There have definitely been problems post covid in the UK - a huge increase in mental health issues for a start, and a definite effect on academic achievement (exams were made easier for a few years afterwards to offset it). IMO it accelerated existing deterioration rather than doing anything new, but it did have an effect.

The government certainly seems teachers as babysitters to some extent. There has been a push for more time in school, from having breakfast at school to more after school activities. More parenting being taken on by schools (I just read about "supervised toothbrushing" in schools on .gov.uk).

How well schools coped with it varied too. My older daughter's school (a well funded sixth form college) had relatively good IT, enough laptops to give them to kids who did not have computers at home, headsets and cameras for teachers etc. My younger daughter was home educated so it was easier to adapt but she still missed out on quite a lot of things, or had to do them online instead of in person and while she came out of it OK, its must have done some harm.