Children 'under lockdown': Voices of children and Care Givers of RHP during COVID-19 pandemic

Children ‘under lockdown’ Voices of Children and Care Givers of Rainbow Homes Program during COVID-19 Pandemic

Rainbow Homes Program

Knowledge Development and Dissemination Centre (KDDC) of Rainbow Homes Program have conducted this study with support from State Team members across survey cities viz, Pune, Patna, Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Any part of this report may be reproduced with appropriate acknowledgment.

Credits Author : Team, Knowledge Development & Dissemination Centre (KDDC), Rainbow Homes Program Designed and Printed by : Print World, Delhi

Contact: Knowledge Development & Dissemination Centre(KDDC), Rainbow Homes Program, H.No. 1-1-711/C/1, Opposite Vishnu Residency, Gandhi Nagar, Hyderabad- 500 080 Ph.: 040-27660017 | www.rainbowhome.in

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special Gratitude: All the children and Care Givers under Rainbow Homes Program of 6 sample cities, viz, Pune, Patna, Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Conceptualizations: Knowledge Development and Dissemination Centre (KDDC) team and Program team of Rainbow Homes Program.

Supports in Coordination: The State Program Managers and State Team Members of sample cities, viz, Pune, Patna, Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai for arranging interviews with children and care givers of respective cities.

Interview and Audio Transcription: A group of student interns from St Joseph’s College, Bengaluru; Mr. Shailesh Singh, Patna.

Final Report: Team of Knowledge Development and Dissemination Centre (KDDC).

TABLE OF CONTENTS 7

Chapter 1: Introduction and Context 8 8 10 10 11 11 12 12 12 12

Global impacts of COVID-19: Spotlights on poverty, destitution, homelessness, mental wellbeing Challenges of child care institutions and children Researching the impact of lock down on children and staff Rationale for the study Methodology Objectives and Research Questions Sample Selection Data Collection Methods Ethical Considerations Limitations

13 Chapter 2: Coping with New Normal: Voices of Children and Care Givers during lock down

14 Voices of children 30 Experiences of Care Givers (Sneh Sathis)

35 Chapter 3: Discussions and Interpretations 36 36 37 37 38 38 39 39

Changes in daily schedules Changes in hygiene practices School disruptions; education interventions to bridge the gaps Engagement in different activities Additional responsibilities offered by children in pandemic relief measures Emotional distress due to social distancing- isolation, loneliness, fights Concerns for the future Positive Learnings

41 Chapter 4: Conclusion

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CHAPTER

Introduction and Context

Children ‘under lockdown’

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Global impacts of COVID-19: Spotlights on poverty, destitution, homelessness, mental wellbeing

I

n just a few short months, the COVID-19 pandemic became a global phenomenon affecting over 200 countries and territories. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The initial cases of coronavirus were detected in December 2019 but was not considered as a fatal disease but later in the early 2020 the rapid increase and severity of the virus led to its declaration as a pandemic. On 11 March 2020, in a statement, WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterised as a pandemic.”

The first case in India was identified on 30th January 2020. More cases came to light in the country from March onwards and as of 28th April the total number of reported cases were over 29,000 and that increased fairly rapidly since then. The havoc caused

by Novel Coronavirus (SARS CoV-2) and the disease that it causes – Covid-19 led to nation wide lock down and subsequent extension of lock down in India since March 22, 2020. The nationwide stay-at-home order along with travel bans, closure of markets and industries have disproportionately affected millions of poor people in the country who found themselves in dire hunger for loosing wages and livelihoods. As collected from credible news or social media reports from across India, there have been at least 195 lockdown related deaths (apart from deaths by COVID), which were caused by exhaustion, hunger, denial of medical care, or suicides due to lack of food or livelihood.1 Apart from affecting people economically, the COVID

19 pandemic and lock down thrown challenges to the people from disadvantaged sections, particularly in the lives of women and girls already experiencing multiple and intersecting disadvantages. Limitations on women and girls’ freedom have increased their vulnerability to violence and abuse. Studies2 show that closure of schools trapped few girls at home in abusive families or relationships. Girls and young women have been at increased risk of all forms of gender‑based violence, abuse and exploitation and exposed to risks such as criminal activities being carried out by family members in the same home. Secondly, another severe impact of lock down is on mental health of young girls and women, particularly increased feelings of loneliness, stress, anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Thirdly, the economic impacts have pushed women and girls into poverty and destitution due to disrupted, already precarious incomes, and lack of safe accommodation during the pandemic, which resulted in greater risk of abuse and exploitation for women and girls.

Challenges of child care institutions and children Children are disproportionally affected by COVID-19 with school closures and loss of access to their social safety net. Studies suggest that as lockdowns spread, hundreds of millions of students lost their school meals, and many parents were unable to provide food after losing their jobs and livelihoods.3 The most hard hit among the India’s population due to the lockdown imposed after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic were the underprivileged populations including children with or without families, who are in need of care and protection.

Children in Childcare Institutes (CCIs) are a forgotten lot and the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded

1. https://theprint.in/opinion/more-than-300-indians-have-died-of-the-coronavirus-and-nearly-200-of-the-lockdown/400714/ 2. Voices from Lock down- A chance for change: A survey by Agenda- Alliance for women and girls at risk 3. Borkowski, A., Hares, S., and Minardi, A. L. (2020) With schools closed, hundreds of millions of children are not receiving school meals [online].

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their challenges, highlighting their deplorable plight.

According to the Juvenile Justice (JJ) (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, these Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP) in CCIs or orphanages live in CCIs until they are repatriated to the mainstream society at the age of 18 years. This sudden crisis has thrown many unknown challenges towards the children living and the care-givers engaged in Child Care Institutions (CCI). COVID-19induced lockdown had stalled the smooth functioning of the CCIs. Procurement of essential commodities, menstrual hygiene products, medicines and teaching materials became difficult as supply logistics were affected (The Times of India, 2020). Non residential staff of the CCIs had to be kept out of children homes’ premises to adhere to the social distancing order and residential care givers at CCIs had to undertake additional workload of keeping the children engaged through art and craft, reading and games, tutoring and counselling. Furthermore, the closure of schools and restrictions on the outdoor movements resulted in deeper emotional imbalances and mental stress

among the children. Further, the prevailing uncertainty about the normalcy added mental anxiety particularly among the adolescents who are on the verge of their career building.

In India, remedial interventions were sought by the administrations and concerned government department. The Ministry of Health has kept a special helpline number functional as an emergency COVID-19 response in addition to Childline (India Legal Bureau, 2020). The National Commission for Child Rights (NCPCR), India, asked the state governments to protect children of migrant workers heading back home (The Hindu, 2020) and directed Childline and CWCs to ‘identify abandoned, orphaned, or lost children, and children found living or begging on the streets, and children moving in with migrant families and place them in CCIs or ‘fit facilities’ (CCIs run by voluntary groups or nonprofits and deemed suitable by the government)’ (Mazumdar, 2020). The Supreme Court of India also intervened, seeking status report for monitoring the child protection.

Supreme Court’s Directions to protect children in Protection Homes during COVID pandemic Taking suo moto cognizance of the issue involving protection of children who fall within the ambit of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 from the spread of Coronavirus, the bench of L. Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta, JJ issued extensive directions to various authorities. On 3 April 2020, the apex court sought the situational report on the children living ‘in protection, juvenile and foster or kinship homes across the country’ and issued protective orders to state governments for safeguarding children at care homes from the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the court order, state governments had to circulate instructions pertaining to standard operating procedures (SOPs) to CCIs on raising awareness on the COVID-19 transmission, engage trained volunteers for childcare in CCIs, CNCP, CICWL in observation homes, children in foster and kinship care and sought to review the challenges faced by functionaries in this pandemic. The CWC were asked to monitor telephonically the children who were restored to their families, to synchronise with District Child Protection Committees, foster care and adoption committees for the children in foster homes.

Directions to CWC on monitoring CCIs Ensure whether a child or children should be kept in the CCI considering the best interest, health and safety concerns.

Special online sittings or video sessions may be called to consider measures that may be taken to prevent children residing in the Children’s Homes, SAAs, and Open Shelters from risk of harm arising out of COVID 19.

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Gatekeeping or preventive measures need to be considered and families counselled to ensure that institutionalization is the last resort. online help desks and support systems for queries to be established at the state level for children and staff in CCIs. violence, including sexual and gender-¬based violence may be exacerbated in contexts of anxiety and stress produced by lockdown and fear of the disease, CWCs can monitor regularly through video conferencing, WhatsApp and telephonically to ensure prevention of all forms of violence.

Directions to CCIs in ensuring safety of children Staff or any other individual found to be exhibiting symptoms of COVID¬19 should not be permitted to enter the CCI. Ensure conducting regular screening of children and staff in CCI Enforce regular hand washing with safe water and soap, alcohol rub/hand sanitizer or chlorine solution and, at a minimum, daily disinfection and cleaning of various surfaces including the kitchen and bathrooms. Where adequate water is not available, immediate steps should be taken to ensure it is made available through necessary action, including enhancing budget allocation for the said purpose.

Provide appropriate water, sanitation, disinfection, and waste management facilities and follow environmental cleaning and decontamination procedures.

CCI should have a quarantine/segregated section (where possible) & make alternate arrangements where a quarantine facility is not possible.

The Rainbow Home Programme, one of the largest Child Care Institution that provides non-custodial, residential, comprehensive and long-term care to children formerly on streets through 50 children homes across cities of India has encountered challenges because of the subtle pressure from the administration and concerned government departments to send back the children under their care to the families. With the outbreak of pandemic, the organization’s foremost concern was the safety of the children, along with continuing the regular care activities at home with the pre-existing care standards. Considering the family situations of most of the children under the organization’s care, sending them to families meant pushing them towards more risks of being infected of the disease. The pandemic situation steered in the need for a reorientation among the caregivers, bringing newer set of rules and compliance mechanisms inside the child care institutions during lock down for greater attention to care and protection of ‘children without parental care’ as well as the 10

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human resources engaged in caring for children. With timely coordination and immediate decision making to adopt to the new normal, with their limited resources, the organization tried their best to cope with the rules from central and state governments or guidelines from the Supreme Court of India or varied instructions came from different child protection functionaries.

Researching the impact of lock down on children and staff Rationale for the study With such imposition of monitoring activities of CCI from Supreme Court, Rainbow had faced several coordination from CWC and district protection units across states to observe the interventions offered by the organization to its children during lock down period and the safety protocols maintained by each of the home. However, from the lens of the organization,

it was not easy to confine children and residential staff in small spaces at homes during lockdown, because it increased the stress on children as well as staff managing them. There were also chances that the situation anxiety exacerbate health issues in the children, leading to an increase in self-harm and other mental health issues. Hence, besides stocking up the children homes with adequate essentials such as groceries, medicines and hygiene materials to face the crisis, the CCIs have sorted to different interventions to keep the children and staff engaged inside the homes.

At the same time the challenge was to deal with the emotions and anxiety among the children as it will have a lasting impact on their future life.

