Today, as the world adapts and innovates to a new normal environment, children have been impacted negatively by changes to their education, schedules, practices, learning process, and social interactions. Children are likely to be experiencing varying degrees of anxiety, worry and uncertainty due to the new hygiene practices, daily schedules, and restrictive movement policies related to COVID-19. The dynamics at home have also changed as a result, with parents playing a very active role in supporting the children's online education. Especially for communities living on a minimum daily subsistence, the COVID-induced lockdown and the period that followed were very harsh.

In order to understand the challenges and status of children and their families on ground in these pandemic times, Smile Foundation (Pan India) conducted a survey in July-August amongst 20 beneficiaries of its Mission Education programme to assess the needs and understand the challenges faced by children during the Covid-19 situation at Smile Foundation (Pan India) operational locations. Based on the results of the survey, the following key findings have been identified: In addition, a high percentage of students, both in public and private schools, are not performing at grade level. A student's grade level refers to her ability to cope with what she will be expected to do in that grade.

Being aware and practicing good hygiene at all times is one of the most crucial measures to prevent COVID-19 infection. There are, however, more than 60% of people across all regions not following the COVID-induced health and social practices issued by government to control virus spread.

According to the data, 84% of South and West residents, 68% of East residents, and 61% of North residents do not follow the necessary norms on a regular basis.85% of South residents, 79% of West residents, 56% of East residents, and 47% of North residents do not wash and clean their hands regularly. While going out, 76% of West residents do not wear masks along with 72% of South residents, 55% of East residents, and 48% of North residents. As of today, 91% of people in South do not believe that maintaining social distance is important to avoid getting infected with the virus, while 83% of people in West, 63% of people in East, and 49% of people in North have the same opinion.Additionally, only a very small percentage of people believe that taking immunity-boosting foods can help them prevent or reduce virus attacks.

To develop and nurture a healthy body, mind, and soul nutrition plays a critical role, especially in children during their growth years. For them to adapt to the “neo-normal” life along with its challenges in living a healthy life, learning new things, and establishing social norms with more vigor, alertness and focus is vital. Approximately half of households do not have access to proper nutritious food, according to the survey data. Children experience hunger pangs frequently and occasionally, according to more than 51% of respondents. Due to the current situation, almost 20% of households cannot afford to eat three full meals per day. It is challenging for 53% of people to access homemade food, while 21% find it difficult to access nutritious products such as full meals and pulses.

According to the survey, up to 77% of respondents felt that their children's eating, sleeping, and other regular routines had changed either completely or partially. Perhaps this is as a result of their not attending school and not being active enough during the day, which in turn indicates the importance of schooling for all children.

The survey calls for attention and action because 85% of the children feel bored, worried, angry, or confused at the time of survey. As a result, there is a need to provide proper counselling, activity-based learning, and greater engagement of children which can be achieved by supplying learning resources for children to use and work. There are 46% of respondents who acknowledge that they lack teaching and learning resources. 69% state that better guidance and support would make it easier to access online classes and platforms. Consequently, they would be able to guide their children through online learning.

According to the data, 14% of respondents try to spread news that promotes positivity and provides information on caring, as well as testimonials of people who have recovered from virus attacks, while 30% filter the news and provide selective information to children. However, over 56% of respondents follow unofficial sources and are constantly reading news feeds, which can pose serious issues for their mental health and their behavior towards others especially the children. To alleviate fear, worry and concern brewing in children and adults related to the effects of the prevalent situation, it seems inevitable that proper information sources, counselling opportunities and more interactive sessions should be disseminated to parents and children.

Online classes are being offered to children in the neo normal era. Online and other modes of education are being implemented to enable children to continue learning within the context of existing limitations. However, the beneficiaries still feel inadequately equipped to access online learning. In this section, we brainstormed possible interventions to address the gaps in the ongoing alternate learning process. 51% of respondents are satisfied with the current teaching methods, while 80% are waiting for schools to reopen when the lockdown ends so that they can send their children back to school. It is estimated that 68% of parents feel that online/tele-calling classes are very rarely scheduled as per their availability since most parents are working or have one mobile for their work and their child's study. In addition, 95% of respondents have more than one child, which may make it difficult for them to get mobile phones to each of them as classes are usually scheduled at the same time. 68 % of respondents said they need guidance or are unable to access mobile phones properly, while 74% can't guide their children regularly when it comes to accessing mobile phones. Moreover, 44% of parents reported that there are not enough educational resources available for home-based learning.

Interestingly, 52% of respondents were prepared to learn how to support their children in adapting to the new learning process, while 48% were not prepared to do so. This demonstrates the need for parents and guardians to receive more information and support about digital literacy so that they can support their children to achieve academic success. With the use of tools like Zoom, Google Team, WhatsApp, etc., 48% of the respondents consider online learning to be the best way to learn through live or recorded classes with the school and teachers.

Other effective methods include sharing worksheets (44%) over WhatsApp or handing them over to parents at the center/home as well as telephoning parents and visiting homes to meet beneficiaries. There are only 8% of parents who explore other education-based apps, probably because others are not familiar with how to use applications appropriately, or because they lack space on their phones or have limited data packs. Nevertheless, 53% of respondents indicated that adequate educational resources, including books and other teaching materials, were the primary source of support. In addition to mobile phones, internet access, and related accessories, other forms of support were mentioned to continue learning with desired outcomes.

With a lack of regular income and employment opportunities, Covid has exacerbated the vulnerability of the less privileged communities, negatively impacting their mental, emotional, and physical health. Bringing every child closer to a healthy learning and growing environment requires addressing the gaps mentioned above, advocating for support services, and bridging developmental gaps. With respect to India, a lot of digital infrastructure needs to be developed in order to overcome the issue of digital divide created due to availability of resources to children of privileged section of society, making them the haves while other under privileged children suffer due to lack of resources thereby categorising them as have nots.