Pandemic worried Turkish, Indonesian children most

Eyüp Serbest - ISTANBUL

The two-year shutdown period forced by the pandemic has left most children in Türkiye and Indonesia facing anxiety problems, according to a study conducted in 20 countries.

In the study examining the anxiety and happiness of children who were away from school due to the pandemic in the summer months of 2020 and 2021, nearly 24,000 children from countries around the world such as South Africa, Türkiye, Chile, Finland, Russia and South Korea were interviewed.

More than 800 children between the ages of 10-12 were interviewed in Türkiye in the study, which also included academics from Istanbul’s Bilgi University. Accordingly, Türkiye was second after Indonesia, the country where the happiness of children decreased the most compared to the pre-pandemic period.

South Korea came right after Türkiye, while the least anxious children were those living in Estonia, Russia and Finland.

According to another COVID-19 impact report prepared by the Tüvana Education Foundation for Children Willing to Study (TOÇEV) last year, only 51 percent of primary school students could participate in online education, while 47.5 percent stated that they had difficulty focusing on online classes.

Some 57.1 percent of the students participating in the study stated that not knowing when the distance education learning will end negatively affected their education life, while 55.1 percent of the participants said that they worried about their future during the pandemic.

The distance education process has also caused health problems in students, the report said.

All students participating in the research stated that they experienced pain in the waist and neck areas as well as problems in their eyes during the pandemic.