It was hence, important to understand the feelings and the coping mechanisms adopted by the children as well as the care-givers who had undergone this experience in order to deal with it.

This report focuses on the first three months since the outbreak of COVID and in India from the beginning of lockdown, 22nd March 2020, until the end of June 2020. The study given opportunities to the children and care givers of Rainbow Homes to share their experiences in coping the challenging period of lock down being inside Rainbow Homes and aimed to document the feelings or learningsarising due to change in routine, newer hygiene practices, additional responsibilities and different coping mechanisms adopted by children and care-givers who were confined to the centres during lockdown. The attempt was also to capture the emotional changes and learning from this experience.

Methodology Objectives and Research Questions It is imperative to note down here that the objective of the present effort has not been to undertake research but to have a deeper understanding and document the impact of COVID crisis on the children and staff of Rainbow Homes who were into Rainbow Homes during the challenging period of lock down. The major objectives of this report is

- To understand children’s perspective about changes in their everyday lives during lock down with key focus on daily routines (eating, sleeping, play, physical activity), emotional states, and the distance education experience; - To explore children’s developmental changes, attainments, and difficulties with changed rules and routines during this challenging time; - To understand challenges of care givers in making children accustomed with changes routine in the Home and handle emotional distress of the children during the critical stayat-home phase.

- To identify Rainbow’s resources and fragilities in order to develop criteria for interventions to support them following the initial critical phase of the pandemic.

The report also aimed to document care giver’s experience in coping up with the aspects of new normal such as, using digital communication tools or introduction of new hygiene practices to curb the spread of the disease, among others. Although it is clear that remote educational work cannot replace the in-person social contact and interaction, the study aimed to explore short-term impact, as seen by children as well as staff, of the extraordinary effort to implement distance education methods during the lockdown.

With these major objectives, the end goal of this study is to document the positive leanings and areas of improvements to intensely work on building resilience and adaptability among children and staff as well as improved disaster management interventions by the organization for any future outbreak of pandemic. The result of this study will also feed into the re-organization of orientation modules for staff and requisite changes in the implementation approach at the organizational level. This document will help in designing training for care-givers to deal with calamities that has wider and deeper impact. Lastly, the experiences and voices can serve as an eye opener for the policy makers and funders to introduce specialized services and funding to support community organizations like Rainbow in the future crisis responses.

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Research Questions included - What was this lock down meant to the children and what had been their learnings?

- What were the positives and negatives, according to the children of changed interventions in the homes, in terms of time table, hygiene practice, educational/co-curricular interventions etc. during lock down period?

- What were the emotional and behavioral repercussions of the children due to school disruptions, social distancing from families?

- What were the positive learning and challenges faced by the care givers (home team) in executing additional care practices?

- What were the care giver’s challenge in handling emotional distress or executing different activities in alignment of new normal - How the sense of belonging of the children enhanced with improved child participation during this crisis period?

Sample Selection During March to June, 29 older children in the age group of 14-17 years and the 6 care givers across five cities have been interviewed remotely via social media platform such as Zoom as well as over the telephones. The sample of children were randomly selected considering gender, ability, geographic regions and ethnicity to ensure diverse perspectives and understand city wise interventions offered by Rainbow Homes during lock down period.

Data Collection Methods The study is entirely based on the qualitative interview approach with some pre-designed open ended questions in addition to the prompt questions at the time of interview to stimulate the conversations.

The children and staff were given space to talk spontaneously, without making it sound like reading a questionnaire or checklist. Information was gathered through informal telephonic conversations and digital media such as, Zoom call with older children and care givers of Rainbow Homes who were inside the Rainbow homes in their respective cities during the period of lock down. Each conversation with children was mostly one12

Children ‘under lockdown’

on-one with researcher asking questions to children in the presence of a care giver. Children were asked to share their experiences and coping mechanisms with changes in interventions adopted by the home team such as, innovations in educational and recreational initiatives, changes on daily time tables, introductions of improved hygiene practices, participating in community responsibilities etc. Along with that care givers were asked to respond with their challenges and learning in executing care practices aligning to the new normal and handling their own emotional distress as well as that of the children during the crisis period.

All the information coming from the informal discussion with children and staff were recorded which got transcripted later to rule out possibilities of missing any relevant information in simultaneous writing at the time of interview.

Ethical considerations The study was conducted in compliance with all ethical research standards of maintaining confidentiality and privacy of children and staff. The children and staff were informed well in advance about the purpose of documenting their experiences through the State Program Managers of Rainbow Homes of respective cities. In order to ensure safety and protection of the children, care givers of respective homes from where children were interviewed were told to switch off the video during the Zoom call interviews. In order to safeguard children’s privacy and hide their identities, their names have been changed in the report, though cities, ages and the Rainbow homes they belongs to have been kept same.

Limitations It is worth acknowledging that accessing respondents via digital means has been a limitation of this study.

Telephonic interactions and interviews through digital medias has its own limitation because of the absence of visual cue and no scope for the interviewer to validate the information coming from the respondents.

This might resulted in loss of non-verbal data coming from facial expressions or body languages from the children and care givers interviews for this study.

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CHAPTER

Coping with New Normal: Voices of Children and Care Givers during Lock Down

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Voices of children Emotionally distressed due to social distancing

J

ayasree (name changed) is from Chennai Laxmi home studying in Class -8. She said that there was a change in schedules, during lockdown they woke up at 7:00 and even their lunch time were changed from 12:30 to 1:00pm but their bed time were not changed.

The new activities were very enjoyable for Rajshree as she learnt soap making and participated in drama classes and she enjoyed soap making because this a new experience for her. But the online classes were stressful for her because it was organized continuously every day.

Jayashree says that she does not have problem with closure of school but did not like it as she missed her school environment and friends. The home teacher conducted classes for them, every week she took one subject each like English, Science and Spoken English.

She likes online classes but when the smaller children used to make noise during the class it irritates her. From the practical classes she is enjoyed the soap making classes as it was a new experience and she feels that it was a new achievement for her.

While talking about new hygiene practices she says that because of Covid-19 they were practicing the new hygienic practices and she enjoyed with these new practices as she feels that these practices should be followed by everyone to prevent us from this virus.

Apart from herself, she is also worried about her parents as they are doing daily wages, even though they used mask they will not care about washing hands all the time and that is why she is worried. Whenever she calls over phone, she reminds them to take such precautions.

As additional help in the home she teaches younger ones to maintain cleanliness and explaining lessons.

Besides, cleaning she helped in the kitchen to pack the food. She really enjoyed the additional work that she’s doing to help Sneh Sathis.

Jayashree feels sad because she is not able to meet 14

Children ‘under lockdown’

her family, parents, friends, teachers and outside volunteers but she knows that home is the best place for her in the present crisis. During this lockdown she knew about the Viruses and also experienced many things and from practical classes. She is aware about this corona and how to practices hygienic lifestyle.

Happy to take responsibilities Keshav (name changed), studies in 8th std in Chennai Sneh Ghar. His home routine consists of classes taken by rainbow teachers in the morning and online classes taken by volunteers in the afternoon. Regular subjects such as history and sciences are taken by residential staff in the morning followed by online skill training sessions such as spoken English. Since the hours of online classes are less, Keshav expressed that he didn’t have to face a lot of stress. The major thing which he missed during lockdown was the lack of opportunity to meet his parents.

There were a lot of changes in the overall hygiene management in the home. He understands that strict hygiene practices are essential to take necessary precaution against the spread of Corona virus. He admitted that although there was initial difficulty in adopting these new practices, later he became serious about it. He was given an option to keep regular contacts with his family and this helped him to convey message regarding keeping hygiene in order to avoid getting infected with Covid-19.

Keshav is a home leader and consequently had responsibilities to take care of younger children.

As part of the lockdown, only a part of the staff in rainbow homes were reporting to duty and thus the child was part of the cleaning and food distribution team.

According to him the most interesting incident was the workshop which was conducted as part of cycle day. The children were given parts of cycle and were asked to assemble it which the child liked the most. The child also got an opportunity to be part of the team in rainbow home which was cooking and serving food for the homeless. This experience gave him an inspiration to do something for the poor and the needy when

he grows up. Lockdown was the time when Keshav observed pain and suffering in the society. He was hurt because of two things – not being able to see his parents and not being able to attend school. He said that he learnt the necessity of keeping personal hygiene without which we are prone to many diseases.

Missed her friends but learned new skills Tanya (name Changed), 14 yrs. is the young adult from AKP rainbow home, Chennai and studies in class 10.

The daily schedule of her home had changes because of Covid-19 in which she got little relaxing time. They were having online classes for two subjects per day for 45 minutes of lecture and the last 5-15 minutes for them to clarify their doubts. Also, there is a WhatsApp group for them to seek further clarifications, if any.

Besides, at home itself they have residential teachers of all subject for support. She was able to attend all the classes but the younger children from homes used to make noise while attending the online classes and that disturbed her despite using earphones. Notably, Tamil Nadu government had provided mobile phones to all students who were studying in 10th class to facilitate online learning. This helped her to attend online classes and other online activities organized by the home, effectively. However, she feels that face to face teaching is better than online classes.

Tanya mentioned that residential teacher spends time with students. She enjoys spoken English classes conducted online by a volunteer as it is very activity oriented. The volunteer used innovative ways to engage with children and made use of voice message and video option in WhatsApp. Tanya also uploaded her own video in YouTube as a part of an activity in spoken English class.

She has a fair idea about the pandemic. The new practices were not enjoyable for her because she felt being trapped in the home due to the movement restrictions. She was worried about her mother’s health and tried her best to educate her about the precautions to be taken to avoid infection. The child felt that her mother was not taking it seriously. She

regarded that it was her duty to take care of younger ones in the home and so she also took care of children in her sister group and made sure that the younger ones followed health practices properly.

She felt bad that she couldn’t go out to meet her friends and family but she understood the situation so that she can be safe. Lockdown according to her was all about inability to go outside, online classes and continuous hand washing. She feels that she is a bit more mature in handling things.

Creative activities released the mental stress Anushka (name changed), Young Adult, Rainbow Homes of Chennai says that the daily schedules in the home was changed during lockdown. They had different activities everyday like debate competition, dancing competition art and craft, they even had basketball, volleyball tournaments. Anushka said that she enjoyed drama most among the different activities. All the children even the YAs stayed together and doing different activities. The elder girls were looking after the younger ones.

Anushka never had any anxiety due to closure of school because their education coordinator was looking after them and she used to conduct online classes for them on different subject like-Sociology, Computer Education and English. She had to face a problem when first time she attended online class, but the education coordinator guided her and she learnt the art. Whenever she had any doubt, she used to send voice message to their teacher by using their home cell phone and their teacher’s phone. She felt supported in the home after online classes. Apart from their online classes they had two volunteers from outside and from them they had a zoom call and they used to had a Zumba dance classes online.

She did not feel stressed because of the online classes, she feels that this time is being utilized, which earlier used to waste.

