Adolescents’ experiences of COVID-19 in Chittagong and Sylhet: Findings and policy implications
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A presentation by Silvia Guglielmi at the Webinar on Adolescent Experiences in Chittagong and Sylhet: the support programme and COVID-19 impact. Organisers: BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), GAGE, IPA
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Adolescents’ experiences of COVID-19 in Chittagong and Sylhet: Findings and policy implications
- 1. Adolescents’ experiences of COVID- 19 in Chittagong and Sylhet: Findings and policy implications Silvia Guglielmi 24th May 2021
- 2. Outline of Presentation 1 • Overview: GAGE Conceptual Framework and research during COVID-19 2 •Chittagong and Sylhet COVID-19 study: qualitative sample 3 •Findings 4 • Conclusions and policy recommendations
- 3. Nathalie Bertrams/GAGE Overview: GAGE Conceptual Framework and research during COVID-19 Adolescents at a madrasa in Rangamati, rural Bangladesh © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2019
- 5. GAGE research during COVID-19 ETHIOPIA • Survey research with 2000 urban adolescents • Virtual IDIs and participatory photography with 120 adolescents from urban, rural + pastoralist areas • Virtual key informant interviews with service providers JORDAN • Survey research with 3500 adolescents in camps/ host communities • Virtual IDIs, FGDs, photography and audiodiaries with 110 adolescents from refugee and host communities LEBANON • Virtual IDIs and FGDs with 50 adolescents from Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese communities • Participatory photography • Digital and audio diaries GAZA Virtual IDIs, FGDs, participatory photography and audiodiaries with 50 adolescents from urban and camp settings BANGLADESH • Survey research (5000) • Virtual IDIs with 30 adolescents in 3 low income settlements in Dhaka, with 30 Rohingya adolescent; and 39 school-going adolescents in Chittagong and Sylhet
- 6. GAGE research during COVID-19 Late 2017-2018 Late 2019/2020 January - April - June 2020 September - November 2020 January - July 2021/ 2023 2 rounds of quantitative and qualitative data collection with adolescents and their caregivers prior to Covid-19 To assess the longer-term impacts of the pandemic on adolescent : i) health ii) education and learning iii) bodily integrity (freedom from violence, child marriage, FGM/C), iv) psychosocial wellbeing v) voice and agency vi) economic empowerment / social protection. To assess slower onset implications and medium changes in adolescent wellbeing To understand the effects of initial onset of the covid-19 pandemic
- 7. Chittagong and Sylhet COVID-19 study: qualitative sample Students at secondary school, Bangladesh © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2019
- 8. Chittagong and Sylhet COVID-19 study: qualitative sample Chittagong Sylhet TOTAL Adolescent girls - grade 7 6 4 10 Adolescent girls - grade 8 5 5 10 Adolescent boys - grade 7 5 4 9 Adolescent boys - grade 8 5 5 10 Female teacher key informants 3 1 4 Male teacher key informants 4 5 9 TOTAL 28 24 52 Total working adolescents 4 Total adolescents with disabilities 4 Total adolescents from female-headed households 6
- 9. Findings: Students at secondary school, Bangladesh © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2019 • Adolescents’ COVID-19 knowledge • Education and remote learning • Incomes and livelihoods • Nutrition, health and hygiene • Psychosocial well-being and coping • Voice and agency
- 10. Adolescents’ COVID-19 knowledge and practices: generally good, but.... • Some rural adolescents had little or no knowledge about the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 stating that they just did not know much about it, while others – both rural and urban adolescents – seemed to confuse it with other diseases: ‘You will get coronavirus if you stay among trash and dirt.’ (13- year-old girl, grade 7, Chittagong urban area) • Adolescents in urban areas were found to have more precise knowledge on COVID-19 and more access to various sources of information. • Most adolescents suggested various home remedies to cure and recover from covid-19, such as drinking hot water, taking painkillers, and having citrus fruits (lemons or oranges), tulsi (holy basil), cumin, cloves, etc. ‘I learned it online and my mother is a teacher..and we discuss it in our home. Then I can learn many things from the government website.’ (11-year-old girl, grade 7, Sylhet urban area) • To protect themselves, most adolescents mentioned wearing a mask, washing their hands, and social distancing.
