The State of Children during Pandemic: An Alarming Situation for Pakistan

Article Information ABSTRACT Received: November 19, 2020 Revised: December 02, 2020 Accepted: December 09, 2020 Online: March 01, 2021 Coronavirus and pandemics have led to drastic and unexpected changes in the whole world. It has affected people's lives and their ways of living drastically. However, lockdowns and mobility restrictions were imposed to save lives and put underprivileged populations' lives at other risks, such as violence and abuse. This paper attempts to describe the situation of children during this epidemic of covid-19. Evidence and research proved that emergencies are significantly related to increased violence levels, especially against children. Several problems from which children suffered during pandemic and lockdown have been discussed, such as excessive screen use, domestic child abuse, witnessing domestic violence, and more. Furthermore, this paper also suggests essential recommendations for the government and public as they must corporate with the government in such high alert times.


COVID-19 AND STATE OF THE CHILDREN
Coronavirus and lockdown have confined people in their homes. Ultimately the current pandemic has forced us to alter our lifestyle drastically. Children were not used to online schooling, mainly Pakistani students, which consequently hampered their learning. However, the effects of covid-19 are not just restricted to the academic domain. Almost every aspect of life has been affected due to lockdown. Another issue to deal with is the increased use of digital technology and screen time as lockdown forces everyone to stay at home, which eventually end up children using technology more and more. While using the internet, some children tend to experience cyberbullying, online gambling, inappropriate material, suggestive advertisements, and things that promote unhealthy food (UNICEF, 2020). Brazendale et al. (2017) reported that children during breaks, weekends, and vacations are less physically active. A study conducted in China examined the effect of covid-19 on children's "physical activity" as it is closely related to bodily and mental well-being. The findings revealed a considerable decrease in children's physical activity, while a dramatic increase was found in time spent on television/mobile phones (Xiang et al., 2020). Apart from this, children with disabilities face additional International Journal of Asian Education, Vol. 02, No. 1, March 2021 IJAE Page 19 problems compared to normal children, such as. The study conducted by Cacioppo et al., (2020) found that lack of interaction due to lockdown has affected not just children with disabilities' self-esteem. However, it may cause them to restrict their communication ability. Even the survey with parents revealed that they were stressed because of disruption in their physically disabled rehabilitation services. Moreover, helplessness and mental load were reported by these parents.
Children are at utmost risk from affecting the direct and indirect risks of Covid-19. They may experience fears, unpredictability, panic, stress, anxiety, excessive worries, mood swings, physical and social isolation due to prolonged absence from educational institutes (Sprang et al., 2013). A research study was conducted in China in 2020, showing that children aged 3-18 show signs of common psychological, social, and behavioral problems such as crying spells, distraction, prickliness, fear of uncertainty, and many questions about the virus. Also, being separated from the immediate family and companions during the quarantine worsens their mental health (Brooks et al., 2020;Jiao et al., 2020). It makes them vulnerable to Post-traumatic stress disorder, psychiatric illness, anxiety and panic attacks, and even suicide attempts . Orgilés et al. (2020) conducted research examining quarantine's emotional impact on children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years affected by Covid-19 in Italy and Spain. While parents reported the most common symptoms they found in their children were difficulty concentrating (76.6%), dullness (52%), irritability (39%), impatience (38.8%), uneasiness (38%), loneliness (31.3%), agitation (30.4%), and worries (30.1%). There are also reported to have indirect effects of the Covid-19 epidemic, increasing mental health issues among the most vulnerable population such as children, adolescents, and women due to social distancing, social isolation, and public disasters. Financial downfall causes unemployment on a larger scale, which eventually affects children's mental health, leading to violence and maltreatment. These issues need to be addressed beforehand to avoid negative societal, mental, and other health issues among children (Danese et al., 2020;Golberstein et al., 2020).
During the epidemic, children's behavioral and emotional changes can be seen because of drastic changes in daily life routines. Children show emotional distress by showing excessive crying spells, sadness, anger outbursts and anxiety, and more. Emotional support from family members and extended families can help the children, adolescents, and adults go through hard times and adjust, which helps them return to their previous functioning level. During the lockdown, the children are kept in controlled environments and places that do not allow them to explore the things they usually do, which can cause damage to their healthy growth, child mental development, and affective-social aspects. As the existing environment and conditions are very much different from the previous family status, they provide to their children.
Children and individuals need to cope with the current significant changing lifestyles such as home confinement, self-isolation, and physical distancing, making it challenging to meet the basic physical and emotional needs. There has been an increasing trend in unemployment, poverty, mental health, substance use, neglect and maltreatment, partner violence, and more due to the current situation. Children and the elderly face the difficulty of receiving critical and community support during the pandemic due to travel restrictions and limited direct contact. Covid-19 has raised different mental health issues or complaints globally, such as facing fears, anxiety, panic, and uncertainty in different countries and populations. Especially for children's and their parents, as they may be isolated or get separated from their support systems such as extended families, child care centers, educational institutes, religious places, and other healthy activities' and other minorities group who could be at risk of violence and other challenges (Samhsa, 2020;Jacobson, 2020).
Another primary concern is Domestic Violence towards children. Some UK experts have reported a sharp increase in "Domestic child abuse" during the coronavirus's peak duration. They also underlined that many victims of domestic child abuse belonged to lower class families. It may be because the psychological state, alcohol abuse, and socio-economic state are interrelated to each other BMJ (2020). Some of the problems need the utmost attention of parents and caregivers. Firstly, we know that in most cases, the offenders of child sexual abuse are known people and sometimes family relations. When it is a pandemic and people are locked in their homes due to lockdown, this may put the children at higher risk of getting sexually abused by their relatives. Moreover, children are usually sent to relatives and family friends, particularly in Pakistan, if parents suffer from infections or disease, which is another high alert factor. According to UNESCO, when an unexpected pandemic occurs, it usually increases the societal issues and financial burden. Also, people generally face mobility restrictions as well. These stresses may lead to a dramatic rise in domestic violence, particularly domestic abuse against women. UNICEF's (2020) report has verified that masses of them restricted to stay with abusers due to lockdown, which also limited their chance to file a report and ask for help. Even in China, where the outbreak of coronavirus occurred, reported that domestic abuse cases increased threefold during the peak period of covid-19 cases. It not only creates a stressful situation for women but children as well. Seeing mother or female family members in a miserable condition may lead to many long-term effects on a child's mental health. With the advancement in research, it has been proved that witnessing domestic violence as a child may create adjustment and behavioral problems for them (Kilpatrick et al., 1997). Even children may suffer from post-traumatic stress response to witnessing violent acts (Delima et al., 2011). In addition to this, many studies have revealed that the children who witness domestic abuse towards their mothers or caregivers may develop several problems such as increased aggression, isolation, low frustration tolerance, eating disorders, drug abuse, low academic performance, depression, difficulties in language development, and more. (McGee, 2000;Holt, 2015).
Child abuse, neglect, and aggressiveness are among the arising problematic behaviors during the pandemic, have parental stress is a significant predictor of these behaviors (CDC, 2020;Buheji et al., 2020). Child protection agencies, social workers, and NGOs face difficulties reaching out to the children during the pandemic, making them easy victims of abuse and violence. During the lockdown, the school teachers and others cannot witness the marks of abuse and report to higher authorities (Samhsa, 2020). One of the most found maintaining factors of violence against children and women in families is economic wreckage due to Covid-19 globally. It generates a wave of widespread uncertainty, panic, and stress leading to an adverse effect on the mental and physical health of the families causing increased chronic diseases, substance use, depression, panic attacks, physical abuse and violence, unsafe sexual behaviors, and having a high chance of PTSD (CDC, 2020; Sprang et al., 2013;Taha et al., 2014).