For new hygiene practices Anushka knew that children should maintain cleanliness and keep their hands clean Children ‘under lockdown’

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to be protected from corona virus, so as additional responsibility of home she taught the younger children about hygienic practices and to wash their hands before and after eating and make sure that they are doing their homework given by the teacher.

keep clean their surroundings and the most important things is that they aware the children about Covid-19.

She said that these new practices are not burden for her, rather she think that it was her responsibility to aware the smaller children.

Anushka used to feel sad and worried about her parents and family because she did not know their situation at home, but every Sunday she could talk to her parents and because of that she was even happy about it. Also, she missed her school friend as she was not able to share her thoughts and feelings. Sometime she felt depressed feeling as well because she cannot go out.

Because of this pandemic she is worried about her parents whether they will get mask, hand sanitizer and she used to call them and ask them their condition and told them to take care of their health and to stay home. She was feeling sad not being able to meet her parents, family, friends and the teacher

She learnt a lot about cooking. She used to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner they did not let their home mother cook to make her feel special.

Enjoyed cooking during lockdown Manisha (name changed) is a 17-year-old Young adult from Khushi Home and is studying in 10th standard.

Lockdown resulted in an overall change in the schedule of the home. The normal waking up time for her was at 8 am in the morning which was delayed to 9 am during lockdown. During lockdown they had extra additional activities like, looking after the smaller children, going for computer classes and mask making activity. She enjoyed mask making session as they make for the other people.

The lockdown period was bit stressful for Manisha. She faced difficulties in online classes because since the teachers were not available there, they cannot clarify all their doubts. During lockdown she miss her school friends and Sneh Sathis.

In online classes she studied different subjects like: English, Hindi, Indian Culture, Home Science. Another reason she does not prefer on line is that the duration of 40 minutes for each class is too short. Initially, she used to have network issues but later their home had Wi-Fi connection and then it was smooth going.

Regarding the hygiene practices he ensured that the younger children wash their hands and they should 16

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The additional help that she extended was that they clean their home, room and the premises along with assisting the Home Mother in cooking like making chapatti or chopping vegetables. She is enjoying the additional work that she is doing to help Sneh Sathis.

For Manisha the lockdown has brought positive change to the environment as the noise pollution and air pollution had gone down. It was very good experience to spend more time to their home and staff. During lockdown she came to know more about herself because she had more time to think of herself.

Hygiene practices all day will keep the Corona away Aayesha (name changed) from Kilkari Home in Delhi is 16 years old and studying in 11th Class. Sharing about the changes daily schedule of home she said that sudden change makes it difficult for them to adapt the new schedule but it is not stressful because she clearly knew the reason for these new changes in hygiene practices. Because of lockdown she missed the fun and conversation she had with her school friends.

They had online classes but it used to be only for important classes and not for every subject and for the other subject they have to manage it by themselves.

As she cannot clear out her doubts through online classes, she gets help from her seniors. Apart from studies, she got a chance to participate in one of the competitions like dancing, singing and quiz, which was organised online. However, she enjoyed this lockdown and online classes because they are free. The activities

she enjoyed the most was the competitions in which all the children from Kilkari participated.

She was not worried about her parents because they were informed by the government about the precautions to be taken. Also, she herself advised them whenever she called them.

As additional responsibility Aayesha looked after the younger children and made sure they follow the new schedule, which she enjoyed very much.

Lockdown brought some new experience for Aayesha.

Earlier they used to eat together but due to Corona they use to eat in smaller groups. Also, in normal days there was no time for them to watch TV but during lockdown they watched it frequently. She had no fights with her home mates or engaged in any arguments.

In terms of new experience Aayesha said that the lockdown separated them from their friends/school friends and parents but on the other side they had fun and she got more time to interact with other kids. The best thing that she learnt during lockdown is that she knew how to help others and how to cook food and how to deal with different problems.

Missed Football selection but enjoyed computer learning Balwant (name changed) is a student of class 8 who stays in Sneh Ghar in Delhi. He says that the regular home schedule was relaxed due to the advent of lock down, with reduced study hours and delayed waking up time. Hand washing and other hygiene practices were introduced as part of the measures taken to combat the spread of the virus in the home. The home also introduced options to learn from You Tube.

Balwant was stressed and got stubborn in the beginning of the lockdown because he missed the chance to go for under 16 football team selection that was cancelled due to Covid-19 and subsequent lock down but he took it as an opportunity and used the lockdown period to learn basics of computer. Regarding studies he was worried about whether he will be able to finish the syllabus in this situation. He had online classes via zoom and subjects such as Science, mathematics, history

and English were taught during these classes. Online learning was okay for him but he relied on residential teachers for clarification of concepts and doubts.

Other online activities which happened were physical training and computer classes. Since the online classes were only for 3 hours per day, attending online classes were not very tiresome. Learning computers were an enjoyable activity for Balwant and he went on to even create an online game, which showed his interest and passion.

Regarding the new hygiene practices, he said that they had initial difficulties adhering to it and later got used to it and he clearly knew the reason why lock down was imposed and hygiene practices were strictly being implemented. He also said that his is worried about his parents and regularly talks to them and educates them about precautionary practices needed to be taken.

Balwant is the leader of a “Brother group” with 6 other children. He made sure that the younger children maintain discipline and hygiene. He also was helping the home mothers in cooking food and chopping vegetables. He was keen on learning something new every time and thus was able to enjoy additional responsibilities.

The child was stressed due to the fact that he was not able to meet his sister and parents. He video calls sister regularly to find about her where abouts. He was missing school and football practice. Talking about conflicts, he being the elder child actively engaged in solving the issues of younger children. The most interesting thing was learning computers and cooking fried rice. He observed the misery of people on the streets and also noticed the concern that rainbow staff had for all children.

Art and Craft became new passion Monami (name changed) has completed her class 10 and stays in one of the Rainbow homes in Hyderabad.

She stayed at home during lockdown and had online classes. She also had activities such as art and craft, drawing, cultural and dance programs. Online zoom sessions for spoken English. As she couldn’t complete Children ‘under lockdown’

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her 10th standard exams due to the pandemic, she was promoted to 11th standard. She mentioned that the online activities were enjoyable especially art and craft as she found her interest in art and craft.

Seema was not very sure about the details of the disease but was convinced that taking precautionary measures were important. She didn’t find it difficult to adopt new practices into her daily lifestyle.

She felt stressed when schools were stopped suddenly as she was preparing for 10th standard exams. She felt helpless during online classes of subjects like Telugu, Hindi, Maths, Science and Social Sciences, only problem was that she couldn’t clarify her doubts with her school teacher. Home teachers were able to help her in studies to some extent. Since the classes were through TV channels - DD Yadagiri & DD Sapthagiri hence, there were no technical issues related to internet. However, the most stressful thing about the new routine was that she couldn’t go out and so missed her parents, friends and teachers.

She took special attention in looking after a 7-year-old child in her “Sisters group”. She encouraged younger ones to follow hygiene practices properly and helped them in their daily affairs. She also lent her hand in the daily chores of the home as only half the number of home staff were working during the lockdown. One of the most interesting experience she had during lockdown was the collaborative work which she did along with other children and Sneh Sathis to run home daily. This primarily included cleaning the home and premises and cooking food for both the home and for distribution via BHMC to homeless people. She also got an opportunity to learn how to cook during lockdown.

Wearing masks and regular hand sanitising were made part of the daily routine. Monami was well aware of Covid-19 pandemic and its communicable nature which forced us to observe lock down and strict social distancing practices.

Enjoyed working with Sneh Sathis The 14 years old Seema (name changed) resides in Rainbow Home in Falaknuma, Hyderabad and studies in class 9th. She enjoyed the new activities such as spoken English, dance classes, life skills, yoga, meditation etc., and felt that she was able to do some new things during online classes. However, due to sudden closure of school, she was disturbed about her studies, and feared that she will forget whatever she learnt till this time although online classes for Hindi, Telugu and other regular subjects were taken organised. But she was not able to attend classes properly due to lack of discipline among children during online classes. Online learning was generally comfortable for her and she was able to pick up concepts discussed in classes. She also received support in her studies from the home staff.

Her school and home were in same campus and thus she didn’t feel any difference with respect to being at home always. But she missed her friends and used to get stressed because of this.

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She had a general positive feeling about lockdown and focused on the positives which happened during lockdown. She learned few things during lockdown and cherished it. She enjoyed the spoken English and art & craft sessions the most. She desires to pursue a career in medicine and is working ahead to achieve her dreams.

Feeling like grown-up with additional responsibilities Shanthi (name changed) is in class 9 and staying in Aman Vedika home, Hyderabad since last 5 years.

During lockdown, daily routine was amended to give more emphasis on personal hygiene and academics.

This was required to build efficient measures to counter the spread of the disease and to keep children safe. Online classes were conducted using Zoom and Microsoft teams. Apart from regular subjects, session on life skills, spoken English, personal hygiene etc. were covered during online sessions. She expressed her discontent for using small devices in attending long sessions during lockdown. She found online classes a bit irritating owing to its nature of continuous staring at the screen. The other aspect which she found quite uncomfortable was regular hand washing. She missed the time she spent in school, enjoying with her friends

be it via games or any academic discussion, during lockdown.

Online classes were initiated at a slower pace by the school authorities where smaller portions were taught towards the beginning of online classes during lockdown. The number of subjects dealt with were gradually increased. She also faced technical difficulties such as issues with Wi-Fi and a lack of devices in the initial phase of lockdown. As of now the device shortage problem is solved but issues with Wi-Fi still persists. She was very apprehensive about online learning initially until she got a hang of how to use the technology. Now she finds it convenient to use and gets required support and attention from the home staff. She also has opportunity to connect with her friends at school in a zoom meeting during lockdown which she enjoyed much.

Mandatory hand washing every hour became a norm at home during lockdown. Daily duties were carried out 4 times a day and they used masks even inside the home. Quarantine rooms were arranged for those children who went out of the home and came back.

She had fair awareness about how contagious Covid 19 was and why these new practices were imposed.

She had questioned the need for stricter hygiene practices initially, under the assumption that since all children are staying together at home, there is no chance for them to get affected. Later she realised the importance of taking precautions and abided by it.

She used every opportunity she had in educating her parents about the disease and what all precautions needed to be taken. She was quite tensed as her parents lived in a slum and consequently were more vulnerable to infection than her.

Sisters’ groups were assigned to every elder girl child where she was instructed to take care of education, hygiene and behaviour of 2 younger children. She shared that she felt responsible for the wellbeing of the children and thus tried her maximum in looking after them. She also found liking in helping out house mothers in cooking and took part in cutting vegetables and other activities. She felt satisfied in lending out a helping hand. She also found time to spend with her house mothers and fellow home children in

understanding them which she never got a chance before lockdown due to tightly packed home routine and regular academic activities.