- 11. Education and remote learning • Although mentioning that it was a fair response to the pandemic, adolescents feel damaged by the ongoing school closures, leading to reduced study hours and a loss of interest. • Phone and internet connectivity, limited access to personal devices and expensive credit all pose key barriers to continuity of learning – for rural adolescents primarily, and teachers in rural schools. ‘I have stopped studying. How much can one study all by herself? We don’t have a TV in our home. It is possible to watch YouTube [educational] videos on my father’s phone but he doesn’t stay at home all the time. So, the mobile phone is not available either.’ (13-year-old girl, grade 8, Sylhet rural area) • While we report few gender differences, location matters. Adolescents in urban and more affluent areas are more likely to have private tuition; steady access to devices to follow online classes, and benefit from various learning platforms.
- 12. Incomes and livelihoods • Regardless of gender or location, most adolescents (31 out of 39) reported that their families faced economic hardship during lockdown due to loss of income, loss of jobs or the closure of shops for the sale of their products. • Families dependent on income sources from agriculture, transportation, garment work, fishing, and immigrant workers faced most of the economic burden during lockdown. • While most reported that family members were returning to work at the time of data collection (July- August 2020), others had lost their jobs and struggling to cope, with loans and credit mounting. ‘We had to borrow a lot of money. The situation hasn’t changed much for us. We will need a long time to pay back the money we borrowed. It might take us two or three months to fully repay the loans.’ (13-year-old girl, grade 8, Sylhet rural area)
- 13. Incomes and livelihoods – cont. • Most teachers acknowledged that the pandemic had gravely impacted the whole community – with the poorest being worst affected – and thus most at risk of catching and spreading the virus. • Family economic hardship was found to directly impact adolescents' lives: most reporting contributing to increased household work, with boys taking care of livestock and cutting wood and girls more involved in household chores such as cooking and cleaning. • Some reported learning new skills such as sewing and running a grocery shop as schools remain closed and they attempt to support their families. ‘[The poor people] don’t have anything. When you don’t have anything, you do not have the luxury to choose between whether to die of hunger or to die of coronavirus. When there is no food in the house, you can’t sit still at home being afraid of coronavirus. It does not happen like that. In order to maintain a normal life, to arrange food and clothing for the family, they go out for work, ignoring coronavirus, rendering the lockdown ineffective.’ (53-year-old male Madrasa teacher from Chittagong rural area)
- 14. Nutrition, health and hygiene • Economic fallout has resulted in a reduction of daily food consumption for many households, compromising adolescents’ nutritional intake. • As the adolescents in our sample are from different socioeconomic backgrounds, not all reported the need for receiving government aid – in the form of in-kind and cash assistance – though there was broad consensus that this was available for the most needy. • However, a few adolescents from relatively low-income households did not get any support from the government or the community, although they would have benefited from this assistance. • Some mentioned the shame of receiving aid. ‘My father pulls a van. He has a business. Had we asked for that support, wouldn’t people have gossiped about it [and said] "He laid his hands on the food meant for the poor!" That would have been embarrassing, so we didn’t ask for anything. We managed on our own no matter how difficult it was.’ (13-year-old girl, grade 8, Sylhet rural area)
- 15. • The findings indicate that many adolescents have faced social isolation, boredom and exhaustion – they miss their friends, going to school and normality. • Watching TV and using mobile phones (urban boys primarily) were common coping strategies to deal with boredom. Some adolescents, both male and female, also mentioned activities such as drawing, reading story books, and playing with siblings • ‘Education-related uncertainty’ was reported as the most common source of their anxiety, with family financial struggles also mentioned frequently. Psychosocial well-being and coping ‘[If schools remain closed and] the government announces that everyone will be promoted to the next class then it won’t help to grow our knowledge.’ (15-year-old boy, grade 8, Chittagong urban area) ‘Now it has become intolerable. I have gotten extremely exhausted staying at home for so long. Actually, I miss school. Also, the kind of fun we could have at school, we can’t have it at home, like meeting my friends’ (13-year-old girl, grade 8, Sylhet rural area)
- 16. Voice and agency • Findings reveal stark gender differences in voice and agency. Due to cultural traditions, adolescent girls have limited mobility compared to boys and while some reported new restrictions imposed by their parents because of the pandemic, others highlighted the pre-existing one precluding their mobility. ‘Boys go out, they always go out, even after the [imposed] lockdown they went out sometimes. But girls don’t go out much.’ (14-year-old girl, grade 8, Sylhet urban area) • While adolescents relied on phones to contact friends, girls’ limited access to personal devices often severed their communication beyond the confines of their homes. • Adolescent boys were found to have more flexibility and agency regarding their mobility – going out for a walk down the street or meeting their peers whenever they got bored of staying at home.
