Entering high school for the first time, starting to write with a pen instead of a pencil, entering the premise of your college for the first time, or attending a fresher party. Such moments leave a deep impact and keep the momentum of life intact. Looking forward to the developments in one’s life is what lies at the crux of life. But unfortunately, a major disruption entered people’s lives at the beginning of 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all lives equally. But, in hindsight, it seems that the most affected were the children growing up to be teens and teens standing at the helm of adulthood. Educational institutions closed their premises, and the entire system witnessed a shift in the paradigm. What children and teens used to perceive in all its glory got reduced to just a screen.
Time and the situations that entailed resulted in this transitioning category of adolescence and youth to be known as the ‘COVID Generation.’ The lack of planning in the infrastructure and the drive to maintain educational efficiency shone the spotlight on how haywire things went. Policymakers were grasping at straws to bring stability in the myriad factors that make up the world we are living in. Health and economy overshadowed the institution of education, and the government channelised their resources to rescue the other two institutions from the clutches of COVID.
Sitting at home and trying to attend schools and colleges online proved that it is not just knowledge why such institutions are necessary. Aspects such as interactions with other students, physical attendance of classes, or something as trivial as looking at benches, sitting in the canteen, too, have weight, making physicality of educational institutions very vital. Young people are currently fogged with evils of insecurity, anxiety, and distress associated with the apprehension of unfamiliar and uncertain situations.
When the pandemic hit, nobody expected that the long-term effects would pester the lives of people in ways unimagined. Lingering in the shadow, the effects and the consequences that the young people have faced, it is high time that policies and measures align with the betterment of young people and the future that is laden with anxiousness.
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