Given the fact that she was confined at the home without any external contacts during lockdown, she felt safe to stay in the home itself where she was given clear instruction on how to be healthy and safe at this time and also could continue her education. She felt quite angry sometimes about not being able to go out and see the outside world. She tried to keep up her contacts with friends at school as she was worried of losing the company of her friends. Every day children used to gather for Balsabha at 6.30 pm, where they shared their problems, conflicts and concerns which helped them to co-exist without many fights and issues among them.

One particularly interesting incident which happened during lockdown was how they celebrated Independence Day at home which was a memorable experience. She got a chance to be responsible for younger children in her sisters’ group which made her content and happy. Her dream in life is to become an IAS officer and she continues to strive towards her goal.

Portraying learning through drawings Kanwar (name changed) is from one of the Boys Home in Hyderabad and now has completed his class 10. When the lockdown was imposed, he was busy preparing for his 10th board exams. So, he didn’t take part in any new activities organised by home for the children. But since as the situation got worse his board exams were cancelled by the government and he was promoted to the next class.

Whenever he gets free time, he engages in drawing and art & craft activities. One of his posters on Covid-19 was published by the National office.

When asked about if he got stressed because of continuous online classes, he pointed out that to achieve success, one needs to adjust to the situations and this is what he did.

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Kanwar is well aware of the challenge posed by Covid-19 and was convinced about why we should have strict hygiene practices. He was initially hesitant to use sanitisers because of the fact that they were also chemicals.

He missed meeting his parents during lockdown. He was worried about his parents’ health and educated them whenever he got time to talk to them.

He also missed his friends but was convinced about the need to be safe during the time of the pandemic.

Ishwar said that he was very stressed initially during the lockdown due to the loneliness and confinement inside the four walls of the home but later got used to it.

He took part in the initiatives of the home to cook food for the homeless population in and around the area of the home during the lockdown.

Kanwar thinks the lockdown is a lesson for everyone in taking necessary preparations as well as precautions in avoiding such health emergencies. He pointed out that many people have lost their lives and many lost their employment due to this lockdown. While helping home mothers in daily chores at home, he was able to learn cooking and he considers that as the best learning during lockdown.

Contributed through teaching the younger children Dinkar (name changed) is first year degree student from Hyderabad. He was pursuing BCom in Computer Applications in Nizam College. He dreams to be an IAS officer in future.

He mentioned that the daily schedule was amended such that personal hygiene and health is given focus.

The online classes from college started soon after lockdown was imposed. He was stressed due to continuous scree time during lockdown as almost every activity became online. He pointed out that there was no real human contact during online classes and missed spending time with his teachers and friends at college.

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Children ‘under lockdown’

Not all subjects were taught in online classes from college. Only those subjects which required special attention were handled via online. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any one to support him in his studies at home and thus struggled to keep up with the online classes. He is a practical learner and particularly enjoyed the practice-based sessions from college rather than the theory classes. He had also enrolled himself in an online course on digital marketing during the lockdown. Other online activities conducted were quiz competitions, watching educational videos etc.

Dinkar was found to be aware of the reasons of a lifestyle change and the challenge Covid-19 posed.

Although the new hygiene practices were tiresome, he was convinced about the necessity of these practices in combating the pandemic.

He also took up teaching students at home and handled Mathematics and English classes for children up to class 10. He also assisted them in computer education. he also took care of the health and hygiene aspect of his brother group and made sure that all children observed hygiene practices. He was involved in cleaning the home and assisting in cooking which helped the home staff in their daily affairs. He saw it as an opportunity to learn and thus enjoyed doing it. He was very happy that he learned cooking during lockdown. By handling classes for children, he was able to overcome his stage fear and built self confidence in addressing a crowd.

Dinkar had lost his parents at a young age and now he finds staying at home comfortable rather than visiting his relatives. He also missed non-residential Sneh sathis as well as outside volunteers during the lock down. He found teaching and cooking the most interesting activity which he engaged during the lockdown. He found inspiration in voluntarily helping urban homeless in providing dry ration and cooked food. On the whole, he had a good experience during lockdown where he was able to learn many things as well as contribute in home activities especially cooking and teaching children.

Enjoyed many activities but missed the summer Camp Mangla (name changed) from one of the Hyderabad Rainbow Homes who is in class 10 says that the new routine was relaxing there was no pressure to get up early and run to school. But at the same time the prolonged closure of school was boring and saddening too as the future was not clear. She did not like online classes because it used to be fast and difficult to understand also was not possible to take notes. Hence, she relied on self-study with help from Sneh Sathis. However, the other activity based online courses were enjoyable. She liked the mask making sessions the most.

According to Mangla the new hygiene practices were stressful but she knew that it is the only way to get rid of this pandemic. So, she used to take care of younger children in her sister group by monitoring their cleanliness, food and studies as additional responsibility during lockdown. Besides, she supported the residential staff in cleaning and cooking because the number of Sneh Sathis were less than normal days.

While helping she learned cooking some new dishes.

She missed her parents and was also worried about them. She used to speak to them over phone whenever got opportunity and reminded them about hand washing, use of mask and maintaining distance while going out. She mentioned that she missed lot of other activities because of corona and mainly the summer camp, which used to be the most enjoyable event.

She admitted that there were incidences of quarrels among the children in home but she was never a part of it. In fact, she used to proactively resolve it.

Talking about the overall experience of lockdown she said “some sadness, some happiness, missed something and learned something”

Packing food for homeless was of immense pleasure Shivani (name changed) is a BSc Nursing student in Hyderabad. Initially during the lockdown, she was

panicked due to the sudden halt in regular classes, but was able to cope up and later enjoyed the days at home with her friends and sisters. She missed her college. She pointed that rest everything was taken care by the rainbow home.

The college conducted online classes via zoom and switched to meeting app by the mid of lockdown in April and all the subjects were covered in the online classes. Hence, the online learning was okay for her and she felt supported in her studies by home teacher also.

Other online activities were Computer lessons, drawing, Art therapy, Yoga, Counselling & motivation classes.

Shivani has a good understanding about the disease and how it spreads. Initially, she was apprehensive about the new practices but with a better understanding about the challenge which COVID-19 posed, she realised that it was necessary to take precautions.

There was a shortage of staff at home due to lockdown restrictions, therefore, she had taken up certain responsibilities to assist such as tuition classes for the younger children, assist residential home teachers in their educational activities and grooming of sisters through sisters committee. She got time to share about herself to her home mates and listen to others which helped build the relationships She felt sad initially to see her friends able to go home but later realised that staying at home was the best way to prevent the disease and help her family. She knew that the home was supporting her family through this tough time and this gave her a lot of strength and relief. She used to contact them every 2 or 3 days via phone and explained them all the precautions which were to be taken.

She shared that she was very happy and content with packing food for the urban homeless population in and around the home area.

Although the lockdown caused a lot of misery around the world, she personally had a good time to spend with herself and with her home mates which further cemented their friendships. Her cherished learnings during lockdown were how to attend classes online, social awareness about Covid 19, art therapy and Yoga.

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Excelled in cooking during lockdown Jasmin (name changed) stays in Loreto Rainbow Home.

In home their daily schedule had undergone change in view of the pandemic along with stay arrangements.

The YAs stayed together and performed different activities like debate competition, dancing competition art and craft, they even had basketball, volleyball.

The elder girls looked after the younger ones.

She never had stress because of school closure as their education coordinator conducted online classes for them. She had to face problems when they first had their online classes. She knew that she should maintain cleanliness and keeping their hands clean and teaching the smaller children about hygienic practices and to wash their hands before and after eating. She said the reasons for such changes in hygienic practices is because of this corona virus or Covid-19 now they know how to handle the virus and maintaining themselves. She was worried about her family because she was afraid that they will not maintain cleanliness and hygienic to their family.

She is the YA from the home and she used to look after the smaller children and they used to make sure that they are clean they took the responsibilities that they wash their hand and they used to make sure that they are doing their homework given by the teacher.

She felt sad and worried about her parents and family because she did not know their situation at home, but every week on Sunday she could talk to her parents.

During lockdown Jasmine learned a lot about cookingthey used to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner they did not let their home mother cooked because to make sure that she feels special and they are able to do their work.

Learned to deal with conflicts Monica (name changed) is a 14-year-old girl who stays in Shanti Rani Rainbow Home Kolkata. She particularly liked the new relaxed home routine because she had found a lot of free time.

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Children ‘under lockdown’

She liked the new activities when some of these activities were introduced in the home such as drawing, art and craft, essay writing, quiz programs; and competitions and tried to participate in most of it.

She pointed out that she missed her mother visiting on Sundays, monthly outings, school and outside volunteers who visited the home. She had completed her matriculation exams shortly before lock down was imposed and hence was excited to meet her new class mates as she had moved to eleventh standard.

Educational subjects and activities were conducted online as lockdown progressed. Subjects dealt via online mode. She had mixed feelings about online learning and expressed that she felt a huge difference between in person learning and online learning.

Clarifying doubts were very difficult in online classes and thus she ended up liking some subjects and ignoring others.

New hygiene practices were introduced in her home such as regular hand washing, cleaning home premises at least twice a day and cleaning bathroom and toilets thrice a day. She had taken extra responsibility of assisting the younger girls in her sister group. As there were fewer number of staff in the home, she also took part in cooking food and cleaning premises besides, other things to assist the home staff.

She agreed that she had minor disagreements and conflicts with Sneh Sathis (care givers) as well as children but since she was clear that they have to stay together until it went back to normal, she would try to resolve. She also has a sense of being grown up and this helps her behave more maturely in conflict situations. Her most interesting and fond memory during lock down time was meeting her mom and visiting school where she could meet her friends and teachers after a long time.

Online interaction with brother on Raksha bandhan was amazing Rinky (name changed) is a class 8 student in Loreto House School and stays in Loreto House Rainbow Home. The sudden closure of schools shocked her as

she was worried about her studies. She revealed that when the online classes started, she had on an average 3 hours of classes per day. She observed that virtual classes are very different from real classes and the element of teacher student connect was absent in the online mode. But she was fortunate to get the support of home staff.

New hygiene practices such as occasional hand washing was not easy for her in the beginning. She later got used to it after continuing it. She expressed that she missed her parents and didn’t get a chance to go home due to the pandemic. She found relief in talking to them over phone using the provision provided by the home. She had a sense of confidence that her parents are safe in their house and was happy that the Rainbow home authorities were helping the family by providing supplies and ration.

She was also keen on taking care of the children in her “Sister group”. She also extended her assistance in their regular home work. She felt that she was able to actively take up responsibilities and this made her happy. When enquired about her feeling about missing people in her life during lockdown, – her school teachers, friends, Sneh Sathis, outside volunteers and family members, she said the she was very sad initially. But as time passed on, she and her fellow home mates were able to spend time with each other and make a strong bond between each other.

She feels that she is connected with them more now when compared with time before lockdown. However, there were occasional conflicts between home children which were resolved amicably. Arguments with Sneh Sathis also were resolved and reconciled easily.

Sharing about any interesting experience, Rinky recollects that she got video call from her brothers on the day of Raksha bandhan, which is a special day for any girl with brothers.