- 17. Conclusions and policy implications Students at secondary school, Bangladesh © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2019
- 18. Policy implications 1 • The MoE and private organisations working in the education sector should identify and address educational gaps created by COVID-19, exacerbated by poverty, geographical location and gender 2 • Limit existing class and gender divides during school closures, by reducing mobile data costs and piloting low/no tech distance learning options 3 • Improve awareness of adolescent psychosocial needs, and provide opportunities for adolescents to volunteer in their communities and access recreational facilities. 4 • The government, NGOs and other stakeholders should act swiftly to mitigate the immediate potential nutritional risks faced by adolescents.
- 19. THANK YOU
- 20. Contact Us WEBSITE www.gage.odi.org TWITTER @GAGE_programme FACEBOOK GenderandAdolescence About GAGE: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) is a nine-year (2015-2024) mixed- methods longitudinal research programme focused on what works to support adolescent girls’ and boys’ capabilities in the second decade of life and beyond. We are following the lives of 20,000 adolescents in six focal countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Editor's Notes
- GAGE’s conceptual framework focuses on the interconnectedness and dynamism of what we call ‘the 3 Cs’: Capabilities, Change strategies and Contexts in order to understand what works to support adolescent girls’ development and empowerment – now and in the future. GAGE’s conceptual framework takes a holistic approach that pays careful attention to the interconnectedness of what we call ‘the 3 Cs: Capabilities, Change strategies and Contexts’ in order to understand what works to support adolescent girls’ development and empowerment – now and in the future (see Figure 1). This framing draws literature which highlights the importance of outcomes, causal mechanisms and contexts – but we tailor it to the specific challenges of understanding what works in improving adolescent girls’ and boys’ capabilities. 1. The first building block of our conceptual framework are capability outcomes. The framework discusses the individual and collective capabilities that underpin adolescent wellbeing, and the challenges that need to be overcome across six key capability sets – education and learning, bodily integrity (including freedom from sexual and gender-based violence and child marriage), physical and reproductive health and nutrition, psychosocial wellbeing, voice and agency and economic empowerment. These assets expand an individual's capacity of doing and being in valuable ways. 2. The second building block of our conceptual framework is context dependency. Our 3 Cs framework situates girls and boys ecologically, and establishes that their capability outcomes are highly dependent on family or household, community, state and global contexts. 3. The third and final building block of our conceptual framework acknowledges that girls’ and boys’ contextual realities can be mediated by a range of change strategies including: empowering individual adolescents, supporting parents, engaging with men and boys, sensitising community leaders, enhancing adolescent-responsive services and addressing system-level deficits.
- Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) is a nine-year (2015-2024) mixed-methods longitudinal research programme exploring the gendered experiences of young people aged 10-19 years. We are following the lives of 20,000 adolescents in six focal countries, two each in Africa (Ethiopia, Rwanda), Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal) and the Middle East (Jordan, Lebanon). GAGE aims to generate new evidence on ‘what works’ to transform the lives of adolescent girls and boys to enable them to move out of poverty and exclusion, and fast-track social change. GAGE research involves the most vulnerable adolescents, including adolescent refugees, adolescents with disabilities, those out of school, married girls and adolescent mothers. The results will support policy and programme actors to more effectively reach adolescent girls and boys to advance their wellbeing and what is needed to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, including the commitment to Leave No One Behind. The GAGE consortium, managed by the Overseas Development Institute, convenes 35 research, policy and programming partners globally and is funded by UK Aid from the UK government. _________ In response to the covid-19 crisis and building on our longitudinal research, GAGE launched a virtual qualitative research project with adolescent boys and girls in 5 countries to explore how adolescents are affected by the restrictions and what their perceptions are of the response to the pandemic. As part of Covid data collection, we carry out phone/video interviews with a selection of qualitative research participants in the GAGE sample in Jordan, Ethiopia and Bangladesh, as well as a separate sample in the Gaza Strip, including adolescents with disabilities and married girls. It involves a 30-60 mins interviews with adolescents focusing on the impacts of Covid-19 on the six GAGE capability domains (education and learning; health, nutrition and sexual and reproductive health; psychosocial well-being, economic empowerment, voice and agency, and bodily integrity).
