According to a report by OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education), most children in England went back to their learning, and some have regressed with their social skills, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So far back that some young kids have forgotten how to use a knife and fork, if not gone back to nappies. Some older kids even lost their "stamina" for reading. The Department of Education stated that such results show the need to keep schools open.
There are three different categories of children's experiences in this regard. The "hardest-hit" category, the youngest students, have suffered most from their time out of the classroom, recoiling in numeracy and literacy and even losing skills as basic as potty training. The second category, the students in the middle range, "have slipped back in their learning to varying degrees since schools were closed to most children and movement restricted," said the OFSTED report. In the third group, a good news at least, are the kids who benefited from the lockdown thanks to more support from their parents and better quality time as a family.
On the other side, in the worst cases, some kids suffered from a loss of physical fitness, with some of them affected by mental distress, eating disorders, and self-harm. This dramatic situation seems to be a compelling reason to keep schools open during the pandemic, as recommended by OFSTED inspectors.
Picture: Children on the Hill (ChildUp.com)
