The COVID-19 crisis could have a profound and long-term negative impact on children around the world, Human Rights Watch said in a report released this week. The consequences are likely to be devastating, although children who contract COVID-19 appear to have less severe symptoms and lower mortality rates than other age groups. According to the same report, quarantined children have median levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 4 times higher than those who had not been quarantined. The negative effects of quarantine are significantly greater if it lasts more than 10 days.
In the Balearic Islands, we have passed phase 1 of unlocking. This week we are now in phase 2 seem likely to enter phase 3 next week. But if there is a collective less taken into account in this process, then it is most vulnerable collective: the “children”. Here, since the closure of schools in March, it was implied that classes would not return until September. Now, the children remain at home while the teachers take advantage of the terraces that are already open.
The Nordic countries and central European states have ordered schools to be opened in the early stages “before bars”. These are countries concerned about children’s mental health, concerned about their education; they appreciate the emotional stability of the little ones. In Spain, the Basque Country, the community with the highest ranking of the national education system, opened schools this week, starting the gradual return of children to the classrooms.
The government this week approved the protection of 51,760 hectares of prime land, a measure that is likely to be very important for the protection of the territory. But he asked if it was less important also to protect the children who have the doors of schools closed, and the parents now between a rock and a hard place, needing to both work and care for their children. When will you overcome your fear of special interests that only look out for themselves? When will education be at the heart of the collective interest?
