88 per cent of secondary schools students stated that their learning had been adversely affected in 2020, due to having missed out on a normal school year.
An online survey by “Exit Entry” highlighted the difficulties faced by Irish teens during 2020. This digital divide looks like a social divide. The most affected live in student residences. They are far from their families, live in small rooms and have lost their jobs with the closure of shops, bars and restaurants. These disabilities weakened the students and increased depression and suicidal thoughts. At an age when friendships are so important, over half of those surveyed (55 per cent) found not seeing their friends to be the most challenging aspect of Covid-19, ahead of home-schooling, the disrupted school year or anxiety about contracting the virus. Most of it, the prospects are anything but clear; the link with the professional environment to carry out internships is difficult. An extra layer that weighs on students.
A sad and distressing cry from the heart now resonates: young people are in distress. Affective, social, but also often financial. Overnight, many students, in particular, lost a job that, for some, was simply vital to finance their studies.
Getting a student job during the lockdown
Finding a job during the pandemic is nearly impossible but Peter Smith explains how he was able to find one in this report.
