Do you remember being a teenager? What it felt like to get accustomed to a changing body, deal with unexplainable mood swings that you could do nothing about, and be caught in this strange space between childhood and adulthood?
Adolescence is a turbulent period and the transition into young adulthood can be difficult, even in the best of circumstances. Now imagine being a teenager navigating this new phase of life during a pandemic; trying to come into your own while still reliant on your parents who are also adjusting to a new (and in many ways more difficult) reality shaped by Covid-19, and you might begin to empathise with the millions of youth across the country who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
The past two years have been difficult for families around the globe, and even more so for families in low- and middle-income countries. For many of them, adjusting to this new normal has meant making significant changes to everyday routines in order to accommodate shifting social and financial priorities, which could destabilise children and adolescents already used to a certain way of life.
According to a report released by the Presidential Policy and Strategy Unit in conjunction with Population Council, titled Promises to Keep: Impact of Covid-19 on Adolescents in Kenya, a substantial proportion of youth are bearing the brunt of pandemic-related disruptions.
During the period of the study, which was undertaken between June 2020 and February 2021, approximately 97 per cent of adolescents reported undergoing learning difficulties during school closures, both from impaired access to school materials and interruptions within the home environment such as household chores and child labour to supplement family income.
Nearly half said they had experienced symptoms related to feelings of depression, which may have been exacerbated by the increase in emotional, physical, and sexual violence over the past year experienced by both boys and girls.
In addition, 16 per cent of girls (approximately 270,000) and eight per cent of boys did not return to school when schools reopened in January 2021. Also of note, 75 per cent of adolescents reported missing meals owing to financial constraints at home, while about 50 per cent of girls did not have access to sanitary pads, contributing to an increase in transactional sexual practices, unintended pregnancies and early marriage.
While research is still being carried out on the longer-term effects of these and many other challenges experienced by adolescents during the pandemic, it is important that we, as adults, do not bury our heads in the sand and leave our children to try to figure things out by themselves.
Children need to be allowed to be children – even during a pandemic – and it is time we began to listen to them and consider how they are being affected by the pandemic.
Recent incidences of student unrest in many local boarding schools for example point to a much bigger problem than indiscipline. Adolescents are crying out for help. They want to be seen and heard. They are asking us to listen to them and involve them in decisions that will affect their lives. They are showing us, through their actions, that they are willing to do whatever it takes to get our attention – including destroying property and risking their own lives in the process.
Parenting is not the easiest job in the world, and parenting during a pandemic has been especially difficult for many adults who are simply trying to make ends meet. But no matter how difficult it is to balance everything, we have a responsibility to our children to ensure that they feel safe, loved and valued.
Even as we craft policies to guide our national approach to adolescent education, health and wellbeing, let us remember that we owe it to our children to create – to the best of our abilities – environments in which they can thrive.
Let us teach them to express themselves in more productive ways and be attentive when they do. Let us raise them to be leaders, trust them to make good decisions and equip them with the skills they need to become wholesome, responsible adults.
Let us not wait for a social crisis to develop before we can take action: let us act now.
Gender Advisor, Policy and Strategy Unit, Executive Office of the President
