Three of every four children in India reported increase in negative sentiments since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, reveals a report A Generation at Stake: Protecting India’s Children from the Impact of COVID-19 released by the well-reputed NGO Save the Children in November. The study which surveyed 11-17-year old children highlights that a majority of them attributed their stress to factors such as ambiguity over returning to school and loss of livelihoods in their families.

The study also found that two-thirds of children had access to one or two types of learning material, and that 10 percent children in poor families said they would not return to school, and 17 percent of children in migrant families reported increase in domestic violence.

“The most vulnerable children are becoming the biggest victims of its social and economic impacts. It is agonising to see that Covid-19 is likely to exacerbate existing deprivation from both a monetary and a multi-dimensional poverty angle, hugely impacting the mental health and psychological well-being of children,” says Sudarshan Suchi, CEO, Save the Children.

Also read: Pregnancy stress adversely affects infant brain development