By Abhishek Ghiya Via UNICEF, Madhya Pradesh
Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. Education is the movement from darkness to light. The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a global realization that our current way of life does not work. It has broken our perception of what is normal and deconstructed society as we know it.
One such critical area, where the need for change has become evident, is education. The effects of the coronavirus, and thereby its preventive measures, have upended the life of students, parents and teachers.
Shifting from offline classes to E-learning has bought a significant change in our education system. But still, many children are not even aware of these new technologies. While in the cities, the management has ensured that learning continues online, the major challenge is for the poorest of the poor and in the rural areas.
In the event of fulfilling basic survival needs, it’s a significant issue for them to make arrangements for education.
Technology is playing an important role in this lockdown period for people studying and working from home. In India, some private schools could adapt to online teaching methods easily. But low-income private and government schools could not. As a result, there has been a complete shut down due to no access to e-learning solutions. In addition to the opportunities for learning, students will also miss their meals, and this may result in economic and social stress.
Migrants Have Children Too
Hunger-related stories and the crisis of managing meals by daily wage workers have been doing rounds in the news. But above all, school closure also means loss of mid-day meals. For children belonging to poor households, this is going to be distressing, adding to existing hunger and malnutrition.
Shutting down of schools has adversely affected mid-day meal policy in schools. The central government and state governments of Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and several other states have announced financial help to daily wage labourers in their state. The West Bengal government, along with its teachers, is making attempts to supply mid-day meals to the homes of poor children.
Loss of livelihood is going to leave a deep impact on children, there will be less to eat, and more children will drop out of schools. Hence, there will be many more children who will go to work.
Taking a step towards humanity
As part of society, it is our duty to provide all those facilities which we can afford from our pocket, whether by giving monetary help or by providing free education.
Because we all know this – पढ़ेगा इंडिया तब ही तो भड़ेगा इंडिया ।।