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Protect our children
National Children’s Day, which we commemorate today, is a time to consider our obligations to the next generation. The COVID-19 pandemic has put children’s lives at risk, even though the virus has mostly infected older people. Moreover, its economic impact has deprived many children of their needs, especially for health and education.
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Hanging on: Children play on swings at a playground near the West Flood Canal in Jakarta on Tuesday. Save the Children has
said around 9.7 million children across the world are at risk of permanently dropping out of school due to school closures during
the COVID-19 pandemic. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
G
overnments around the world have been doing everything possible to ensure the safety of children. Protecting children from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation is a universal imperative, given that the future of any nation rests with its young people.
National Children’s Day, which we commemorate today, is a time to consider our obligations to the next generation. The COVID-19 pandemic has put children’s lives at risk, even though the virus has mostly infected older people. Moreover, its economic impact has deprived many children of their needs, especially for health and education.
Read also: COVID-19 killed more than 200 young children, Indonesian pediatricians suspect
Data from the Indonesian Pediatric Society (IDAI) released in late June shows that more than 1,500 children in the country have tested positive for COVID-19. An additional 6,100 have shown symptoms but have not yet been diagnosed with the virus.
Millions in the workforce have lost their income, and now, their children’s health is in jeopardy. Families may no longer be able to meet their children’s daily nutritional needs, and a poor diet can make children more susceptible to the virus.
To help their parents make ends meet, children may be drawn into forced labor. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the COVID-19 crisis could push millions of vulnerable children into child labor. The ILO has estimated that 152 million children are made to work globally, and 72 million of them do hazardous work.
The pandemic has exacerbated educational inequality, particularly for children in poverty in remote areas. Not only do they lack access to the internet, they lack the devices necessary to participate in online classes. But even students who have a 4G internet connection struggle to adapt to home learning, let alone enjoy it.
There have been stories of teachers who have had no option but to let their students enter the next grade or graduate, saying it was fair for the students who had suffered because of the pandemic.
In fact, COVID-19 has deprived almost all the children in the country of opportunities to play and interact with their peers. They have been living in confinement and will continue to do so until the contagion comes under control.
The government’s decision to allow only schools in low-risk areas to reopen is intended to protect children. Some developing countries, however, have allowed students to go back to school despite the pandemic because meeting friends is a basic need.
Read also: COVID-19 a wakeup call to do more in protecting children
This year’s National Children’s Day is themed “Children Protected, Indonesia Progressing” to remind us of the commitment to fulfill children’s rights to life, growth and participation in society. The responsibility to realize this lies with all citizens.
As the late South African president Nelson Mandela put it, the safety of children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, is “the result of collective consensus and public investment”.
