Editor,
I draw your kind attention to the letter to the editor by one Roben Chyrmang captioned “Students & parents under stress” (ST June 31, 2021) The letter is full of erroneous statements, misleading the public and aimed at tarnishing the best online initiative seen in the entire North East, if not the whole country. And this online initiative acronym’d HIKAI is being provided absolutely free of cost to any student under the MBOSE. Please note that https://rkmhikai.online is being used by 8,892 students belonging to more than 128 schools who have used 5.25 lakhs of learning hours and wherein 2.2 lakh assignments have been uploaded, goes to show the success of the online portal. And all this is provided totally free of charges even to students not studying in the Ramakrishna Mission Schools. Show me one such program with its range and flexibility in the entire country whether under the government or private sector before passing judgment on such a noble initiative.
Neither I or the management ever promised free “electronic tablet to each student” as claimed by Mr Roben. When the portal was launched, the Mission also appealed to its well-wishers to contribute so that they can provide at least one poor student a free tablet. But you are well aware how people like Mr Roben will never contribute a penny for helping poor students but demand that apart from providing free online portal, the Mission should also provide free electronic tablet! But Mr Roben should also know that there are other kindred souls who did contribute and Mission provided 360 poor students free tablets. These students belong to 36 different schools mainly located in interior parts of Meghalaya and are really poor and deserving students.
Moreover, Mr Roben makes his real intention clear only in the last paragraph wherein he questions my appointment as the Head Teacher (i/c). So he is a sort of a front to uphold the cause of our ex-head teacher (i/c) who lost his post because of his inability to implement the free HIKAI online initiative. And now that the teacher’s performance is being linked to the success of the HIKAI initiative not many are able to digest the fact. Many inefficient teachers draw their salaries but do not work for betterment of students. For example, a cursory glance at the HIKAI statistics will show that this ex-HT (i/c) was handling Social Studies (SSt) for class VII. But he never worked hard to motivate his students and only 14.58 % of students in his subject uploaded the assignments. Now Mr Ruben has made this to appear as if parents and students have been put under stress as they do not have mobile phones, etc. and hence the performance of these insincere teachers can be justified. It would be better to compare the performance of different teachers in the same class handling different subjects to make impartial statements. Now the above performance of our ex-HT(i/c) should be seen against the performance of the same class in the Science subject wherein 95% of the students have been able to upload their assignments in Science subject. Then how come it is 14.58% in SSt subject?
Hence if students are suffering, it is because of the insincerity and lack of commitment of such teachers. In fact, the government should look into the performance of such teachers and withhold their salaries because they not only spoil the future of our students but hide this fact by presenting a distorted picture through Mr Roben and company and in the process do not hesitate to tarnish the best free online system that we should have been proud of, a bad name.
Yours etc.,
Amaresh Chakraborty
Head Teacher (i/c)
RKM LP/UP School,
Umsohsun
Via email
Gender inequality in vaccination too
Editor,
Gender inequality shows up everywhere. As of June 29, 2021, 54% of persons vaccinated in India were men. In Meghalaya men account for 53% of those vaccinated. Actually it is worse in our state because the female:male ratio is 986:1000 in Meghalaya compared to 943 for all India, with more women in our state in proportion to men. Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal and Chhattisgarh are the only states in which more women have been vaccinated. In the USA, 58% of vaccinees are women. An article in India Today dated June 17, 2021, had a telling headline, “Indian men grab lion’s share of Covid-19 jabs”.
There may some hesitancy among women because of fear about vaccine effects on fertility and menstruation, and pregnant women were not given the vaccine till recently. But such hesitancy is very low. A study in 19 high-COVID-19 burden countries published in the Journal of Health Communication in March 2021, showed hesitancy in in India to be almost the same between men and women.
Like in many other social indices, the lower vaccination of women is due to deprivation, caused by entrenched gender bias, patriarchy and marginalization of women in India and Meghalaya. Women have less access to information, income, transportation and the internet, and find it difficult to leave home because of domestic responsibilities.
Julie Thekkudan, a gender specialist with Oxfam says, “Most men do not consider it important to register their wives on the CoWin app. Their health is not considered a priority and if they do not work outside the home, then they are not considered at risk.” A housewife in Rajasthan has been quoted as saying, ““My husband thought that it was right for him to get vaccinated first. Due to the possible side-effects of Covishield, he needed me to take care of him while he was sick. And if I got ill along with him, who will cook and look after the house and our son?”
Women make up 80% of school teachers in India and 70% of the health workforce. They predominate in the informal work sector. At home they are the main caretakers for children and the elderly. Even those who remain largely at home are at risk from family members who go in and out, given that new variants of the virus are highly contagious. Perhaps all women should be declared as frontline workers by the government and given priority for Covid vaccination.
Yours etc.,
Glenn C. Kharkongor,
Via email
Shillong-Dawki Highway
Editor,
As an avid reader of The Shillong Times I wish to assert that the importance of the Shillong-Dawki-Tamabil National Highway cannot be over-emphasized. The few trees that were cut to make way for the JICA funded NH Road Project are inconsequential when compared to the importance of the road connectivity when completed. Even the British saw the importance of this communication, hence this road was first constructed by them through this strategic route. It was very important then and more important today and in the future. Meghalaya’s future lies in opening up more strategic road-links with neighbouring countries to operationalize the Act East policy. Expansion of road network is beneficial in many ways. The unfortunate part is that there is not enough land and resources to construct the required road networks. In countries where there are excellent roads and road transport networks there is also faster development.
It is therefore not in public interest to put obstacles in the development of areas beyond Shillong. In this case to compensate for the loss of few Cryptomeria trees planting more species of a similar kind elsewhere or in plots in the neighbourhood will restore the environmental loss in double or triple measure.
I agree with those who have expressed support for the 72 odd km JICA funded road project.
This entire stretch is not a four-lane highway as mentioned by someone. The four-laning is only for the stretch between Umshyrpi Bridge to 7th mile Upper Shillong. The rest of the distance is a two-laned highway. Many from the Government and even ordinary citizens have supported the road project; only a few individuals are against it for trifle reasons that are unconvincing.
Yours etc…
Philip Marwein,
Editor, Youth Today.
Shillong