Covid Crisis: Schools in India May Reopen After August 15

The existing education and pedagogical models will not produce employable workforce for the future job markets that will undergo a seismic shift after the upheaval being caused by coronavirus.

By Rakesh Raman

As schools and colleges in India were closed in March after the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak in the country, reports suggest that the government may reopen the schools after August 15. However, the final decision will depend on the situation at that time.

During the lockdown period, the schools were holding online classes. But that is not an effective method of teaching as most school and college students are not quite familiar with digital learning. And many students do not have the computers and devices to attend online classes.

Although the government is considering to reopen the schools in August, it will be a risky decision because most health experts predict that India will experience a peak in the Covid infection rate in July and subsequent months.

It is expected that India will have close to 300 million Covid cases in the next couple of months, as the infection is going to spread rapidly from urban to the rural areas.

Obviously, it will not be a wise decision to reopen the schools and endanger the lives of children – particularly because the healthcare systems and the hospitals in the country are in such a bad shape that they can’t handle the increasing number of Covid patients.

Instead of reopening the schools, the government should rather revamp the entire education system in the country by introducing some self-learning frameworks in which the teacher’s involvement is minimum. It is possible.

And it is a fact that the existing education and pedagogical models will not produce employable workforce for the future job markets that will undergo a seismic shift after the upheaval being caused by coronavirus.

Meanwhile, with nearly 250,000 Covid cases (official figures) as of June 8, India has come in the list of top 5 worst-affected nations and thousands of people are dying.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He also creates and publishes a number of digital publications and research reports on different subjects. These publications include the “Covid Health Bulletin” that covers global coronavirus news and views.