She took part in the support initiatives organised by the home for homeless population who were struggling in the streets due to lockdown. She was part of the food committee and drew her inspiration from the rainbow staff who were working on helping the urban poor.

New hygiene practices, a new habit to learn Joshita (name changed) is a class 10th student from Kolkata. She is 18 years old and her ambition is to work as an air hostess. Once the lockdown was imposed, there was a significant change in the daily routine at home. She felt a lot of changes from the normal life she had where she used to go regularly to school and had various other activities. After lock down was imposed, classes became online and distancing became the new normal. New activities which were conducted included online classes, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities such as yoga, art & craft, dance, spoken English classes etc.

Online education was stressful for her as she was not used to attending classes or using gadgets. She felt that using these gadgets for a long time is stressful. She opined that she missed the school teaching where she finds a learning environment which is absent in online mode. Initially when school was closed, she felt happy for getting few days of leave but as time passed by, she got bored of this situation and wanted to go to school again. At the time of interview she said that she has also tensed about her 10th board exams as she was not able to attend classes in school.

New introductions in hygiene practices included practising yoga, breathing exercises, frequent hand washing and room cleaning thrice a day. She had fair clarity on why precautions and hygiene practices were put in place and why Covid 19 was infectious. She expressed that although she didn’t particularly enjoy the new the hygiene practices, she had to do it as that was the best way to be safe from the disease. She regarded it as a good habit to learn.

She lost her father recently to Covid 19 and hence was very worried about her mother. She used to call her mother and tried supporting her emotionally. She understood that she should be strong enough to be there for her mother and listen to her frequently.

She belongs to a three member “Sisters group” and had taken responsibility of taking care of younger children in her group. She also extended her support

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in cooking food at home. She was glad that she was able to learn the basics of cooking while taking up this additional responsibility She felt disappointed for missing her friends and teachers at school and outside volunteers who used to visit the home. But she told that she has accepted it the situation. Being at home, according to her is the best thing to do now because of the pandemic. Teachers and home staff helped the children in figuring out any conflicts or fights The most striking incident for her during the lock down was the transfer of her best friend to a different rainbow home. Lockdown was very disappointing for her as she couldn’t spend that last moments with her father due to travel restrictions. But she is hopeful that she will study well and make her mother proud.

One of her learnings was to rely more on God and pray regularly. She also inculcated the habit of washing hands and drinking water regularly. She also expressed desire to go back to pre-lockdown time or normal schooling and other activities.

Online classes helped learn computer use Trisha (name changed) is a class 8th student from Loreto Day school, Bow Bazar. She is 16 years old and is staying in the rainbow home for past 11 years.

Trisha felt that getting up late in the morning and frequent hand washing were two major changes in the daily schedule of the home along with the regular online classes. New activities which were introduced during lock down were art & craft classes, dance classes etc. Both online google meet classes and WhatsApp were used for online classes. Overall, she felt that the new activities were enjoyable. Since all activities were of voluntary participation, she chose whatever she was interested in. She missed her school friends and teachers. All regular subjects were dealt about in online classes. She believes that online learning is okay for her except times where she missed classes due to technical difficulties. She had study classes conducted by home teachers every day, after regular online classes to clear doubts about the online classes which 24

Children ‘under lockdown’

she attended previously. She also enjoyed programs conducted online such as Earth day, Teacher’s day etc.

Extracurricular classes included CPW classes, Karate classes etc. which were also handled online. She admitted that she had headache after long hours of online classes. When asked about ways to cope, she told she would watch TV or listen to music to overcome the stress. The most enjoyable activities were dance and art & craft where she made certain cards.

Before lockdown, children had 2 rounds of duty (cleaning dormitory) per day which was made 5 times a day. Gargling with hot water every day morning and drinking Kaadha in the night were made a routine. Kaadha is a mixture of lemon, ginger, turmeric etc. which will help in boosting the immunity. She had meagre understanding about the virus and how it spreads but was convinced that cleanliness is very important in overcoming this crisis.

She made sure to advise her parents regularly to be careful and take necessary precautions against the spread of Covid 19.

In her sister group which consisted of 2 other girls, she constantly made sure about the health and hygiene of the younger ones. She also helped them in their studies which she liked. She once volunteered to help during cooking at home but she didn’t like doing it then.

She said that she was afraid of contracting the disease and was disturbed about confined life during the lockdown. The home used to provide regular options to contact her parents which was a relief during lockdown. She also got few chances to talk to friends at school during online classes via Google Meet. Outside volunteers continued their trainings via online mode.

She agreed that there were a lot of fights among the children and when asked about what were the reasons of the fights, she said those were petty reasons with a slight grin. Bal sabhas helped in resolving some issues among the children. Relationships were Sneh Sathis were okay for her. She found the programs during the lockdown interesting. She was very disturbed with her teacher contracting the disease and hence made it a point to keep up hygiene practices.

She found opportunity to learn a lot of new things during lockdown. Regular online classes were a chance for her to understand how to use computers. She also enjoyed art & crafts classes. But she expressed that the best aspect about lockdown was being together with home children and helping each other.

Life skills classes relieved mood swings Beena (name changed) is a class 10th student in one of Rainbow homes in Kolkata and attends Lee memorial Girls high school, Kolkata.

There were many changes in the daily home routine when lockdown was imposed. Daily wake up time shifted from 5 am in the morning to 7 am and they had to do three times duty in order to maintain hygiene instead of normal two times duty per day. Online classes happened for 2 hours every day. She pointed out that it was difficult to change the routine specially to include strict hygiene practices and later got used to them. Other activities include practising yoga, art & craft activities, counselling and life skills classes etc.

The fact that she couldn’t attend classes troubled her a lot during lockdown. She was also not very positive about online classes. The challenges which she faced included long hours of screen time and inability to clarify doubts during online classes. But she found time to explore her hobbies during lockdown. Life skills classes has helped her cope up with the stress and taught her how to control mood swings, how to increase self-esteem etc.

She opined that since she tried to be sincere in her studies, she tried to learn as much as possible from the online classes. Clarification of doubts after classes were usually via phone calls or WhatsApp messages directed to the teachers. She also felt supported by the home teachers in her studies. Other online activities included virtual dance competition, spoken English classes etc. Regular breaks during online classes helped her in attending online classes properly.

Beena mentioned that It was difficult for them to abide by the new hygiene practices initially but had to get used to it as time passed. She knew that Rainbow homes were helping her family and this was a big

relief to her. She used to talk to her parents and tried conveying safety and precautionary measures.

As additional responsibility Beena used to take care of younger children in her sisters’ group in educational, hygiene and health and well-being of sisters. She was also active in helping out the home staff like in cooking and cleaning premises and she was glad that she was able to extend help and she found time to help too.

She was convinced that staying indoors and taking precaution was the best thing to do during pandemic and thus she was able to cope up with the sadness.

Minor fights took place between children in the home which was later resolved under the initiative of sisters in at the home. She also shared about and instance when the children demanded to go home during lockdown. The sister-in-charge said that whoever goes will have to submit Covid test report on their return. Since this was not financially viable for the children, she had to decide not to visit her parents and accepted the situation. She merrily remembered the virtual dance competition conducted among Rainbows homes where her team secured a second position. She was particularly inspired to work hard and to not procrastinate which she heard in the life skills classes.

She also pointed out the interactions with a Sister in her home provided her with positive energy and support.

This lockdown taught her to take care of her health and practice hygiene without which healthy lifestyle is not possible. One of the best learnings which she remembers fondly is where Sister taught them to make cloth masks.

Got an opportunity for introspection Roshni (name changed) is a student of class 11 living in Kilkilahat Aman Rainbow home, Patna. During the lockdown, many changes were introduced in the home schedule and arrangement. She had online classes and specific timings were set for washing hands, drinking lemon water etc. She attended classes from 9 to 12pm on DD Bihar channel daily and had other online classes such as karate, dance, vocal music etc.

Classes on television meant that there were no technical difficulties but she felt that classes were taken in a rush Children ‘under lockdown’

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and there was no option to ask doubts or clarify any concepts.

Lockdown provided respite from air and noise pollution

As new hygiene practices such as regular hand washing, wearing masks, keeping cleanliness etc. were introduced during lockdown she said that she knew about the effects of Covid 19 and was aware of the need to take precautions in order to avoid it. She was comfortable with the new practices and made sure to follow it as well as help younger children to follow it.

When asked about her parents, she said that Rainbow home were providing rations and other supplies and thus she knew that her parents are being supported.

She was supported by the home’s Social Mobiliser to stay connected with her parents.

Imtiyaz (name changed) is 13 years old and studying in class 8. He stays at Muskurahat Aman Sneh Ghar, Amla Tola, Patna. During lockdown time the wakeup time was relaxed as the children no longer had regular classes. A typical day had yoga and online classes in the morning followed by art & craft and indoor games. New activities were enjoyable to him.

The list of items which he missed during lockdown were studies, school, external volunteers who taught him outdoor games and the monthly outings.

She had a sense of responsibility of being an elder child at home and thus taking care of the younger ones by helping them in hygiene practices and making sure they are well fed. She enjoyed it very much and continues to take care of younger ones.

She missed her teachers and friends at school during and felt bad for not being able to talk to them.

There were instances of fights and quarrels among children due to the stress which prevailed due to continuous confinement in the homes during lockdown.

Elder children used to intervene to resolve the issues between children. She also shared about getting into an argument with Sneh Sathis which was later resolved by the home manager.

She was inspired by the goodwill of Rainbow homes in supporting the people in streets during lockdown.

During lockdown, home provided cooked food to the homeless population in its area and this inspired Roshni to do something that will help people positively when she grows up. She had a overall mixed feeling about the lockdown. The positive aspect was that she found a lot of time to finish pending syllabus and to connect with her home mates and the negative aspect was not being able to go out and interact with people.

Lockdown gave her a lot of time to introspect about her life and she realised the value of family in the process. This according to her is the best learning which she had in lockdown.

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He was not comfortable with the sudden stopping of school and was concerned that his studies will be affected because of it. He used to attend classes from television and had only an hour of class daily.

All the subjects of class 8 were covered in the classes.

Extra-curricular activities such as Karate, Music and Dance were also conducted as online classes whereas computer and art & craft lessons were sent through videos via WhatsApp. He particularly liked lessons on computer the most among all the activities.

He is aware of Corona being a contagious disease and hence, children have to take precautionary measures, which is the only remedy. He opined that although it was difficult to follow strict practices, it was also need of the hour. His mother stayed at the home itself and thus he was not worried about her safety.

He took care of younger ones in his “Brother’s group” and ensured that they followed the prescribed hygiene practices and in their studies. He felt concerned about the younger children and thus helped them take care of the children.

He felt bad for not being able to go out of the home and missed his school teachers and friends during lockdown. He remembered seeing parents of other children who visited the home but couldn’t meet their children face to face due to restrictions, and this made him sad. There were instances of fights among children which were resolved by the intervention of Sneh Sathis.

At times there were also certain arguments with Sneh Sathis which were later solved over time.

