Future of Higher Education in Pandemic: Digital or Physical

 

 

Covid has created a new class of youths. They are called as NEET (Not in education, employment or training). They are not exactly unemployed but they are not engaging themselves in any creativity. This grim situation has compelled the teachers, parents, educationalists to adopt a concept of remote learning with technology. Some academicians came out with an idea of Micro schooling. Both the ideas worked and spiked up the interest among students and teachers but only remote digital learning was the first preference. A survey made by BARC INDIA and Nielsen in this current pandemic situation reveals that, there is a 30% increase in time spent in educational app by students.  Many students are unhappy because they have not been interacted with their peers for a long time. They want that old academic situation to resurrect.  In order to address this many educational institutions are contemplating the notion of Digital plus Physical.  A blended learning environment will be introduced where student has to adopt both digital or online learning and physical learning. Off course this plan cannot be materialised now. It needs a long-term planning. 

.  A survey by Harris poll on behalf of Pearson reveals that 80% students think that educational institution will fundamentally change the scope of operation – means digital plus physical and 88% students positively feel that online teaching and learning will be the part of higher education system. A subtle difficulty will appear with this blended or hybrid learning activity. It will be an obstacle for poor and underprivileged students as far as learning are concerned.

Here comes the real problem, 87% students think that  not everyone has the access to technology and 84% consider online education and pandemic has digitally divided the students; those who have access to technology and those don’t have according to Harris poll. Yes, it is an unavoidable scene. Many of the students don’t have smart phones or internet or even electricity. Two students, one in Punjab and another one in Kerala, have committed suicide because lack of access and no smartphones for online education. Remote learning for higher education cannot be possible with this type poor technological infrastructure.  Technology is a bridge but in many cases it is a jack which connects but widens the gap. And in pandemic it is a jack.

Another survey by Pearson also shows that 77% students are agreed in view to reopen college for a healthy society. Economic growth and sustainability for generation to come must be balanced. But continuous lockdown and less positive signs to control this pandemic have put an insurmountable task before many higher education institutes to reopen. There are many challenges which can be foreseen. The first challenge is student’s retention and persistence.  The second one is teaching and learning. We never know the strategies to cope with when educational institutions will open. How to arrange class , what will be the seating arrangement, what will be the hostel boarding and if it is digital learning we know that many institutions and their staffs are not well versed and well equipped with technology. Post pandemic education scene will be very dramatic and stressful. Currently remote learning is a problem. It is predicted that it cannot be delivered in an equitable, inclusive and innovative way.

UNESCO released a projection that 24 million students may not back to education in 180 countries. In this pathetic education scene we can add another 258 million who were already out of education. Jointly 282 million students are out of education by end of this 2020. Thanks to this pandemic.  

As far as India is concerned, our National educational policy has the mechanism to track down dropout in educational institutions due to various reasons. In this connection National sample survey of India 2018 reports that as many as 3.22 crore students are drop out from educational institutions. . Ironically in these six months i.e March to August 2020, of learning gap dropout has doubled its number. It is estimated that 7 crore pupils will be out of education because of pandemic impact. Many students prefer to help their parents in MANREGA and they don’t want to continue their studies. Interstate migration and job loss are also fuelling these dropouts. Another forecast is that the enrolment activities will be dropped down and nearly 11 million students will not join in primary and secondary level of education in India.

National Mission on Education for Information Technology (MNEICT) is planning for new educational channel which could be answer to modern educational crisis occurred due to Covid 19.  MNEICT offers a kaleidoscopic view of modern ways of learning to students, whose education and learning activities have been standing still for 6 months. MNEICET is also very meticulous about content development. It engages best faculty by keeping students retention in view.  National mission on education for information technology (MNEICT) depends on DTH service to deliver this content to students all across the India. This may work to reach most of the students including those who don’t have access to smart technology like smart phone or internet. As per a survey, accessibility to DTH is 70% where as smart phone is accessed by only 35% of Indians. Most of us aware of SWAYAM PRABHA , a combination 32 DTH channels . Hope SWAYAM PRABHA may be roped in to help many of students in this Covid 19. Yes, as far as broadcast is concerned SWAYAM PRABHA repeats the same content five times in a day so that a student can adjust its timings and less chance to miss the learning activity.  So smartphone or online learning may be replaced by DTH learning.

Every life is affected. We are uncertain about our future. Many schools of thought have appeared. Some advocates for reopening, regular examination, some preach for procrastination of everything and some advice to follow Covid guidelines. But the reality is that online education is the future. Colleges are adopting, engaging and holistic learning for retention, engagement and knowledge flow.

 

 

Clandestine of Corona: When it is going to over.

 

The first antibiotic was invented in the year 1940. It was developed to fight against virus. But at that time nobody ever imagined that the role of antibiotics would be limited. The super-bugs or more to say deadly viruses are going to be more powerful than any medical imagination. It is reported that 700,000 people died in 2016 because of super-bugs. It is also estimated that by 2050, 10 million people will be died by these  viruses.

The virus has been in the course of mutations.  It is changing its structural dynamics every time. Cross species infection where pathogen assimilates from one species to another species is on the go. We know that Covid 19 is originated from bats.  It is a cross species virus infection. The unification of each different pathogen makes the bug or virus into super bug. Phage and antibodies are becoming less powerful to combat with these viruses. Seemingly, COVID 19 shows resistant to multi drugs.

