COVID-19 has created an unprecedented crisis globally, disrupting the lives of millions of individuals as well as their families, economies and communities. Spanning geographies, the crisis, which was initially considered to be only a health setback, rapidly progressed into an unprecedented social and economic disaster. News editorials, viral retweets, government announcements and Whatsapp forwards soon began to reveal that at the center of this burgeoning situation were those living on the margins, including migrant laborers, racial, ethnic and sexual minorities, persons with disabilities, the homeless, the elderly, and low-income women. In the Philippines, for instance, the number of young individuals reporting mental health setbacks began to surge.[i] The massive loss of livelihoods and incomes, the uncertainty associated with the availability of a vaccine in the market, and the strict lockdown measures enforced as part of the "Enhanced Community Quarantine," increased the number of calls received on the national mental health hotline five times. The archipelagic nation already has among the highest rates of depression in the Southeast Asia region. In Nepal, between 1.6 and 2.0 million jobs had been projected to likely be disrupted amid the pandemic-induced lockdown,[ii] either with complete job loss or reduced working hours and wages. In rural parts of India, with only 4 percent of households having access to the internet,[iii] dropout rates among school-going children have been on the rise ever since.
Even before the onset of the crisis, the social and economic integration of young people was an ongoing challenge. According to the Youth and COVID-19 - Impacts on Jobs, Education, Rights and Mental Well-being, Survey Report 2020 published by the International Labour Organization,[iv] for instance, of the young people who were either studying or combining study and work before the onset of the crisis, three-quarters experienced school closures, yet not all were able to transition into online and distance learning. Indeed, COVID-19 left one in eight young people without any access to courses, teaching or training; a situation particularly acute among youth in lower-income countries and one that serves to underline the sharp digital divides that exist between regions. The pandemic is also inflicting a heavy toll on young workers, destroying their employment and undermining their career prospects. One in six young people who were employed before the outbreak, stopped working altogether, most notably younger workers aged 18-24, and those in clerical support, services, sales, crafts and related trades.
Meanwhile, in its COVID 19: A threat to progress against child marriage report, UNICEF foresaw that over the next decade up to ten million more girls would be at risk of becoming child brides as a result of the pandemic. The risk of child marriage increases through various pathways, including economic shocks, school closures and interruptions in services.[v] The health pandemic, further compounded by the extreme disruption of learning, working and marriage, has been particularly hard on young women, younger youth and youth in lower-income countries.
Steered by this extreme destruction and uncertainty on the one hand, and compelling stories of struggle and survival of the youth on the other, this article reports the findings from the Youth-led Action Research (YAR) on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on marginalized youth. It was conducted by the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) and its member-organizations in nine countries including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mongolia, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu between May and August 2020. This research was undertaken at the time when the COVID-19 pandemic had rapidly progressed into an economic crisis. The main objective of this participatory action-research study was to capture the immediate effects of the pandemic on the lives of marginalized youth with respect to their employment, education, mental and physical health, and to document their recommendations. By doing so, ASPBAE aims to engage the youth with the local community, through member-organizations, in its advocacy efforts. This can further influence policy and practice-change discourses.
Given the ground-up, field action-research model, a large proportion of the voices documented as part of the study belonged to those youth situated at the fringes, previously unheard and undocumented given the broader socio-economic and digital divides. Previous study has shown us that a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic can have protracted and severe consequences for younger populations, who are already starting to be termed the "lockdown generation."[vi]
This youth-led study focused on four areas of impacts on young people: namely, education, livelihood, health and well-being. It also brings to focus the various sources of information used by the youth in the nine different countries to stay informed about the unfolding pandemic and its short-term and long-term implications. At a time when fieldwork had to be either halted or postponed due to the stringent lockdown measures, it was the community-based participatory action research framework of the study that enabled the grassroot youth researchers to unearth an insider's view of the crisis. The study thus provides crucial information on how the pandemic affected the lives of young people in marginalized communities and neighborhoods from ground zero. The research also documented the volunteer work that young people initiated to help their communities in the time of the pandemic.
The shutdown of schools and colleges has affected millions of poor students, and evidence suggests that for countries with low learning outcomes, a large number of school dropouts, and insufficient infrastructure, the impact will be far more negative. In Bangladesh, for instance, students participating in the YAR study stated that the closure of educational institutions coupled with inadequate access to information had led to a rise in stress and trauma. In South Sulawesi in Indonesia, too, students said that the closure of schools had an impact on their social activities. In addition, the youth also gestured towards a crucial problem that had been underestimated while making the switch: the digital divide. While the digital divide has existed from before, the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden transition of schools to online education has only further exacerbated the problem. Living in remote areas has meant that despite the will to study further, students have not been able to access their classrooms owing to problems of internet connectivity and electricity. This problem of digital divide is fairly universal across the nine countries covered in this study. For the orphaned youth interviewed in Mongolia, for instance, the transition into televised schools has meant a complete halt to their academic pursuits, since the orphanage did not have a television set. According to the 2017-2018 National Sample Survey report on education, only 24 percent of Indian households have an internet connection, and more than 36 percent of schools operate without electricity. Thus, for Pooja Pakhane, a student from Boripada in India, the lack of internet network at home, has meant that she has had to either climb a mountain in her village or scurry around to find corners with limited connectivity.
