Parents have been more stressed, making alternative caregiving arrangements and ensuring their kids were meaningfully engaged at home. Experts say nothing quite makes up for face-to-face interaction for young children.

“Online learning is close to impossible for the little kids,” said Assistant Professor Yong Ming Lee from the National Institute of Education (NIE).

“They learn with their hands, so learning is definitely impacted when things go online.”

But there have been silver linings. Ms Paige Lee, 33, said working from home has given her more time with her five-year-old daughter, Kimi.

“The best thing that happened was to be able to spend a whole lot more time with Kimi, which I really cherished,” the strategic partnerships manager said.

At this age, they begin establishing a clear sense of self, but the pandemic has meant that children have fewer social interactions that occur naturally with their peers, which may have implications for their social skills down the road.

“Though growing up in isolation may allow them to be more self-reliant, it is also important for these youth to maintain a healthy level of sociability,” said Mr John Shepherd Lim, chief well-being officer at the Singapore Counselling Centre.

While the pandemic may have worsened mental health for children and parents alike, Centre for Fathering chief executive Bryan Tan suggested that families make a conscious decision to set aside bonding time.

“Evidence suggests that children who communicate with their parents during family meals, around all sorts of topics, show fewer signs of depression and anxiety,” he said.

NIE’s Dr Yong, who has surveyed more than 2,000 university students since September last year, concluded that pandemic stresses in this age group fall into four categories.

Some chafe under social restrictions, while others grapple with uncertainties about their future. Yet others have health concerns or feel the pinch of resource constraints, in terms of finances or personal space.

“They are at the stage where they are exploring life’s possibilities, in relationships and at work,” she said.

But the pandemic has curtailed these opportunities and given rise to concerns about the future.

For those already in the workforce, job security is also a concern.

“New joiners and young employees found that there is less supervision due to the work-from-home arrangements, and they had to rely on themselves much more to look for solutions,” said Mr Joshua Yim, chief executive of recruitment firm Achieve Group.

But for some, the enforced slowdown has also meant a chance to think about what truly matters.

“The extra time alone that I had allowed me to plan my life properly, to sit down and ask myself what I really wanted,” recounted 23-year-old university student Arvinth.

“It helped to clear my mind of all the doubts and uncertainties and come out with a clearer goal and mindset.”

Nearly two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, there are more out-of-school, malnourished and depressed young people across Asia as families struggle to cope with job losses and tight finances.

In Indonesia, where a quarter of the 270 million population are aged 10 to 24, parents have resorted to pulling their children out of school or marrying off their young daughters to ease their financial burden.

The legal age for marriage for both men and women is 19 in the Muslim-majority country, but official data shows requests for special dispensations tripling from 23,126 in 2019 to 64,211 in 2020.

In Thailand, at least 10,000 students are estimated to have dropped out of school since the pandemic began, and the number is expected to rise to 65,000 by the end of this year, said Equitable Education Fund’s (EEF) director of civil society, Professor Sompong Jitradub. An estimated 65,000 students in Thailand are estimated to have dropped out of school by the end of this year.

Set up in 2018, EEF says its role is to reduce education inequality through systematic research, teacher development and financial support for children and youth who need such help the most.

Likewise, in India, 4.6 per cent of children are not enrolled in school this year, nearly double that of 2018, according to a report by non-profit group Pratham. Some 150 million children are out of the school system, according to official figures.

Cases of depression among children and adolescents have seen a threefold increase, Dr Jitendra Nagpal, a senior Indian psychiatrist at New Delhi’s Moolchand Hospital, told The Straits Times.

“Children complain of body aches and a lack of sleep,” he said.

Indeed, lockdowns and heightened measures imposed in schools have forced young people to study from home for prolonged periods and interact less with their peers.

Malaysian housewife Margaret Lim, 54, said her two children have hardly gone out, missing out on sports events and annual concerts organised by the school.

Mood swings, insomnia, concentration problems and a slew of behavioural problems seem to affect a broad age group, from five-year-olds to young adults. A survey by the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry in Indonesia showed that 13 per cent of respondents below 18 years old suffered from mild to severe depression last year.

In the Philippines, the pandemic has exacerbated already alarming mental health problems among children aged five to 15, a study by researchers from the country’s top medical schools found.

But the biggest worry, at least in Thailand, has been the rise in risk of suicides driven by depression.

The Department of Mental Health’s Mental Health Check-in, an online mental health evaluation platform in Thailand, said 32 per cent of the 183,974 adolescents it surveyed were at risk of depression, while another 22 per cent were at risk of committing suicide. They were polled over 18 months during the pandemic, until September this year.

Thai blogger Thanaporn Limrungsukho, 41, said her two children, aged five and eight, have grown closer following the lockdown.

“They still fight, but even then, they’ve also learnt how to compromise or negotiate with each other which I think are essential skills,” she said.

Indonesian Ursula Merveille Virinescia, 10, said she has learnt new skills such as drawing, painting and creating animations on her smartphone apps.

Another Indonesian, Guido Anderlecht Aurelius Maximus, 18, has further developed his skills in billiards, learning from a coach and has won some local competitions.

“I hope in the next two years I can win various billiard competitions… so that I can start my billiard-related business in the future,” he said.

The pandemic has also honed the cooking skills of some children, such as Malaysian Almas Sumaiyah Mardhiah, 12.

“What I gain from this pandemic is learning about myself and improving my cooking skills by trying out new recipes,” she said.

“And I hope in two years’ time, we will be able to go back to our normal lives without masks or worrying about Covid-19.”

Text: Linette Lai & Linda Yulisman/The Straits Times

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