The COVID-19 restrictions, child services and the well-being of children in South Africa

Marais, L, Matamanda, A, Gbadegesin, F, Ntema, J, Mgwele, A, Dunn, M, Nel, V, Lehobo, TM, Andres, L and Denoon-Stevens, S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7640-0970, 2024. The COVID-19 restrictions, child services and the well-being of children in South Africa. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 18: 12. ISSN 2288-6729

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Abstract

Covid-19 posed little danger to children. Nevertheless, the South African government imposed lockdown measures that impeded children’s education, play and food. Schools were closed, feeding schemes were halted and organised sports were banned. In this study of South African children’s experience during the 2020–22 pandemic, we use the capabilities approach, particularly Nussbaum’s ten capabilities, to assess how the lockdown measures affected their development. The one-dimensional nature of the government response was evident in its focus on physical health and safeguarding adults and the health system, at the expense of children’s well-being. Children were masked and their voices were not heard. Despite being far less at risk of illness or death than adults, children and young people were disproportionately affected by government regulations. Children from low-income environments were particularly severely affected.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy
Creators:	Marais, L., Matamanda, A., Gbadegesin, F., Ntema, J., Mgwele, A., Dunn, M., Nel, V., Lehobo, T.M., Andres, L. and Denoon-Stevens, S.
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date:	6 November 2024
Volume:	18
ISSN:	2288-6729
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1186/s40723-024-00138-7 DOI 2283114 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	11 Nov 2024 13:39
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2024 13:39
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52550

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