Reports on Tuesday by a United Kingdom education watchdog says that restrictions arising from the coronavirus pandemic are taking a negative toll on young kids.
The report says that young kids have over the month’s forgotten simple etiquette since they were not able to continue learning in schools as a result of the lockdown. While some young kids can no longer correctly make use of the fork and knife when eating, others have degenerated to using diapers, habits that had been outgrown before now.
Five reports have recently been published by The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills [OFSTED], based on research conducted by paying over nine hundred visits to social care and education providers all over the United Kingdom since September.
According to Amanda Spielman, a chief inspector, some kids who were mostly affected by the pandemic disruptions were those in the most basic years of learning and having employed parents. She said kids in that category experienced the pain of spending less time with their parents and equally less time with other kids.
She added that some reports gathered from teachers showed that kids who had before now been potty-trained were now back to using diapers, while “others who had forgotten some basic skills they had mastered, such as eating with a knife and fork – not to mention the loss of early progress in words and numbers.”
As for the older kids, reports revealed that some of them have retrogressed in the knowledge of mathematics and even find it had to concentrate or maintain good physical fitness. Others displayed psychological distress with signs like inflicting harm on themselves and eating in disorderly manners. The report, however, shows that some kids had been lucky to spend time with their parents or handlers and were coping well with the situation.
To curtail the spread of COVID-19, schools had been closed since March. Kids in England were allowed to have in-person lectures since September. The new restrictions which started last week were not however extended to schools and tertiary institutions.
The situation is different in Wales as they appear to have stricter restrictions there compared to England. The country’s officials have announced that there will not be high school exams next year. The cancellation is part of restrictions due to a new wave of the pandemic.
According to the country’s Minister of Education, Kirsty Williams, “the pandemic has made it impossible to guarantee a level playing field for exams to take place. The decision removes pressure from learners.”
Source: cbsnews.com