He has mixed feeling about lockdown. He pointed out few effects of lockdown both positive and negative.

The positive was decrease in air and noise pollution but negatives were closure of schools for long time and migrant labourers stranded in highways.

Painting helped cope-up with the stress 15 years old Dhawan is a class 10th student and stays in Umang Aman Sneh Ghar, Patna. He recalls that during lockdown the home routine and food practices changed according to the guidelines. The new changes were comfortable for him but he felt very stressful due to the sudden shutting of schools. The very thought of appearing in class 10th exams without help of teachers terrified him.

During lockdown, he missed meeting his parents and friends at school along with playing football. The home authorities had made a new routine at home for study. One subject was assigned for each day.

Although online classes were aired but in the initial period, he didn’t have the opportunity to attend due to the unavailability of mobile devices and only selfstudy was the option. He also lacked support from the home staff in the study aspects as the teachers were non-resident. Dhawan likes painting and used to paint in free time which also helped him cope-up with the stress.

He was quite worried about his parents and didn’t have mobile devices to keep a regular contact with them. Whenever he got a chance to talk to his mother, he used to advice his parents to be careful while working outdoors.

Among other responsibilities that Dhawan took in the home was maintaining discipline during class time, supporting younger children in studies.

On the whole, lockdown gave him a different experience. As the children were living together and spending time together, he felt an internal cohesiveness among them. He was able to get to know many of them and he enjoyed this time of lockdown. On one side he was anxious of missing classes while preparing for exams, he also felt relaxed due to the time he got

at home. An interesting thing which he accomplished during lockdown was spending time to learn physical stunts. This was something he enjoyed much.

Rainbow’s support to homeless inspired to work for society Manju (name changed) is a Young Adult staying in Ghraundha Rainbow Home, Patna. She is 15 years old and studying in class 10. She opined that the normal home routine was modified after imposition of lockdown. The two major changes were classes becoming online and introduction of hygiene practices.

Co-curricular and extra-curricular activities were introduced which were handled online such as Music, Art & Craft, Yoga, Dance etc. but she faced difficulty in attending classes due to a weak internet connectivity.

Because of the closure of schools, she missed going to school and meeting teachers and friends at school.

Also due to lockdown, children had to resort to selfstudy as the home teacher was not able to visit the home and help in studies. She also attended Summer camp which was organised online by the home. In this camp the children got an opportunity to learn different things as well as exhibit their talents.

Manju, took up the responsibilities of children in her sister group and made sure that they follow the prescribed hygiene practices and helped them in their studies. Besides, contributed in cleaning premises, teaching younger children etc. to help the staff at her home.

With continuous online activities she felt bored and also had a strange feeling about staying confined at home during the lockdown.

The most interesting incident during the lockdown was the final ceremony of the summer camp where the children got a chance to perform in front of children from other homes as the performance was shared online. She was inspired by the initiatives taken by home in feeding the homeless communities and realised the value of food. Thereafter, she decided to not waste food at any circumstances. She dreams to be a doctor in future.

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Felt being grown-up Dharmsheela (name changed) is a young adult from BGVS rainbow home, Patna. She is 14 years old and student of class 8. She dreams to build a career in karate. She said that when the lockdown was imposed, she was worried about the continuity of her studies but got relaxed a bit when classes started on DD Bihar Television channel. She felt that the pace of teaching in TV classes were high and consequently were not able to concentrate properly. She particularly liked the session on Disaster preparedness on Saturdays on TV. Overall, she was comfortable with continuous online classes. Gardening was one activity which she enjoyed the most and was a way to relax amongst all other activities. She missed many of her home mates who had gone home during the lockdown.

She was aware of the corona pandemic and thus was convinced about the new hygiene practices introduced in the home. She took good care of children in her sister group as well as engaged herself in cooking and cleaning thus helping the home staff. She did not feel good about being confined at home in the initial days of the lockdown. It was as though she had come to a new place altogether. Later she was able to adapt to the new norms and rules. Children found a lot of time to explore their interests during lockdown and some children were into writing poems and stories which she found interesting.

Dharmsheela shared that she had a sense of a grownup child and thus stayed away from any fights at home.

She also felt that a lot of people are suffering in streets and thus we should help them and do our part.

New practices not enjoyable but no way out Saraswati (name changed) is a class 11 girl from Pune. She was stressed for the sudden cancellation of class 11 exams due to lockdown. Fortunately, the lockdown started in the month of March when most of the regular classes of the previous academic year were already over. For the new academic year online classes had started. Saraswati said that she is okay with online classes as she received active support from 28

Children ‘under lockdown’

the rainbow home teachers. She expressed that while attending online sessions the technical glitches often created problems like internet connectivity, recharge of mobile battery, etc. but she enjoyed dancing and watching TV in her free time.

Extensive measures were introduced regarding hygiene practices at home. While probing about her perception about the necessity of these changes, she pointed out that Corona spreads rapidly and these initiatives were required to curb its spread. However, she was not sure whether she enjoyed these new changes. Nevertheless, she made sure to communicate necessary information about covid-19 and its precautions to her parents during phone calls.

Saraswati being the eldest child, was the leader of all “Sisters group” in the home. She was ever ready to take up additional responsibilities such as leading Yoga, monitoring hygiene of younger girls etc. Also, during the lockdown when the home staff were not able to come to work, she joined hands to help in cooking, cleaning and record keeping. Saraswati feels that these additional responsibilities helped boost her confidence.

Certainly, she was worried about her parents as they were in slum with very basic housing. So, she used to constantly educate them about hygiene practices to be followed to fight Covid-19. She felt good after seeing Rainbow Homes program working for the urban homeless and poor. Thus, she was inspired and felt that she should also work for them in their misery.

She expressed her sadness of not being able to meet her family, friends and Sneh Sathis due to lock down.

Upon asked whether she had any conflicting situations with other children at home, she said that she used act mediator when younger children had conflicts. She once had a fight with a staff which was later resolved.

She expressed mixed feelings about the lockdown but happy for getting a lot of free time for herself. She contemplates on the disease which stopped everyone in the world including her playing outside in the playground. Also, she is learning from YouTube and enjoying her online dance classes.

Realized the hardships faced by care staff at home Praveena is a class 9 child staying in rainbow homes in Pune. During the interaction with her, she expressed her feeling on lockdown, said that she was shocked and sad about the lockdown more because she will not be able to go to school. But the home routine was comparatively relaxed in the lockdown period with late rising in the morning and relaxed timings for study.

The new activities introduced were competition such as dance, drama, drawing, musical chair etc. she told the activities were enjoyable but the newly imposed hygiene practices were stressful.

She didn’t have online classes via mobile device or computer rather the notes and assignments were sent via WhatsApp and the home teachers supported them in learning the concepts. Learning was good as the children didn’t had to sit in front of the screen for long hours.

Praveena opined that the new practices were not that enjoyable in the beginning but gradually they adapted to it as time went by. She was relieved when came to know that Rainbow teachers were disseminating all necessary information about the virus and precautions to the parents.

She took up additional responsibilities to make sure that her two sisters were adhering new hygiene practices. Apart from that she lent helping hands to clean the house and bathrooms.

Although many children were stressed about not being able to go home during lock down but It did not affect her so much as she does not go very often. She said that she missed presence of Snehs Sathis during the festivals and celebrations. She felt like she was a bird in a cage and wanted to go out. She acknowledged that there used to be some arguments among children and also between children and staff due to the introduction of new norms and its strict adherence.

The best time for Praveena was the drama competition which was organized in the rainbow home during lockdown.

While helping rainbow staff with cooking food, she realized the hardships faced by home staff. She realized the importance of time management in her life and decided to manage time more efficiently so as to discipline her life

Helping needy gives satisfaction Indrani (name changed) from Rainbow Home, Pune is 17 years old studying in class10. She mentioned that there were some changes in their schedule. Before lockdown they used to wake up at 8 am in the morning but during lockdown they woke up at 9 am. Besides, they had additional activities like, looking after the smaller children, going for computer classes and mask making activity.

According to Indrani the online classes were stressful and the main problem she faced was that they cannot clarify all their doubts but fortunately she got support from home in her studies. They had other online activities like: mask making, anger management session, digital online classes on various other topics. She said that among different activities being held in the home she enjoyed the mask making session most as they made it for the needy people. During lockdown she miss her school friends and Sneh Sathis.

As an additional responsibility she used to take care of the smaller children and ensured that they wash their hands in every 1 or 2 hours, take bath regularly, clean their room and their home surroundings. These new responsibilities are not a burden for her, as she thinks that it was her responsibility to aware the smaller children. She used to help their home mother when they had to make special lunch from donation like making chapatti or chopping vegetables. She mention that she is enjoying the additional work that she is doing to help Sneh Sathis.

She was feeling sad for not being able to meet her parents, family, friends and the teachers. Moreover, she was worried about her parents whether they will get mask, hand sanitizer and she used to call them and ask them their condition and told them to take care of their health and to stay home.

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Lockdown taught to make cakes at home Savita (name changed) had a relaxed routine during lockdown owing to schools being shut. Earlier they used to wake up early and attend school but during lockdown, this schedule was modified. Classes were conducted via online mode for an average of 3 hours every day and which resulted in more free time for the child. The home made sure that they came up with various activities to keep children engaged. Different activities such as indoor games (Ludo, Carroms), outdoor games within home premises, gardening, painting etc.

Savita found it difficult to learn in online classes in the beginning. Although the home staff were trying their best to explain and clarify about the concepts taught during online classes, children found it hard to grasp.

Subjects such as Science, Mathematics and English were dealt by the school teachers whereas History and Geography classes were taken in the home itself.

The home also arranged for a private tutor to assist children in their studies. Savita is studying in class 10 and is preparing for board exams this year. She got used to attending online classes and it is no more a reason for stress for her. She found her science classes which had lab experiments particularly interesting and used to keenly observe the experiments conducted by teachers. She also enjoyed doing wall painting and gardening.

Health and hygiene were given utmost importance during the lockdown at home. Regular handwashing was made mandatory in every 2 hours and strict regulations were introduced for outsiders. Home authorities installed sanitizers at home and cleanliness was maintained at home. She occasionally felt bored due to stringent hand washing and other hygiene practices. She took good care of the children in her “Sisters group” in maintaining cleanliness as well as in their studies. She enjoyed taking care of them Initially she felt terrible during lockdown as she was not able to go outside and missed her friends and teachers at school. Later she was able to grasp the gravity of the situation and realized it is best to 30

Children ‘under lockdown’

stay indoors and maintain personal hygiene. She was able to talk to her friends via phone some times and she felt good after sharing things to them. She admitted that there were fights and conflicts between children occasionally which was later addressed during counselling classes where they were taught to manage their anger. Home manager and other staff at home intervened sometimes in order to solve the issues between children. An interesting incident which she shared was that during the lockdown, they couldn’t get cakes to eat and ended up making cakes at home.

During lockdown, she found a lot of free time which she used to explore the library at her home. She found interest in reading books and was able to complete reading few books during lockdown.