Development of Children's during Emergency Situations
During the development phase, children need a safer environment to grow to their full potential in physical, mental, academic, and social aspects. A safe environment ensures the healthy development and effective learning of the children (Clapper, 2010). Whenever any crisis or pandemics occurs, children's development and growth get affected by several different variables such as fear of the unknown and being confined, anxiety, panic, stress and aggression outbursts, and more. Due to lock down in almost every country, children are forced to stay at home, making them vulnerable to violence, neglect, and abuse in their own homes, especially in low-income countries. In low-income countries such as Pakistan, pandemics and emergencies cause many problems nationwide but having strict lockdown and quarantine has disrupted the normal development of a healthy child and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Pakistan has to face many challenges such as child labor, withdrawal of education, early child marriage, unemployment, the burden of feeding a whole family, and more. According to UNICEF, 99% of the children face "pandemic related movement restrictions" globally. Out of these, 99%, 60% are those children who belong to the countries where full or partial lockdowns are often imposed (UNICEF, 2020).

CHILDREN'S EDUCATION DURING THE PANDEMIC
Due to the spread of a novel virus called Covid-19, educational and recreational institutes are closed worldwide for an indefinite period. Due to educational institutes' closure, online and digital education is spreading worldwide to save children from educational loss. Countries from the developed world have easy access to the digital world and technologies that can help the teachers and students adapt to the online education system. However, third world countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka face many problems in the education masses as online education was not typical before the Covid-19 in Pakistan. In developing countries, like Pakistan, many people and families do not have modern digital technologies like android mobile phones, laptops, and internet access to provide online education (Ichou, 2014). Many of them reported an entirely new experience for them as shifting from traditional to elearning has its challenges as it is not joint in Pakistan to move from in-person delivery to the lecture's digital delivery. One of the most challenging factors is having no formal training to conduct classes and learn through digital technology and keep engaging them equally. They face difficulties in online assessment, surveys, quizzes, and mini assignments, especially those who require human interaction, such as in medical, psychology, and more (Farooq et al., 2020).

RECOMMENDATIONS
To efficiently deal with the crisis, states and the public need to understand that covid-19's effects are different for men, women, old age, and children. More effective and solution-oriented policies can be composed (World Health Organization, 2020).