With schools reopening, and covid-19 cases being on a dip, parents want to ‘unmask’ their kids. A mother has started an online petition seeking to make marks voluntary for children. Currently, wearing masks is a must for students in schools. In a petition dedicated to the Indian Council of Medical Research, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, parents claim that in the heat and humidity masks are becoming breeding ground for bacteria, fungi, and other diseases.

The petioner claims that there is “over-enthusiastic mandatory masking for age groups such as 5 to 11 years for whom it should be optional”. Claiming that the younger ones are at a lower risk of catching the coronavirus, the petitioner claims that “continuous masking can also be harmful for children’s development needs.”

“Mandatory masking for children in school without considering age group, environment, and community transmission levels is completely against global guidance,” read the petition which has gathered more than 200 signatures within a day of starting the petition online.

“COVID-19 restrictions need to be balanced against the need to provide children with an optimal learning and social environment. Masks have costs: children can’t understand teachers or each other; special needs children are suffering; young children may not develop emotional skills without facial cues, and children are finding it difficult to make connections,” states the petition asking authorities to “put children first”.

“Our children are enduring the longest social lockdown among all age groups, despite being at the lowest risk. No adult will openly admit that they find it tough to #MaskLikeAKid all day. Our children have borne the maximum burden and brunt of COVID restrictions. It is hypocritical for adults to force low-risk and voiceless children to hide their smiles, emotions, and airways behind masks for several hours in school,” the petition read.

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