Experiences of Care Givers (Sneh Sathis) Faced two major crises at a time – Corona and Amphan One Home Manager in Elliot Road Rainbow Home, Kolkata was in the home for about three months during lockdown period. She says that her house is five minutes away from home, even then she was not able visit her house because restricting outside movement was necessary to keep the children safe. In view of the prescribed guidelines, several changes in home routine were made which needed more time of the caregivers. Speaking on the difficulties she had to face she recalls that It was very stressful time because the workload had increased and the number of caregivers had reduced as the non-residential staff were advised not to go inside the home.

Keeping the children calm use to be a challenge because the children had got bored due to the prolonged confinement within four walls. This was evident in their irrational behaviours at times. The children use to be unhappy with the food because all type of vegetables, fruits and fish were not available all time. It was during this period mother of one child had passed away and it was very difficult to console her.

As if Corona was not enough, another crisis ‘Amphan’ cyclone rocked the city. “Our Home was also affected, the roof was damaged there was no electricity for 2 days, streets were filled with water”, said the home manager while narrating the woes of cyclone. It was very scaring, we were locked in one room with all children till the cyclone passed away, she added.

According to her, on the whole the experience of lockdown in home was very significant for her life and it has made her stronger to deal problems.

Passion to work for marginalised children does not allow to move out The Education Coordinator in Loreto Rainbow homes Dharamtala in Kolkata, a Master of Social Work (MSW) is engaged with the home since last two years, where 60 girls are being nurtured. While elucidating her experience of lockdown she said that it was a totally new experience in her lifetime.

She mentioned that the changed routine was certainly time consuming but we had enough time then, so it was not creating much of problem and despite fewer number of caregivers we managed to keep the children protected in the global crisis. However, restless among children during lockdown was certainly a problem that needed much of our patience and counselling skill. As the days of lockdown kept increasing so was the anxiety among the children. There was a marked change in their behaviour with more stubbornness for petty things. However, this was more with the elder children.

She recalls that it was a tough time managing 50 children with support of three home mothers. “Conducting the educational as well as extra- curricular activities was a challenge because home mothers could not help me in these activities and so I had to do it alone for 3 months. I could do it only because of my passion towards working for the wellbeing of children and it gives me lots of satisfaction. Even my MSW batchmates wonder that how come I am working in the children’s home for so long”, she said.

“There were several small incidents that added to our

woes like one child suddenly developed breathing problem and she had to be taken for medical help and extra care was to be maintained for her. But regular support from Rainbow team and continuous awareness on the pandemic was a great encouragement. The local authorities and police were supportive. There was no pressure from them to vacate the home. We had anyways informed the police and local ward councillor about the number of children in the home.

Even children’s parents were very considerate and cooperative”, she recalled.

Not much about herself but she was worried about her family. Only way to get in touch with them was the mobile phone. She used to advise them for adhering the preventive hygiene practises also consoled them about her own wellness whenever she got the opportunity to call.

She feels that this lockdown has provided lots of different experiences and learning too that will help in shaping her career and passion to work for the marginalized population particularly the children.

Realized that nutrition is the key to be healthy The House mother looking after the health aspect of children in Ghraunda Vikasaarth Rainbow Home of Patna has been working in this capacity since more than six years. But this experience, which she had in the lockdown was unique, she recalls. She was in the home from March to July till the partial lockdown.

There were only 18 children in the home when the lockdown was imposed. “Most of the children had gone to their parents for celebrating Holi. So, we had to work in two fronts”, says the House mother, firstly with the children in RH and secondly with the children who were staying with their parents.

Being the House Mother – health her responsibility was more to keep the children healthy. She tried her best to ensure adherence of prescribed guidelines provided by the national and state offices of RFI. Extra care was taken on cleanliness of home and hygiene practices of children besides, organising nutritional diet for Children ‘under lockdown’

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children. Extra care was being taken in cleaning the vegetables, milk and fruits that used to come from outside. Our effort bore fruit and none of the children in our home underwent any illness.

online meetings and trainings etc. While doing all this I never got time to think about myself.

She mentioned that the challenge started when the children in distress started coming back to home.

We had to arrange for their quarantine. Separate food and stay arrangements took lot of our effort.

Moreover, keeping the children in two groups in the same building was not easy. We had to be very vigilant to ensure that the children in quarantine do not mix with the other children.

As he had to go out for several things, he said that at times he was worried about his own safety but he was confident that, if he takes the precautions properly nothing will happen. Once he got a little fever then he isolated himself and kept monitoring the body temperature and with advice of local physician took some medicines. Finally, the fever subsided in couple of days and he was normal but he still kept the distance with children and applied other precautions as well because the safety of children was paramount for him.

“When I look back, it looks like a nightmare but at the same time I feel that this pandemic has taught me several things like personal hygiene, sanitation of home and different ways to enhance nutrition in the existing food recipes”, said the Mother very confidently.

He kept himself engaged in different activities with children to keep the boredom at bay. Also use to go on terrace and walk for some time whenever he felt stressed. The key learning, he took from lockdown is that he can do lots of things alone if, not all.

Most of the things can be done alone, if not all

Savings help in crisis time

The Home Manager in Kumhrar Boy’s home (Sneh Ghar) in Patna is working since last 2 years. He and two Home Mothers were there when the lockdown was imposed in March end. Although the number of children were very less, only 15 out of total 50, because most of the children had not come back after Holi festival.

He said that though the number of children were less but the responsibility to keep the children was big.

In order to convince children about the new hygiene practices I regularly interacted with children and told them about the pandemic. The technical information provided by the experts through online trainings organised by the national office were very helpful.

I often shared this information with the children, who also became more cooperative.

My workload certainly increased during lockdown said the Manager, because I was the only Manager in the home and I had to perform all activities like ensuring supplies of fresh food items (vegetables, milk, fruits), conducting activities with children, attending 32

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One of the House mother in New Vision Rainbow Home, Pune was in the home for five months continuously during lockdown.

She said that there were 50 girls in the home when the lockdown was announced with two mothers and two managers. The workload had increased because of additional activities related to personal hygiene, home sanitation, sanitization of stuff coming from outside and ensuring that children obey the guidelines.

In a way the work had increased and the human resources had decreased. Moreover, the children were irritated having no movement or outdoor games posing challenges for the caregivers.

She recalled that to make the children happy she used to cook different dishes - like Idly, Dosa, Noodles, Non-veg items etc. as per their choice. In this spree she also learned some new recipe.

When asked whether she was afraid about her safety she said that, “no, there was no fear in her mind because she knew that Corona can only infect if we or anyone comes from outside, and since no external person was allowed in the home, we were

safe. Neither I was worried about my family because I have only one son who stays with my brother who takes good care of him.” But she felt very bad when she saw people without food. She said, “we from our home provided food to many such person around our home. “ In terms of learning from the lockdown experience House Mother mentioned that one, she learned new recipe and two, she realized that savings is very important as it is biggest support in tough times.

No child got infected is the biggest achievement One of the Home Manager in Shivaji Nagar Sneh Ghar of Pune is working since last one and half years in this Sneh Ghar. He had spent continuously eight months in home during lockdown. During this period there were 55 children living in the Sneh Ghar out of total 96, who were being looked after by two Mothers and two Managers.

The period of eight months was very hectic recalls Parmeshwar as keeping 55 children confined in one closed building in itself is a challenge. Apart from that he had to arrange food items from outside just to fetch milk he had to walk about two kilometres

daily. The other Home Manager was very scared of Corona and never wanted to go out of home premise.

Therefore, he had to look after all matters related to outside, which added to his distress. For instance, one child got his hand fractured and he had to be taken to hospital where his hand was scanned and was plastered. Because of lockdown there was no means of transportation, he requested several auto-rickshaw fellows to take him but no one agreed. Finally, one auto-rickshaw after assurance to deal with police agreed to go. When police intercepted, he narrated the problem and the urgency. The police man got convinced and allowed to go.

Later, some twenty children got infected with chicken pox. They had to be isolated and special care was to be ensured. He used to bring Neem leaves for them.

In between, some children had boils on head and since there were no barbers available around so he had to do the hair-cut himself and applied ointment on the boils.

Things gradually changed, the lockdown was over but the memories are still fresh, says the Home Manager.

The biggest reward of his hard work, he feels is that no child got infected with Corona. As a learning he says, I realized that if we speak out, things will improve and at the same time we need to be prepared at all times.

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3

CHAPTER

Discussions and Interpretations

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T

he main impacts perceived by the children interacted for this study are disrupted education, limited social life and limited chance to meet friends or relatives, restriction of freedom of movement and limited recreational activities. When particularly asked about why they considered school disruption to be a critical issue in the crisis, most of them responded about feeling demotivated to study since their schools were closed. Since the closures of schools took place with little notice, the children were not prepared to suddenly move to the distance learning. Some of the children spoke about having difficulties following the lessons and responding to the online tasks given by the teachers. However, older children and staff across the sample cities agreed that the decision to temporarily close schools was an appropriate measure to contain the spread of the pandemic.

From interviews and discussions with older children, it was evident that children were facing different levels of emotional distress due to the COVID-19 outbreak and sudden physical and social distancing restrictions.

Particularly, they identified factors such as loneliness, reduced scopes to meet families as circumstances beyond their control that made it hard to manage as the lockdowns persisted. The older children consistently expressed that the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health and reported high levels of stress due to fear of COVID 19 as this was the first time in their lives of experiencing a situation of this magnitude. The fear included worrying about their parents and relatives to get infected as maintaining social distancing in the environments their parents or relatives stay seem very unrealistic. Few children reported experiencing feelings of anxiety, anger, and worry due to isolation and the uncertainty of how long this crisis would last.

During the lock down phase, most of the children we interacted with were specifically concerned about the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and sudden stay-at-home order by the Government. They were especially worried about their parents’ ability to earn a living with the announcement of lock down in the country. Children expressed their concerns about their families who are mostly into informal sector,

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earning daily wages or migrant workers who would face economic tragedy even after the lock down ease since they might not get back their works or livelihood.

Despite such worries and concerns expressed by the children, however, all the children interacted for this study expressed their good feelings about quick interventions adopted in Rainbow Homes to face the new normal in the homes. Across the sample cities, the children and staff highlighted about the factors and interventions that changed their lives on a massive scale with the havoc caused by the pandemic: a) changes in daily routine/schedule; b) changes in hygiene practices; c) school disruptions and alternative education, d) innovations in extra curricular, e) additional supports exerted by children and staff in relief measures, f) emotional distress due to social distancing.

Changes in daily schedules All homes and Sneh Ghars underwent changes in daily routine in view of pandemic Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown. The new routine was bit relaxed one and so was liked by the children, they had the liberty to get up half to one hour late from normal days and not needed to rush to school. The physical exercises, yoga and indoor games were also liked by the children.

The schedule of online classes varied among cities as it was dependent from external sources but other co-curricular activities from organised by home was adjustable according to the availability and interest of children.

