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Education News

message, the Bengaluru-based National Coalition on THEY SAID IT
the Education Emergency (NCEE) has urged the state
government to reopen schools and operate them in shifts “School books should be a beacon of re-
while maintaining Covid protocols. “Many schools in spect, tolerance and peace that rejects
rural areas have an enrollment of less than 50 children. practices and acts which are contrary to
They are in many cases, in the same community bubble coexistence. A thorough inquiry should be
and already play with one another outside their homes.
There is absolutely no justification in closing them,” says ordered into the matter and those behind
an NCEE statement. publishing such caricatures insensitive to
Perhaps instead of taking unilateral knee-jerk deci- Muslims should be dealt with as per laws of
sions regarding closure of schools, the state government the land.”
should first consult education professionals. Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister, Jammu
Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) and Kashmir, condemning pictorial depictions
in school textbooks relating to Islam (TheWire,
WEST BENGAL December 6)
Exaggerated caution “But today, there are online educational

companies which are worth billions of dol-
ITHIN SIX WEEKS OF REOPENING SENIOR SCHOOLS (CLASS lars. Some of them are worth even more
IX-XII), colleges and universities after a pro- than the entire educational budget of India.
Wlonged 65-70 weeks lockdown because of ex- ese companies offer online courses which
aggerated fear of the Covid-19 pandemic, West Bengal’s are not vetted by anybody.”
92,000 government and 1,500 private schools, 372 colleges Karti Chidambaram, member of Parliament,
and 32 universities have been ordered to shut down again demanding government regulation of the ed-tech
from January 3. A mere two citizens testing positive for the sector, (The NewsMinute, December 14)
Omicron variant of Covid-19 on January 1 — taking the total
number of Omicron cases in West Bengal (pop.91 million) “Even as the wheels are coming off the
to 16 — and 13,300 active Coronavirus cases has spooked Republic of India, conversations in polite
the state’s Trinamool Congress government which was re- and not-so-polite circles now have a refrain
turned to power in Writer’s Building, Kolkata, for a third that is the surest sign of an impoverished
consecutive term last May.
Unsurprisingly, there’s rising outrage within the state’s democracy. Whenever the topic of the BJP
6 lakh strong teachers’ community that every time there’s and Narendra Modi’s future comes up, the
a surge in Covid cases, schools and colleges are among the refrain is: “ere is no alternative.”
first to be forced to shutdown and last to reopen. Pre-oc- Pratap Bhanu Mehta, former vice chancellor Ashoka
cupied with cobbling a multi-party coalition to take on the University (The Indian Express, December 30)
BJP government at the Centre in General Election 2024,
chief minister Mamata Banerjee seems to have no time for “For how long will we keep using the worn
the education of the state’s 28 million children and youth. out strategy of shutting down schools?
Critics are quick to point out that whereas government in Do we really think that sitting in front of
Kerala, which has reported 109 Omicron positive cases, and a screen all day, beaming classes on TV
Maharashtra 450, have or sending WhatsApp messages leads to
resolved to keep schools learning?… Let’s keep schools open with
open, West Bengal’s TMC protocols. ”
government has ordered
another shutdown of Sumeet Yashpal Mehta, CEO and co-founder, LEAD
School (Twitter, January 4)
schools after 16 cases re-
corded on January 2.
The TMC government’s “Schools should be the last to close and first
exaggerated caution about to open, because the loss of schooling and
keeping education insti- the impact it will have on our children will
tutions open is in sharp be devastating.”
contrast to its political Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist, World Health
populism. During Durga Mamata Banerjee Organisation (CNBC-TV18, January 5)
Puja (October), Christ-

18 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2022