Prolonged school closure has set children back and taken a toll on their well being socially

After a two year long delay as schools have finally reopened for all classes, parents are now reporting behavioural changes in their children which they find to be ‘problematic’, city-based doctors reported.

For the past two years, due to the pandemic, children were forced to stay indoors for most of the time and also were exposed to online education.

In addition to the physical problems like eye issues due to the prolonged exposure to screen time be it on laptop, computer or mobile phone - doctors are now seeing a larger number of kids with social behaviour problems like hyperactivity, laziness, fear to talk to outsiders, delayed speed and also increased irritation and a rebellious attitude.

Dr Sagar Lad, a city-based pediatrician who is also part of Pune’s Covid-19 pediatric task force constituted by administration said, “Yes, parents are reporting problems like increased hyperactivity at home and lack of interest to interact with anyone outside. While earlier, children were excited to go to school, now they are reluctant. There is a spike in numbers as well. Earlier we used to get one odd case of delayed speech in children in a month, but now every week we have two-three children aged 2-years, whose speech has been delayed. With no one to talk around and parents probably busy with their own online work, the child was away from any outsider contact. However, this can be treated with more communication with the children. We also get complaints from the parents of school-going children.”

Doctors noted that with proper counseling, and parents and teachers taking a keen interest in the child’s daily activities, would help the child with behavioural issues.

According to Dr Pradeep Suryavanshi, another Pune-based pediatrician, the children are reporting social behaviour issues after attending schools. “Parents are complaining that children are not talking to other classmates or are afraid to make eye contact. We get a few children with this issue every week which was not happening earlier. Parents and teachers have to give special attention to such children and help them through counseling. Simple converations about what happened at school, or their friends will help them immensely and changes can be noted in three-four months,” he said.

Dr Jitendra Oswal, senior pediatrician and deputy director at city hospital, said, “We are definitely getting more enquiries from parents and schools about children behaving more irritable than before the pandemic. Children are both hyperactive which also sometimes irritates the teachers and parents as they are not able to match the energy level of the children, while in some cases the child is abnormally silent. This could be tackled with proper counseling at home by talking to the children and helping them open up.