Page 4 - EducationWorld Feb 2021 Low

From the
Editor

THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT MAGAZINE

Volume X XII No.2

BOARD OF ADVISORS
N.R. Narayana Murthy, H.V. Gowthama, Shukla
Bose, Dr. Glenn Christo, Dr. R. Natarajan, Anand A
Sudarshan (Bangalore); Mala Ramadorai, Adi ccording to all indications, the worst of the Coronavirus aka
Godrej, Dr. Augustine Pinto, Krishan Khanna, Covid-19 pandemic which prompted the complete shutdown of
Guilherme Vaz, Ketan Gala, Kirit Mehta (Mumbai);
Dr. Ramdas Pai (Manipal); Dr. Geeta Kingdon industry, business and trade nationwide for over three months —
(Lucknow); Rajiv Desai, Dr. Parth Shah, Jeroninio and closure of all education institutions from pre-primary to Ph D
Almeida, Premchand Palety (Delhi); Robindra
Subba (Kurseong); Sanjeev Bolia (Kolkata); Dr. for over nine months and counting — is over. The infections curve
Achyuta Samanta (Bhubaneswar); Shyama Thakore has flattened across the country and the total number of fatalities has been
(London)
contained at 155,000 (February 8). Schools and higher education institutions
EDITOR are cautiously re-opening, and following the presentation of a pro-production
Dilip Thakore and business growth Union Budget 2021-22, the engines of the economy have
MANAGING EDITOR started humming and its wheels are gathering momentum. Compared with the
Summiya Yasmeen Spanish flu epidemic of 1915-19 which took a toll of 50 million lives worldwide
CHIEF SUB-EDITOR and 12 million in India, this time humanity has got off lightly.
Sundar Anand For the nation bruised and battered by this deadly virus, it’s time to count
Paromita Sengupta, Gopi Chand N, (Bangalore), the cost and repair damage. Although several million citizens have suffered
Autar Nehru (Delhi) 9868256512, Baishali
Mukherjee (Kolkata) 9836491981, Shivani grievous loss of lives, livelihood and employment, the country’s most vulner-
Chaturvedi (Chennai) 9500506102, Dipta Joshi able 500 million youngest citizens in the 0-24 age group — the world’s largest
(Mumbai) 9920243111 child and youth population — have been worst hit in terms of irreversible loss
CHIEF EXECUTIVE of learning and heavy psychological and emotional damage. But curiously,
Bhavin Shah +91 9867382867 neither government nor the establishment seems to be aware of this.
MARKETING Despite 48 percent of the country’s children studying in private schools and
West: Tejas Pattni (General Manager) 9022487997 70 percent of youth in private higher education institutions, neither the prime
E-mail: marketing@educationworld.in minister’s Rs.20.97 lakh crore damp squib pandemic relief package announced
South India: S. Vijaya Lakshmi 98456 80696
Poonam Shah 9731966373 last May, and Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s five mini-budgets
North: Hannan Ahmed 9810302768 of last year, nor the Union Budget 2021-22 presented to Parliament and the
GRAPHICS public on February 1, provided any relief, aid or incentives for private educa-
Suresh K. tion institutions. Most are suffering acute distress because of loss of income
SUBSCRIPTIONS for over 10 months since last March.
Ajay Kumar: 9108225694/ In particular, reports that private pre-primaries aka preschools, are in deep
080 43711141 distress with thousands shutting down operations, are especially disheartening
sub@educationworld.in
for your editors in EducationWorld because we have been in the vanguard of a
ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION: RS.1700
OVERSEAS SUBSCRIPTION: USD95 new millennium movement to impact the critical importance of professionally
Cheques/drafts in favour of DT Media & administered ECCE (early childhood care and education) for India’s young-
Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore est and neglected infants in the 0-5 age group. The extent of damage done to
EDITORIAL ECCE during the pandemic is reported in our cover story of this issue.
C3-36, 3rd Floor, Devatha Plaza In the special report feature, managing editor Summiya Yasmeen takes
131 Residency Road, Bangalore 560 025. a broader view and assesses the damage done to the education system as a
Tel: 080 22480880; Fax: 2227 5962;
E-mail: editorial@educationworld.in whole by the pandemic, and ways and means to repair it.
Website: www.educationworld.in Also check out my interview with Dr. Shashi Tharoor, MP and author, lit-
Printed and published by Dilip Thakore on behalf terateur, wordsmith, darling of the educated middle class, who would arguably
of DT Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. have been India’s best ever Union education minister. Don’t rule it out.
Printed at Rajhans Enterprises, 134, 4th Main, In-
dustrial Town, Rajajinagar, Bangalore-44. Published
at C3-36, 3rd Floor, Devatha Plaza, 131 Residency
Road. Bangalore 560 025.
Editor Dilip Thakore.
RNI No. KARENG/1999/00234

4 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2021