And for a Friday, as the monsoon advances and schools open across the country, some thoughts….. some musings…..
After almost 2 1/2 years, most schools from nursery to higher classes have opened physical classes for boys and girls. It’s the excitement of new school bags, uniforms, tiffin boxes, polished shoes, the thrill of the school bus and most importantly the opportunity to meet and interact with friends and teachers. For kids from nursery to class 3, this loss of two years have had huge impact, not only on their learning ability but even more crucial is their social skills and adaptability. Whilst the more elite schools and affordable middle class parents in urban areas may have been able to manage the online and virtual classes, the poor and the rural schools have badly suffered. Teachers, educationalists and experts in child development have ofcourse worked various learning methods and developed tools to make up and bridge the learning gap. Notwithstanding, the challenge is huge. Each one of us must volunteer and reach out to help the cause in whichever way we can. As parents, grandparents, uncles , aunts, brothers and sisters, we all are directly connected and must help out, lest a whole generation looses out.
Lurking in the background is this ugly fear and looming ever-present threat of Covid in one or other variants. Last three weeks, Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi, Karnataka and few other places, the weekly averages have shot up. It’s important for all concerned not to panic, particularly the local Govt authorities to not resort to the old ways of shutting down and bringing large scale restrictions, tracings and compulsory quarantine etc. etc. Babudom love controls and permission Raj. We now have enough learnings and experience to live with the Virus. Record number, 98% of population vaccinated. Three vaccines for kids 12 to 18 are also available and more than 30 million children have already been vaccinated. Apart from Covaxin and Cadillac’s ZyCoV-D, now Biological Evans’ Corbevac has been granted Emergency permission. As citizens, we need to be persuasive at all levels to support minimum disturbance and put all our learnings of the last three pandemic waves to the best use.
We should not panic like the Chinese have done in Shanghai. Let us handle our economic, social and educational revival, the unique Indian way, the mutually understanding way, the SEEGOS way.