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This statement was made by Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha, at a meeting of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children and relevant ministries and sectors on children and young people.

Ha also said the pandemic significantly affected the implementation of activities to protect, care for and educate children at both central and local levels, especially in pandemic-hit localities.

There was a high risk of children being abused online when schools shifted to online teaching, she added.

Child-immunisation schedules were interrupted and access to maternal and child healthcare services was also limited due to the pandemic, she said.

It was estimated that 4.4 million children nationwide suffered from early-childhood education disruptions. The educations of poor, ethnic-minority and mountainous children were also disrupted because of the ineligibility for online learning, she said.

Parents were found to have a tendency of letting their children work and earn a living to compensate for the lack of income, triggered by the pandemic, Ha said.

The pandemic also limited the chance to play for the children, she said.

In response to the situation, the ministry had submitted to the Government to direct ministries, sectors and relevant agencies to carry out measures and policies to support people who suffered from the pandemic, including children, Ha said.

The ministry also consulted the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control to order relevant ministries, agencies and localities to take measures to ensure safety for children during the pandemic; compile safety guidelines for children and women in quarantined areas, families and child-nurturing centres; study the pandemic’s impacts and share experiences to deal with the pandemic’s impacts on children to countries in the region and the world, she said.

Additionally, the ministry also supervised the integration and implementation of children’s rights in the socio-economic development at both the central and local levels. It also considered spending an appropriate amount of the annual budget to implement programmes and plans on children’s rights and give priority to child protection, she said.

Also at the event, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Tran Anh Tuan said youth employment during and after the pandemic was believed to be a difficult issue. The situation that students failed to get a job after graduation and employees lost their jobs, especially in industrial and economic zones due to the pandemic’s impacts, was increasing.

To fix the issue, the Government already required ministries, sectors and localities to actively take measures to successfully implement the dual goal of “preventing the COVID-19 pandemic and developing the economy”, contributing to ensuring social security and creating more jobs for young people, Tuan said.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, Permanent Secretary of the Central Permanent Secretary of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee, said the pandemic had affected the job placement activities of the union.

Although it strengthened the organisation of online activities, support for young people also faced difficulties due to the pandemic, he said.

The youth union at all levels had mobilised its members to participate in disseminating pandemic prevention and control information as well as calling for donations to pandemic prevention activities, he said.

The union also assessed impacts of the pandemic and the trend of digital transformation in implementing youth-related activities, he said./.