The Covid19 pandemic is taking a harsher toll on specific sectors. One of the major hits is on the education sector. The future of students is in jeopardy, more so at school levels where direct spoon-feeding and personal attention by teachers is important, as also for science studies at higher levels too, where labs and other adjuncts to various courses are laid out. The bigger challenge is to hold exams!
With the Centre and the CBSE board informing the Supreme Court on Thursday that the remaining summer exams of Class X and XII will not be held, the grim future can only be visualized. Online classes are being conducted but both the students and teachers will take time to get used to such a system. This has its limitations too for school-going kids.
Two options are left for students – either to wait and see how the scenario shapes up and write exams at a later stage; or go by an assessment process based on their earlier grading/marks or performance. The pity of it all is that there is no clear idea as to how long these uncertainties will persist. The Covid19 spread is seeing no chance of a let up at least in the near future. India has edged up to the level of the fourth worst-hit nation on the Covid graph.
The deadly pandemic that has hit over 4,70,000 people and caused deaths of nearly 15,000 so far despite the nationwide lockdown having played mayhem with our lives in terms of loss of jobs for millions. The hotel and restaurant industry across the country and elsewhere too are mostly non-functional as people are not ready to take the risk of eating out. Those who make a living out of this industry are hard-pressed for cash and many hands in this sector must now be in dire poverty.
Most other sectors are functional and getting back to life, except for the aviation industry. Parking aircraft in an airport area per day costs more by rental than the plane put in flying mode. Flying or not, the planes require constant maintenance which cost huge sums. Job cuts and salary cuts are heavy in this sector due to the present pandemic-linked distress.
The health sector across countries is put through a major strain and quite a number of health workers have contracted the disease and died. This is a painful situation for one and all; more so for those engaged in specific fields. In fact, no sector remains unaffected. This is a disaster that has taken both lives and livelihoods. And the way forward is yet to emerge!