Pandemic-Era School Closures Had ‘Catastrophic’ Impacts on Kids: Advocate

Leader of a national charity said school shutdown during COVID-19 was detrimental for students’ educational outcome.

School kids cross a road while a traffic warden stops cars in Albany, Western Australia, on Sept. 18, 2023. Susan Mortimer/The Epoch Times

The government’s decision to shut down schools during the pandemic would bring “catastrophic” consequences for the future of kids, a leader of an Australian national charity for kids has argued.

Julie Hourigan Ruse, CEO of SHINE for Kids said that school has a much more significant role to play in the lives of young children than reading, writing and arithmetic, and the school closures have cut them off from their social lives and other sources of support.