How has pandemic affected family life in Turkey?

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Academics from Boğaziçi University has published its second report on the "Reflections of COVID-19 in Family Life."

Conducted by a team led by Mine Göl-Güven from the Department of Primary Education, the study aims to shed light on how the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected family life in Turkey.

The study has shown that despite being concerned, the majority of parents have positive opinions about the competence of themselves and schools.

As part of the study, 323 parents who have children aged 4-12 participated in an online survey between May 15 and June 1, 2020.

While participants come from 39 different provinces of Turkey, 90 percent of the participants are women. 84 percent of the participants are graduates of university or have a higher level of education while 71 percent of the parents earn more than minimum wage.

'Online education is of no use'

Parents participated in the survey by saying whether they agreed with a statement or not. The answers given by parents about the education of their children and the rate of those who said "I agree" are as follows:

• How the closing down of schools affected my child's education made me concerned. (54%)
• I felt comfortable while supporting my child about her/his education at home. (50%)
• The school of my child gave clear instructions about what my child needed to do. (62%)
• The school of my child gave suitable homework to my child. (65)
• I do not think that online education is of any use. (34%)
• It was very useful that I learned more about my child's education. (61%)

Almost half of all participants (43%) said that they were sorry that they could not make more time for themselves in this period.

Similarly, one out of every three parent said that trying to spend time with their children confined at home exhausted their all energy.

41 percent of the parents said that it made them feel desperate when their children acted in a compelling way and they did not know what to do.

Parents also gave the following answers as to their need for support mechanism when dealing with their children in the period of pandemic:

• I wish I had a wider knowledge of fun activities. (47%)
• I wish my own mother and father could help me with childcare. (42%)
• I wish schools were partly open. (28%)
• I wish I could access more written, visual and media sources about parenting. (19%)

(AÖ/SD)