I do not feel good. Before, we were better as the schools were open and we were learning. Then suddenly, this virus came, and everything stopped. We pray God will keep us safe from this pandemic.

Changes in hygiene practices Based on the prescribed guidelines several new activities were introduced for children as well as Sneh Sathis to protect them from Corona infection.

The new activities started from getting-up in the morning till bed, which included taking care of personal hygiene, sanitation, nutritional intake and immunity booster stuff like hot water, turmeric milk etc. Initially, the children adopted these practices will fully and also enjoyed but as time passed and its strict adherence was executed, there was little annoyance among the children. This was dealt with intensive interaction with different age wise groups of children wherein they were convinced about the need of the new practices and the consequences of its non-adherence.

I liked sleeping one more hour but not going out for play frustrates, also I do not know how long it will continue, this further disappoints me.

School disruptions; education interventions to bridge the gaps Children’s education became a serious concern as the duration of lockdown was extended. Various alternative ways of teaching therefore, were rapidly introduced by the private institutions working on education programmes including schools run by State Governments. Online classes through internet and Television channels were the two most popular means which were adopted by the Homes and Sneh Ghars. Besides, the state offices also arranged online classes for different subjects through the help from non-residential caregivers and volunteers. This was mainly to bridge the gap, if the children had problems in comprehending the concepts shared in the online classes by schools.

Online class is the most boring thing in the world, thanks that we have the home teacher with us who helps to understand the topics. Otherwise our year would have gone waste.

Majority of the children have expressed that the online classes were stressful reasons being; more knowledge compressed in less duration sessions, the pace of teaching was fast, difficult to catch and understand, no

provision of clarifying doubts, no scope for rewinding.

In the homes these problems were addressed through organising tutorial classes by the residential staff or special subject wise class wise sessions with nonresidential home teachers or volunteers through virtual meetings like; WhatsApp, Zoom, Google, Jio etc. This proved to be beneficial particularly for the children who were preparing for their examinations.

Engagement in different activities In order to help the children, make better use of their time and keep the boredom at bay, several extracurricular activities were introduced by the homes based on the available resources and interest of their children, which included, gardening, paper craft, mask making, soap making, drawing, painting, embroidery, dance, karate to name a few. These activities were very popular among the children and also worked as a cushion against the regular back-to-back online classes.

We had real fun with co-curricular activities, which made us forget about the lockdown.

We will continue this even in the normal condition.

Since these activities were dependent on the availability of required gadgets and good internet connectivity in the homes and therefore the number and type of activities varied from home to home.

However, with sincere efforts of the state teams basic facilities for online meetings and training were installed successfully in all the homes within couple of months.

Apart from this, orientation activities for Sneh Sathis were also organised by the knowledge team of Rainbow (KDDC) on a regular basis directly or through its trained Trainers. This effort was to keep them update on precautionary measures to be taken towards protection of children and themselves. Hence, orientation on technical aspects of Covid-19, myths and facts, home protocols for staff and visitors. personal hygiene, management for quarantine and isolation, home sanitation, common illness among Children ‘under lockdown’

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children, need of nutrition and tips to enhance it were organised at regular intervals. These virtual meetings helped in boosting motivation among the caregivers through updating their knowledge about the pandemic and developing required skills and thereby enhancing their confidence level to deal with the situation. The combined meeting followed by interactions with experts and colleagues also brought in the feeling of togetherness and sense of belongingness among the Sneh Sathis.

Additional responsibilities offered by children in pandemic relief measures The crisis situation also brought in sense of belongingness among the children in homes, which was evident in the behaviour of proactively volunteering of taking up supporting activities of home management. According to their capabilities and interest they helped the Home Mothers in guiding the younger ones in adopting new hygiene practices of hand washing, wearing mask, maintaining physical distance, cleaning the premises, help in cooking like washing and chopping vegetables etc. Similarly, they also supported the Home Managers in maintaining discipline in attending the academic as well as co-curricular sessions. In general, all the grownup children looked after their younger ones in their respective brother and sister groups. Some of the children were inspired by the philanthropic approach of Rainbow Home Programme to help the migrant and pavement dwellers around the home as this issue was discussed with them in Bal Sabha and other meetings to sensitize them on the problems faced by the people who have limited resources and are therefore marginalised on several account. The idea of helping these people was liked by each and every child.

They wilfully participated in the supporting processes.

Some of the home in the initial period provided cooked food to the pavement dwellers. In the process the children helped in chopping vegetables, packing and arranging the food packets for transportation. All homes provided dray ration to the children’s parents and other needy families.

In this process the home children prepared the ration packets and monitored that all the listed items are 38

Children ‘under lockdown’

It was an immense pleasure for me to pack food for the people who are hungry.

If needed, I can also part with my food for them. there in scheduled quantity. These packets were arranged by them according to the locations it had to be sent. Children were delighted to be part of this process. The joy of giving was clearly visible on their faces.

Emotional distress due to social distancing- isolation, loneliness, fights Impeded movement and disrupted communications have prevented children and young people from contacting friends and relatives, wreaking confusion, anxiety, and despair. Most of the older children interviewed for the study said that they acknowledged that they were facing emotional distress and troubling feelings, including anxiety, anger and worry due to uncertainly of how long the crisis will last. The prolonged isolation and uncertainty about the future certainly generated fair amount of distress among the children as some of them admitted during the interview. They were worried about their studies, examinations; pressure of attending back-to-back online classes, which were difficult to understand; non availability of home teachers/ volunteers to help in studies; wellbeing of their parents; no friends to share their feelings; no opportunity to play and have fun outdoors. This resulted in some degree of quarrels, in-fighting and stubbornness among the children and also in some places with the care givers. Nevertheless, the home team was prepared to deal with this mental status of the children and therefore despite less in

Coronavirus is affecting us very seriously.

First of all, stress. We get depressed because of staying inside. We also cannot play together outside. It’s very harmful for every children’s mental and physical health.

number the residential caregivers without caring about their own self did their level best and as a result they succeeded in keeping the children safe and protected in this world-wide catastrophe.

Concerns for the future Analysis of the open-ended responses with children as well as staff also revealed concerns about what schools are going to be post lockdown and social relationships with peers of the children.

There are concerns on going back to schools due to due to disruptions of habitual routines; uncertainty on the part of the children concerning rules and routines; ill effects of too much of reliance on digital technologies etc. Despite efforts in keeping innovative time tables with all educational and co-curricular activities to engage children during lock down, fears concerning potential delays in development or learning as a result of the lockdown cannot be denied.

Our education is greatly affected since we have lost physical classes. We do not know much about the subjects we are taking online and doing assignments on virtual platforms is very difficult.

Positive Learnings Feeling of belongingness, feeling inspired to help each other, participation in emergency relief to homeless, sharing of responsibilities etc.

Despite the challenging feelings, children expressed that they wanted to contribute to the fight against the spread of COVID-19 in their respective communities.

The older children stated that it was very important for them to get involved in raising awareness. They showed a great sense of social justice, a desire to use their voices in informing their peers about the risks associated with COVID-19, and helping the most vulnerable, including the homeless being involved in relief measures of Rainbow Homes. The deadliest calamity of this century left behind series of learning for all including the children in homes as well as residential caregivers, the Sneh Sathis. This came up front during the interviews with them. The children felt that they learned better hygiene practices, used the time to enhance their subject knowledge and learnt new skills and got opportunity to understand each other.

According to the Sneh Sathis, there was a marked change the behaviour of children. In spite of sporadic incidence of conflicts and annoyance, a strong bonding was visible as they were found helping each other on personal cleanliness, timely food and involving in group activities. Even at emotional level the children realized the seriousness of crisis and the untiring service being provided by the Sneh Sathis that was apparent in children’s proactive support through abiding by the guidelines and taking up responsibilities of home management.

For Sneh Sathis, it was a phase that helped new skills like managing online sessions, use of digital gadgets, innovating new tools and games for children and it boosted their self-confidence to deal with the adversities.

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4

CHAPTER

Conclusion

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O

n the whole, lockdown has been very hard for everyone, especially for the children and residential staff who had been confined to the Rainbow Homes during the lock down period. The instant decision making and time responses by the organization and relentless support of Rainbow’s care givers in the wake of this crisis helped children to cope up better. However, the experiences shared by Rainbow children and care givers during pandemic emergency cannot be generalized as all the coordination and decision making to face the sudden havoc caused by the pandemic were done at a very short period of time, leaving some loopholes. Yet, the hidden impacts of COVID on the children in general and children of CCIs in particular are to be fully understood.

In terms of improved preparedness of the CCI themselves, this study leaves the scope for planning with intensive training and coaching for the caregivers for better handling of children in future disaster situations. Studies explicitly evidence (Howes et al, 2008; Mashburn and Pianta et al, 2008, Ruzek et al, 2014), that high quality caregiver-children interactions especially emotional support and instructional practices are crucial for increased social competence and reduced behavioural problems among children (Burchinal, Vandergift et al, 2010; Curby et al, 2013). In another intervention study in Latin America depicted improved caregiver-children interaction characterized by sensitive response and positive children development subsequent to staff training schemes (Lecannelier et al. 2014; McCall et al. 2010).

Despite most of the care givers interviewed for this study showed tremendous resilience in taking additional responsibilities during lock down phase in engaging children with various activities as well as executing changed schedules and practices imposed due to closure of schools and stay-at-home order.

However, interaction with staff revealed a need for work-life balance and safeguard decent work interests for caregivers and provide adequate support services for their dependents as vouchsafed under Sustainable Development Goal 8 (Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive

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Children ‘under lockdown’

employment and decent work for all). This is because caregivers are also susceptible to work exhaustion and need time to rejuvenate.

The voices of children from different places have flagged several issues for consideration of the key stakeholders who are directly or indirectly engaged in amelioration of children in street situations. Therefore, apart from the CCIs themselves, the policy makers, concerned Governments and funding organizations also need to consider these issues while planning to deal with any future crisis as this will gradually build up clearer and authentic understanding about the perception of primary stakeholders making it easier to bring changes and preparedness. These voices also reveal about the agendas to be at the core of all further crisis planning and responses towards child protection which include, interventions to handle emotional distress, strengthen life skills and developmental assets, emphasise self-efficacy, among others. Policy makers should step up adopting policies and long-term core funding to holistically address impact of COVID to support children from disadvantaged communities. The policies should also give clear understanding on how smaller, local organisations can access such funding at the wake of any future crisis.

Besides, the Corporate sectors should step up to support community organizations in partnership with them, ensuring their technology, knowledge and innovations benefits those organizations. In view of the remarkable transition that organisations like Rainbow Homes have made in providing online services during lockdown, the corporate funders and tech companies should consider extending support the future of digital world. These funders should enable organizations to apply for digital infrastructure costs such as equipment, where organizations currently are not able to access funds from any source.

It is hoped that support from all stakeholders would help regain the momentum of development process thwarted by the pandemic and the techniques for improvements of health and education of children in the street situation will result in better wellbeing conditions.