With parents reporting their school-going children falling prey to influenza a couple of times during the year due to change in weather, a survey conducted by LocalCircles shows 30% parents indicated their ward being unwell with cold, cough or fever four to six times in the last 12 months.
Vetting the responses of 31,000 respondents, LocalCircles found out 86% of parents reported their children being sick at least once. Of the 20,697 respondents, only 3% said their children were under the weather 7 to 12 times; 38% two to three times and 14% indicated once in the last 12 months.
Only 14% of parents surveyed expressed relief that no child in their family had fallen sick in the last one year.
When asked how children’s attendance in schools, of the 11,163 respondents, only 6% parents their children did not miss the exams, only 8% said their wards attended classes online.
However, 47% parents said their children missed school always when unwell; 13% stated the children missed school most times when unwell but attended a few times; and 13% hinted their wards missed school a few times when unwell but attended most times. 13% parents said the children did not fall sick during the past year. In all, 32% parents indicated that despite being unwell, their child did attend school once or more.
Several parents pointed out that healthy children who would have fallen sick during pre-Covid have caught cold and fever between three to five times a year.
Immunologists are dealing with a question whether Covid has reduced immunity in children leading to them catching any virus in schools, which are most fertile ground for infections.
The survey received over 31,000 responses from parents located in 317 districts of India. 61% respondents were men while 39% respondents were women. 45% respondents were from tier 1, 35% from tier 2 and 20% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
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