The Covid reality
It has been almost six months now that the Covid-19 pandemic has made our lives difficult. Since March this year we have witnessed closure of all the activities which is still continuing.
This phenomenon has meant that Covid-19 is becoming part of our lives whether we accept the fact or not. All our day to day activities that included our social relationships, our business dealings, our ways to conduct ourselves have been impacted by the virus to a large extent.
The impact of the deadly virus has been so great that now the pandemic is finding its way into our educational system. This is proven by the fact that the West Bengal government is mulling to introduce a chapter on coronavirus in school curriculum.
In a bid to make students aware of COVID-19, the West Bengal education department is considering introducing a chapter on the deadly virus in the school curriculum from the next educational session.
The government in West Bengal feels that serious efforts are needed to disseminate information about the nature of the novel coronavirus and therefore necessary precautionary measures have to be ensured to prevent the outbreaks.
There are plans to introduce the topic on the coronavirus from junior to higher classes which will include learning basic hygiene and safety measures to prevent contamination in junior classes and letting the higher class students know the type of contagion and its mutants in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The idea seems to be a unique one, but how this idea pans out and helps in educating the students, society at large and the teaching community will largely depend on how efficiently the plans is implemented and executed.
The novel coronavirus outbreak has taught us one thing that too quite boldly. The virus is here to stay for some time and for now the virus can be defeated only through awareness and ensuring necessary precautions. However, all this depends on the way the people accept this challenge and how the administration plans a fight to tackle this deadly situation.
In Jammu and Kashmir, we still are witnessing a lackadaisical attitude among the administration as well as the people to fight the deadly virus. The administration has on the one hand adopted closure of all activities as a measure to fight the pandemic while on the other the people still lack awareness and will to deal with it.
Both these measures will lead us to nowhere. The administration has taken it on itself and is not involving others to initiate a fight to rid the region of the virus that is making lives miserable.
We need a wide and participatory approach at all levels to deal with this pandemic and that alone will ensure our victory against the deadly disease.
