Daily: The Kids Aren’t Alright – Why children need a post-COVID plan

Children lost an average of 115 days of schooling under last year’s lockdowns, but that doesn’t capture the scale of trauma and dislocation caused to children by the Government’s bungled handling of the pandemic. Former Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield tells Ros Taylor about the hidden consequences of COVID policy for kids – how the pandemic was an opportunity to exploiters including county lines drug dealers – and why we have to stop seeing the pandemic through the adult-centric prism of shopping, holidays, offices and pubs.   “These school closures will have an effect for years and decades – and for some kids, forever.”  “After the pandemic, children’s mental health has plummeted.”  “I never thought I’d ever have to say ‘Kids need to be in school’. But everything we knew crumbled in a very short time.” “We’re never going to have real levelling up until we get it right for kids.” “When you’ve only got a couple of crap phones to work on, that doesn’t even scratch the surface of what you need to learn.”   Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices