Go ahead for education
As the fight against Covid-19 is getting more and more organized after the announcement of a vaccine and subsequent inoculations started country wide, various sectors that had come to a grinding halt have started looking for some positives. One such sector is the education sector that has witnessed tremendous loses.
Many states across India have been working hard to get the schools re-opened for class work so that the precious time that was wasted during the lockdowns can be compensated. However, the major dilemmas the authorities are facing during these testing times is the stance that needs to be taken over the reopening.
The sector has witnessed a closure for almost one and a half year now and the students too have been away from their class rooms for quite long now. The higher education is one sector that needs immediate opening and the move need not to be delayed for long now.
Though we understand that at the junior level the class work can afford to remain suspended for few more months, but when it comes to higher levels, continuing with the same decision can prove disastrous.
Right now we have initiated the fight against the novel coronavirus as even a vaccine candidate is being administered to front line healthcare and other workers. This means that within a few months the next levels of population will start getting the vaccine dose thus safeguarding a larger chunk of population every month.
However, all said and done the decision to open up education sector needs to be taken cautiously as the sector has already witnessed a severe loss of academic days, a loss that will for sure hurt the student’s community in the long run.
The bid to start classes and examinations is a very tricky question, one that even the authorities are not finding an answer to. But one thing is certain that education sector needs to be brought back on track.
This can only happen when strict guidelines and a well thought out strategy is put in place so that the class work as well as the examination schedule is ensured that will benefit the students without putting them to trouble or any sort of health risks.
The authorities need to remove the provisions that allow symptomatic candidates who insist on taking an exam, to do so in isolation. The rules need to be bend here and reexamination in all streams be made a provision across the board so that any students does not fail to get a chance to sit in the examination.
Besides, appropriate arrangements for personal protection gears like face covers or masks, and other logistics like hand sanitisers, soap, sodium hypochlorite solution and other such items should be made available by universities, educational institutions, examination conducting authorities or examination centres to the staff as well as students as per the requirements.
The authorities can also devise a plan to maintain a minimum number of students in the class so that all norms including social distancing are maintained. Besides, the online mode can also be put to use simultaneously so that other students can avail to be in the class.
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