of public K-12 teachers (59%) say they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting ever happening at their school. This includes 18% who say they’re extremely or very worried, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to better understand public K-12 teachers’ views on school shootings, how prepared they feel for a potential active shooter, and how they feel about policies that could help prevent future shootings.

To do this, we surveyed 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers from Oct. 17 to Nov. 14, 2023. The teachers are members of RAND’s American Teacher Panel, a nationally representative panel of public school K-12 teachers recruited through MDR Education. Survey data is weighted to state and national teacher characteristics to account for differences in sampling and response to ensure they are representative of the target population.

We also used data from our 2022 survey of U.S. parents. For that project, we surveyed 3,757 U.S. parents with at least one child younger than 18 from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2, 2022. Find more details about the survey of parents here .

Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

Another 31% of teachers say they are not too worried about a shooting occurring at their school. Only 7% of teachers say they are not at all worried.

This survey comes at a time when school shootings are at a record high (82 in 2023) and gun safety continues to be a topic in 2024 election campaigns .

Teachers’ experiences with lockdowns

About a quarter of teachers (23%) say they experienced a lockdown in the 2022-23 school year because of a gun or suspicion of a gun at their school. Some 15% say this happened once during the year, and 8% say this happened more than once.

High school teachers are most likely to report experiencing these lockdowns: 34% say their school went on at least one gun-related lockdown in the last school year. This compares with 22% of middle school teachers and 16% of elementary school teachers.

Teachers in urban schools are also more likely to say that their school had a gun-related lockdown. About a third of these teachers (31%) say this, compared with 19% of teachers in suburban schools and 20% in rural schools.

Do teachers feel their school has prepared them for an active shooter?

About four-in-ten teachers (39%) say their school has done a fair or poor job providing them with the training and resources they need to deal with a potential active shooter.

A smaller share (30%) give their school an excellent or very good rating, and another 30% say their school has done a good job preparing them.

Teachers in urban schools are the least likely to say their school has done an excellent or very good job preparing them for a potential active shooter. About one-in-five (21%) say this, compared with 32% of teachers in suburban schools and 35% in rural schools.

Teachers who have police officers or armed security stationed in their school are more likely than those who don’t to say their school has done an excellent or very good job preparing them for a potential active shooter (36% vs. 22%).

Overall, 56% of teachers say they have police officers or armed security stationed at their school. Majorities in rural schools (64%) and suburban schools (56%) say this, compared with 48% in urban schools.

Only 3% of teachers say teachers and administrators at their school are allowed to carry guns in school. This is slightly more common in school districts where a majority of voters cast ballots for Donald Trump in 2020 than in school districts where a majority of voters cast ballots for Joe Biden (5% vs. 1%).

What strategies do teachers think could help prevent school shootings?

The survey also asked teachers how effective some measures would be at preventing school shootings.

Most teachers (69%) say improving mental health screening and treatment for children and adults would be extremely or very effective.

About half (49%) say having police officers or armed security in schools would be highly effective, while 33% say the same about metal detectors in schools.

Just 13% say allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in schools would be extremely or very effective at preventing school shootings. Seven-in-ten teachers say this would be not too or not at all effective.

How teachers’ views differ by party

Republican and Republican-leaning teachers are more likely than Democratic and Democratic-leaning teachers to say each of the following would be highly effective:

• Having police officers or armed security in schools (69% vs. 37%)
• Having metal detectors in schools (43% vs. 27%)
• Allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in schools (28% vs. 3%)

And while majorities in both parties say improving mental health screening and treatment would be highly effective at preventing school shootings, Democratic teachers are more likely than Republican teachers to say this (73% vs. 66%).

Parents’ views on school shootings and prevention strategies

In fall 2022, we asked parents a similar set of questions about school shootings.

Roughly a third of parents with K-12 students (32%) said they were extremely or very worried about a shooting ever happening at their child’s school. An additional 37% said they were somewhat worried.

As is the case among teachers, improving mental health screening and treatment was the only strategy most parents (63%) said would be extremely or very effective at preventing school shootings. And allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in schools was seen as the least effective – in fact, half of parents said this would be not too or not at all effective. This question was asked of all parents with a child younger than 18, regardless of whether they have a child in K-12 schools.

Like teachers, parents’ views on strategies for preventing school shootings differed by party. 

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

About half of Americans say public K-12 education is going in the wrong direction

What public k-12 teachers want americans to know about teaching, what’s it like to be a teacher in america today, race and lgbtq issues in k-12 schools, from businesses and banks to colleges and churches: americans’ views of u.s. institutions, most popular.

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