We Failed Our Children

Smothering education in masks 

16 months is not a short period. We have seen enormous amount of work getting done in this Corona pandemic. Healthcare upgrade was phenomenal even if far from sufficient. IT industry flourished a lot in this period because they have accepted the new normal and adapted to the demands. Work from home turned out to be a win-win situation for both employees and employers. One sector however got completely overlooked by the govt. of Bharat that is Education. 

Government never appeared to be determined to solve the problems faced by education sector. There was never a point in time when govt. had clear strategy on how to conduct activities in this sector. They took the procrastinating approach of crossing the bridge when we reach there. And what they did then? They kept cancelling and postponing various exams - The only actions taken by the government because there was no time left to take any action. And they took pride in cancelling exams too which in my opinion was the worst choice. There could have been umpteen solutions figured out if only government had put the think tank into action. It had done it in bits and pieces but government remained critical and skeptical of implementing the decisions to curb the academic loss of this generation. Government of Bharat had shown that education is far far down their priority list and had stood exposed.

I keep hearing govt. patting their backs on how their regions are doing great in online learning. But I don't see it. I live in a city still and I know that my city's educational institutes failed miserably to provide online education to children. If this is the situation in city, there is no point talking about villages. You provide all poor families, supposedly 80 Cr, free ration to help them sustain in this pandemic and then you expect them to bear the expenses of smartphones and internet data packs so that their kids can attend online classes. Are you politicos boozing out lately because there is hardly anything meaningful to do? It is very obvious that a poor laborer from the village won't be able to afford the smartphones and data packs. Why should they be put on to carry this burden? And we know that internet connectivity in villages is bare minimum and unstable. 

There were solutions which could have been easily implemented with affordable budgets. Some Gram Panchayats had already done it by setting up e-Schools, using public announcement systems to conduct classes. But this could have been done in every single village. Govt. could have readied the e-classrooms and provided internet connection in the Gram Panchayat building and scheduled the online classes for at least primary and middle schools. National television channels could have been very effectively utilized to impart knowledge in coordination with respective education boards. We had solutions, we had resources, but no one really wanted to act on it. It is the audacious demonstration of political ill-willpower which has deprived the children of Bharat from proper education in last year and a half. And I am afraid they don't have any strategy in place for near future and they are least bothered. 

In the far severely affected countries like England, education never went on the backfoot. children attended the schools. Precautions were taken, healthcare system was ready to deal with challenges. They kept shifting from offline to online mode of education as per situation but they ensured that children do not lose the time and education. Corona is in complete control in England and so is academics and education. We never considered education to be a priority matter. Governments at all levels had kept playing pass the buck while children kept loosing the precious years in their educational life. We have let down our children bigtime. 

Demonstration of dangerous democratic decisions 

What amazed me even more is the focus and determination of governments to ensure that no elections gets affected or deferred due to the pandemic. West Bengal and other state legislative assembly elections were carried out with full zest amidst severe 2nd wave of pandemic. Execution of elections was so perfect that not even a single date has to be rescheduled. Election rallies attended by huge masses, 70+ % of voter turn out, the scenes were like as if we as a country have beaten Corona long back. And the moment final round of voting finished the respective states were put under siege and lockdowns. Will you not term this as mockery of democratic governance at all levels. All the Corona deaths in these election bound states has to be blamed on to the political avarice of Central and state governments. None of the political party has sought a deferment of the elections. What are people supposed to do here? Do not vote? Do they even have a choice?

O God! Please forgive us for what we do not know

I am not willing to waste my energy bringing out the issue of Kumbh Mela. Such a big and blatant fiasco by the State\Central govt.

I fail to understand why our wise and otherwise political leaders are taking education so lightly? And why we are left with no choice other than to be helpless, mute spectators? On one hand we keep projecting and reiterating Bharat's capability to become global leader and on the other hand we make such a mockery of education and play with future of upcoming generation. We are already exposed in the standards of education we are able to provide to our children, if we go by the global rankings our educational institutes fetch. And here we stand exposed once again with serious priority compromises made by our political leaders. Some revamping changes are required in the constitution if we don't want the future of our children to be held hostage by such a short-sighted and incompetent leadership. At this point though, I regret to say that I do not see any light at the end of tunnel and that people of Bharat should be ready to sacrifice couple of more years of their children's educational life, unless you find your own way out of this paralyzed education system, blindly lead by paralyzed visionaries of the country.