- Research is sequenced to capture the evolution of COVID-19 impacts - Building on 1-2 rounds of quantitative and qualitative data collection undertaken in late 2017/2018 and late 2019/2020 with adolescents and their caregivers, GAGE data collection around covid-19 has been organized in three key phases: - April to June 2020: To understand the effects of initial onset of the covid-19 pandemic and related government responses on adolescents, as well as adolescent knowledge and perceptions of COVID-19. - September to November 2020: To assess slower onset implications and medium changes in adolescent wellbeing (e.g. prolonged school closures, lack of access to SRH services, child marriage, ongoing exposure to age- and gender-based violence). - January to July 2021/ 2023: To assess the longer-term impacts of the pandemic on adolescent wellbeing across six domains: i) health, ii) education and learning, iii) bodily integrity (freedom from violence, child marriage, FGM/C), iv) psychosocial wellbeing, v) voice and agency and vi) economic empowerment and access to social protection.
- QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTED: July-August 2020 Qualitative data for this study was collected from 39 adolescent interviews and 13 key informant interviews with school teachers. The 39 adolescents were purposefully selected from a GAGE baseline impact evaluation survey with more than 2,000 randomly selected adolescents attending grades 7 and 8 in public (government) and semi-private (Monthly Pay Order, or MPO) schools in Chittagong and Sylhet division. We will hear more about the baseline study a bit later on during this webinar. [Monthly Pay Order (MPO) schools are private schools that receive funding for payroll from the Government of Bangladesh and follow the official curriculum]
- Most of the adolescents had good knowledge about the signs and symptoms of covid-19 infection and how it spreads. Adolescents frequently mentioned fever, cold and cough as the main symptoms, while some also pointed out other symptoms such as breathing difficulties, headache, and loss of taste. Adolescents in urban areas were found to have more precise knowledge on COVID-19 and more access to various sources of information such as the internet (e.g. websites and YouTube channels), social media (e.g. Facebook), television (e.g. news reports and advertisements), school teachers, family members, and awareness-raising campaigns in the locality (e.g. posters, placards, ‘miking’) > wearing masks bears a price: due to this expense, some adolescents mentioned reusing the one-time masks after cleaning them with soap and water.
- Summary points: - Most adolescents mentioned having some form of difficulty accessing remote learning at home, resulting in reduced study hours and a tailing o of interest, leading to discontinuation of their studies. - Most of the adolescents who reported regularly following government-run lessons broadcast on television (TV) had limited or no access to the internet, did not attend any private tuition classes and had no one to help them with their studies at home. Some of them found the TV lessons difficult to follow. - Differential impact on learning: urban vs rural adolescents Some adolescents, mostly those living in well-off households in urban areas, were found to have more resources to continue learning (either through remote learning or private tuition) than others who mainly live in rural areas and lack access to the technologies needed for remote learning or who can access TV only. Teachers from urban areas reported contacting their students through mobile phones, Facebook and online classes. But while they are teaching online classes using Facebook, they are not sure whether the students are participating properly or understanding the lessons as they would in face-to-face classes. One teacher stated that, ‘We have opened a Facebook ID in the name of our school and we are conducting a few virtual classes through that page. And, at the same time, we are conducting other classes using this platform’ (male teacher, Sylhet urban area). Another teacher said, ‘We have to explain a lesson several times before they can grasp it, so it is doubtful how much they can comprehend and absorb from online classes’ (male teacher, Sylhet urban area).
