Pandemic Puts Jamaican Children at Heightened Risk of Abuse

A group of children being instructed by a teacher in an inner-city community. She has painted blackboards on walls to continue her lessons in the pandemic after schools were closed. Credit: Kate ChappellBy Kate ChappellKINGSTON, Jamaica, Dec 16 2020 (IPS) In Jamaica, school playgrounds are deserted, filled only with phantom shrieks of delight. Blackboards remain devoid of arithmetic and uniforms hang wrinkle-free in closets. When the first case of Covid hit Jamaican shores in early March, the government closed primary and secondary schools and over 500,000 children transitioned to remote learning. The majority of schools have yet to resume face-to-face classes since the March 13 closure. Across the world, 1.6 billion children do not have access to school as a result of the pandemic, according to Unicef. It is this mass absence that experts are flagging as one of main explanations for an increase in instances of physical, psychological and sexual abuse of minors. And even if children are not directly endangered by their caretakers or people in their community, they are suffering the effects of the pandemic, experts say. Close to one year after the pandemic struck, which to date has killed over 1.6 million people and sickened over 72 million, these effects on children are just beginning to be unearthed. What is already clear though, is that children, especially those living in poverty, are suffering at many levels, and there is often nowhere to turn. “What we have heard fr...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Crime & Justice Education Featured Gender Violence Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies Latin America & the Caribbean Poverty & SDGs Source Type: news