How has the pandemic influenced your child’s future?

As per estimated data shared by UNICEF (data.unicef.org) the stats on how the pandemic has impacted households all over the world has been scary, to say the least.

However, people do research not to scare people, but to highlight where an issue is and by having that information, hopefully, put a plan of action together to combat the problem.

Stats show that pre-covid (2019), the number of children living in monetary-poor households (developing countries) were around 582 million which is staggering to start with. Fast forward two years (2021) and the number now stand around 700 Million.

These stats show that the number of households that have lost income due to the pandemic has increased substantially. The effects of this unfortunately boil over to an increase in stresses within the household too.

Children experience poverty different to adults and therefore you cannot just look at the issues caused by the pandemic in only a material way, but also realize that because of the pandemic (and financial impacts thereof) children have been deprived of access to education, healthcare, housing, nutrition, sanitation and water. (Analysis carried out by Save the Children and UNICEF)

What does this mean?

It is simple, without education and adding additional stresses to children, the problems they will face (even if the pandemic came to an immediate and miraculous sudden end) will have a life-long impact.

As it stands the current school curricula only covers the basics, which if you look at how quickly the world is changing, might not be enough for a child to thrive, even if they never lose a day of schooling in their lifetime. Add the pandemic, as well as, schools having to close, families having to isolate, no money for travelling to school or to pay school fees and the added stresses of seeing their parents losing income – now it has evolved into a completely different pandemic and that is that children will have a tough time not only surviving but actually thriving and making a success in the future workplace.

As per the research done by UNICEF, schools for more than 168 Million children globally have been completely closed for almost a year due to COVID-19 lockdowns and around 214 million children globally have missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning. This sadly could lead to an entire generation of kids who will have a major negative backlog in their education. Some lesser developed countries will have an entire generation of non-educated kids – who unfortunately will also be the future workers, who in turn can majorly affect the economy for generations to come.

Sadly, there is not much we can do about the pandemic, but we can make sure our children get the necessary education and make sure they learn the skills needed now more than ever. That being said, the current school curricula are not enough. We must try and fight the backlog our children are facing, NOW more than ever.

MiniChess has been proven to help bridge the gap between the education curricula and skills children would require in the 21st Century workplace and teaches them foundational STEM skills, entrepreneurial think skills, negotiation skills, and much more – from early childhood development years. Best of all we have various options available, from in-class programs to online live programs as well as our FAM Club where the entire family can join in!

To find out more, download our MiniChess guide by going to https://minichess.co.za/minichess-guide-2/

References: https://data.unicef.org/covid-19-and-children/