The Covid-19 severely disrupted lives around the world, especially in India, where 530,500 people passed away of it and thousands of children are in precarious situation in terms of health, education, social protection and psychosocial welfare, the Scroll portal reported.

According to a June-August survey made to 3,825 children who lost one or both parents in 18 districts in five states of the country found that these children faced high rates of hunger, high school dropout ratings and were more likely to enter the labor force.

The study conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Telangana by the Children of India Foundation found that 25% of the young children surveyed receive fewer than three meals a day since the death of their parents.

Meanwhile, 5% of them dropped out of school and others would have also dropped out if it were not for the appropriate arrangements and interventions by volunteers.

Similarly, 63% of the children stated their play time was drastically reduced since the death of their parents.

Some children who had to move to new places had difficulty making friends, which affected their emotional well-being.

Most of the children who work outside the home come from families below the poverty line while others were forced to migrate to the cities to work.

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