Another key impact of the loss of livelihood has been felt by the youth from the larger international migrant-sending countries, including the Philippines, Vanuatu, Timor Leste and Sri Lanka. The sudden closure of their work units and factories in host countries on the one hand, and the sealing of the international border on the other, left these youth workers stranded, unemployed and vulnerable on international soil. Sri Lankan laborers stranded in Gulf nations sent desperate appeals to the government to ensure their safe return. In India, too, repatriation flights had been launched to bring back Indian citizens employed abroad. At the same time, the loss of livelihoods coupled with increased economic stress has reportedly led to a rise in criminal activities across the various countries. The youth respondents from Vanuatu pointed to the rise of thefts, drug peddling and fights in their country during this period.
The restricted physical mobility and the pressing need to stay indoors without any social interactions and experiences, has further intensified other anxieties. Fifteen-year-old Earl Joshua Santos, a Class 9 student in the Philippines, said, "The pandemic has affected me greatly. In terms of physical [condition], I feel weakening of my muscles because our movement has been limited. Mentally, it is stressful." Santos further added, "Though I find it very hard to just stay at home, I try not to get out of the house because I am also worried that I would be infected with the COVID virus outside. The news on the number of positive cases and deaths are very scary."
In addition to fear of the virus and uncertain future, some youth also spoke about how the "home" touted as the "safe space" in almost all conversations centered on the pandemic, was in fact, a place of great distress and trauma. In Nepal, a young female respondent named Rama said that the extent of domestic violence in her house had increased during the lockdown period. Rama said, "I have seen the family dispute for more than two months because of poverty, and my father always drinks alcohol and quarrels with my mother... When my parents quarrel, they often beat me. It was very difficult for me to stay in such a situation." Rama, therefore, decided to get married. The COVID-19 pandemic has thus led to the advent of another sinister pandemic: an alarming increase in all forms of gender-based violence during these unprecedented times, along with an increase in the number of early and child marriages. In addition, Nepal has also witnessed a perceptible spike in the number of suicide cases among the youth. Similar responses of anxiety and despair were cited by youth from sexual minority groups, where family members were at loggerheads on sexual orientation issue. This made it difficult for the members of the sexual minority groups to stay indoors with their families for so long.
One of the grave challenges of accessing "unofficial" information through social media and other internet websites, was the overwhelming presence of fake news reports, both on the health aspects of the virus and on other social matters. The youth from Sri Lanka are a case in point. According to some of the respondents, some posts on social media were directly accusing certain ethnic groups of deliberate spread of the virus. These unverified claims and rumor-mongering led to communal disharmony. The youth from the marginalized groups also were at the receiving end of cyberbullying and harassment online. The fake news stories exchanged on chat messaging applications, in particular, also contributed to the increased stigma surrounding the COVID-19 virus.
Thus, even as the COVID-19 virus initially began as a health concern, it has over time transformed into a serious social, cultural, economic and political issue, affecting the lives of millions of youth, day in and day out. Its implications, although still unraveling, are predicted to be far and wide.
During this research study, the YAR youth groups attempted to understand the different dimensions of the youth in adversity, engage them more effectively to influence policy and practice, and challenge existing discourse. They offered recommendations which can help pave the way forward. Apart from recommending free higher education while ensuring safety of students and educators, youth groups also recommended the government to build policies to bridge the digital divide. In collaboration with civil society and other relevant partners, the government should focus more on creating local job opportunities and provide incentives, loans or funds to youths who are willing to venture into small scale business. With the increase in indoor violence based on gender and sexuality, youth groups urged government bodies to lay down strict laws and policies and implement them at the earliest. On issues related to fake news and rumors being spread through it, youth groups recommended the government to keep an eye on such platforms and take strict action against them. In a bid to ensure that their research findings also serve as a means to give back to the vulnerable communities, the youth members have been pursuing their action plans.
Based on the key recommendations offered by YAR youth groups in each of the member-organizations, the following broader themes and ideas have emerged to pave the way forward:
* This is an edited excerpt of the report entitled "Youth-led Action Research on The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Marginalised Youth - Consolidated Research Study Report 2020" available at www.aspbae.org/userfiles/2021/YAR_Impact_COVID-19_MarginalisedYouth_1.pdf.
The Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) is a regional network of more than two hundred civil society organizations and individuals operating in around thirty countries of the Asia-Pacific. ASPBAE works towards promoting the right to quality education and transformative and liberating lifelong adult education and learning for all.
For further information, please contact: Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education, Unit 106, Sterten Place Condominium, 116 Maginhawa Street, Teachers Village East, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines; ph/fax: (632) 441 4594; e-mail: aspbae@gmail.com; www.aspbae.org.
[i] See Malindog-Uy, A., "COVID-19 Impact on Mental Health of Filipinos," The ASEAN Post, 19 July 2020, available at: https://theaseanpost.com/article/covid-19-impact-mental-health-filipinos.
[ii] COVID-19 labour market impact in Nepal, ILO, www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-kathmandu/documents/briefingnote/wcms_745439.pdf.
[iii] See Menon, S., "Coronavirus: How the lockdown has changed schooling in South Asia," BBC Reality Check, Delhi, 21 September 2020, available at www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-54009306.
[iv] Report available at International Labour Organization, www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_753026.pdf.
[v] COVID-19: A threat to progress against child marriage, UNICEF, March 2021, copy of full report can be downloaded here - https://data.unicef.org/resources/covid-19-a-threat-to-progress-against-child-marriage/.
[vi] Vinícius Pinheiro, "The lockdown generation: Disarming the time bomb," ILO, 12 August 2021, www.ilo.org/caribbean/newsroom/WCMS_816641/lang--en/index.htm.