- - Families without formal employment or business faced the most economic hardship, while for those with stable income it was less severe. Most of the adolescents reported that their family members were going back to their workplace at the time of data collection (July-August 2020). Some, however, had lost their jobs and were facing difficulties finding new employment. - Eight out of the 30 adolescents reported that they did not face extreme levels of economic hardship during lockdown, as their families have relatively stable sources of income from government jobs and large-scale businesses. It was also found that seven out of these eight adolescents who reported less economic hardship during lockdown were from urban areas. Their families had stable nancial conditions and did not have to take loans from others during lockdown.
- - economic hardships of the family had direct impacts on adolescents’ lives. During lockdown, most respondents reported having to contribute more to household work, which they did not do before. While boys mostly took care of livestock and cut wood for the fire, girls were more involved in household chores such as cooking and cleaning. - Some adolescents reported that they could not afford necessary supplies for their education or clothes. - On the other hand, two adolescents reported that they had started to learn skills like sewing and running a grocery shop while schools were closed, to support their family.
- - To support marginalised and impoverished populations, the government took several initiatives including the provision of in-kind food distribution of rice, lentils, oil and potatoes as well as providing cash assistance. Almost all of the adolescents in our sample mentioned that poor people from the community received aid or support from the government and from the community. - Most adolescents reported that even after the pandemic, people in their community continued to go to local doctors and pharmacists for non-covid-related health issues. However, some rural adolescents mentioned that, because doctors and hospitals were very far away from their home, it was di cult to access healthcare services during the pandemic. - A few of the adolescents pointed to the social stigma and suspicion surrounding the people who visit the doctor even for non-covid-related health issues, and how it creates an obstruction in their health-seeking behaviour.
- - Most adolescents reported that being isolated from normal life due to the pandemic made them feel bored and exhausted because they could not go to school or meet their friends. - Teachers have also been affected. Key informants reported that the continuous shutdown of educational institutes a ects not just their students’ education but also teachers’ mental health. - Adolescents also felt tense and anxious because of their family’s financial struggles. - Adolescents mentioned watching TV and using mobile phones as the most common coping strategies to deal with boredom at home. Using a mobile phone was found to be more common among urban male adolescents than other adolescents. However, most adolescents – male and female, from rural and urban areas – reported that they watched TV when they have free time or feel sad. Connecting with friends was another way of coping, reported mostly by boys, with urban boys reporting more communication via mobile phone compared to their rural counterparts, who mostly met friends in person. Some adolescents, both male and female, also mentioned activities such as drawing, reading story books, and playing with siblings. A few girls mentioned gossiping with relatives or family members and doing handicrafts as a way of passing time.
- In the light of our findings, we propose some key priorities for policy and programmatic responses to help the most vulnerable adolescents and their households recover from the covid-19-induced economic crisis, as follows. 1 cont: … to especially help adolescents from rural and poor families who had limited access to distance learning during the academic year. There is a need to review and restructure online study materials, distance learning modalities and teacher training. The differences in access to and affordability of digital modalities across socioeconomic groups and genders risk further exacerbating the existing inequalities between different groups in the community. 2 cont: Ensure that differences in access and use of online resources across socio-economic groups and genders do not increase existing class and gender divides during school closures, by reducing mobile data costs and strategizing the uptake of low/no tech distance learning options: This involves reinforcing the importance of recreation opportunities and scope for adolescents to engage with their respective communities and their studies. Community leaders and authorities should plan initiatives to create opportunities and infrastructures for adolescents to get involved as volunteers and active participants in their community. Counseling programmes at school and community levels should be prioritized, for adolescents, families and teachers. 3 cont: Improve awareness among policy-makers and service providers of the impacts of the pandemic on adolescent psychosocial well-being and needs, recognising that they may be experiencing anxiety; and opportunities for adolescents to volunteer in their communities and access recreational facilities. Our findings show that many adolescents and their families have become vulnerable to reduced nutritional intake as a result of economic hardship. 4 cont: as our findings show that adolescents, particularly those from rural areas who tend to live far from services, have faced di culties in accessing healthcare due to unavailable and overcrowded public transport systems.