Identifying virus infected people, track them and contact tracing activities are   now considered as conventional method. This process is very slow also. As far as India is concerned contact tracing and identifying the infected people is a taunting task for health workers.  In a Parallel way contained a hot-spot is very time taking also. By the time one hot -spot is identified another hot-spot will be popped out.

Some epidemiologists suggest that now government / agencies should to infect everybody deliberately. It is unethical.  But in medical term this type of activity is named as tolerable risk. We have put the some human lives in jeopardy to save the human race.  Human challenge trails is required for herd immunity. Herd immunity is never being a solution in long run. The solution is vaccine.

Virus impact can only be calculated by enough exposure. Vaccine is used as prevention not as cure.  For any vaccine there is a process to follow. These are Research, Testing and Manufacturing

Research is very experimental and short term. If the super-bug or virus in new then it may take more time to find its pathogen.

The second step, testing is very lengthy. It has to be based on efficacy. Many clinical trials and human testing are needed. These clinical trials have many modules. These have to boost the immune system, show less side effects, quantum of right dosage, safety of primary recipients and finally universal age group adaptability. Testable vaccine is not successful vaccine. That is reason WHO is not accepting Russian Vaccine on COVID 19 as a solution.

Another factor is that vaccines cannot be personalized or customized. But now firms are thinking to develop some personalized vaccine. Means if a person having weak respiratory system with high level of blood sugar he or she can have advanced vaccine in comparison to a healthy person.  Universal adaptability of vaccine is a precondition.

Last stage is manufacturing. Manufacturing is mutual process. It is between the manufacturing company and research lab. They should work together. Manufacturing company for vaccination should follow the guidelines of research Labs.

Generally any normal vaccine takes 15 to 20 years to develop.  Off course it must be without any drawbacks. But In pandemic it takes bit fast to develop. Zika virus vaccination took 7 months whereas Covid 19 took in 42 days with limited human trail. Each country should work on vaccine. There are different modules or mutations of corona virus. Multiple labs with globally connected virologists are required. Scientist found some familiar pathogen present in flu, H1N1 and SARC in corona virus also.   So research became easier to prepare vaccine.

 

All of a sudden, pandemic cannot be over. Government can only declare pandemic over when infection is over and transmission is zero. Waiting time is long. Recently in New Zealand corona virus infection was detected again after a hiatus of 102 days.  So only wait and watch policy is a solution to declare an end to any pandemic.  The most vital factor is that local transmission of virus should be monitored regularly.

Many Countries are adopting different ways to control this corona pandemic. The most effective and widely spread approach is to buy the time. The actions like lock-down, shutdown, containment zone and isolation are only to have time. There are two impacts of this, the first one is to delay the virus spread and second one is to buy time to improve health facilities, built temporary medical camps or may be preparing a vaccine. Every country has its own capacity to identify new diseases and treat those diseases.

Corona becomes a War zone. Quarantine, containment, less interaction, fight, self-isolation etc. are very common and widely used terms.  These terms have enough substances to make people terrified, concerned and alarmed.

The fear which triggers more is “No access to death rituals if death is due to Corona”. Isolated death and there are many chances that dead body will be decayed without any rituals.  Who wants a bad funeral and whose family members don’t want their beloved’s dead body?

As human being we have doubt.  That doubt is on other person that he or she may carry virus. Many are afraid to hold the children, some bury the dead without rituals, and many are scared to mingle with friend. These will be the new normal life.

We have de-institutionalized our trust .We are in dilemma that hospitals are killing yards. If we go we may not return alive. We have been assuming that medical facilities are collapsed. Health workers are dying. Misconception and fake news are in spree. We are in chaos. We are running after religion to release our tension. But like school colleges and other institutions, religious places are being closed. We are frustrated.

 

There is a research by National Council of Applied Economic Research 2020 about new normal life post Covid world. This research was done in Odisha and UP.  A major outcome from this research was 95% of respondents were afraid of being infected and worried about becoming disengaged from others. It means fear of social ostracized and treated like a social pariah due to Corona infection initiates a fear among people.

81% of household in Odisha were concerned about their neighbors in this pandemic. It indicated that we are concerned about our neighbor's well being which indirectly leads to ours. In another outcome of this survey, 97% of respondent mentioned that they were dependent on at least one person whereas 90% were open to support others. It senses a dependency as well as community participation.  This survey finds out that Odisha is socially connected and supportive than UP.

In another study it is reported that continuous lock down has created a sense of fear among people. Mental health and job disposable income worries most. Lack of school and college has weakened the prospects of students. Getting sick is less concerned attribute than losing job. Work from home is a new normal work life. Student’s prospects in education are nadir.

During a worldwide pandemic our body releases the stress hormone. That is cortisol. When is raised for long periods of time, say,  it impacts everything from digestion, to immune function, to body fat storage, and the ability of your brain to process and react to sexual cues. Cortisol that can cause us to feel withdrawn and it might be hard to relax or desire intimacy. So our sexual urges may be imbalanced during this time.

Many scholars have advocated new norms for a new normal life. We need to reach out to each individual and give social insurance .Digital world; online activity and virtual learning space must be endorsed. We must focus on training, job reservation, job security, internship and upgrading skills. We need to be emphatic. We have to enable participation and community involvement to help aged people and people in stress. Community level help groups should be formed to help the old and destitute staying in urban areas. Languages used for Covid 19 patients must be emotionally balanced /connected, culturally assisted and morally uplifted. We need to fill the gap of diversities. The stratified system accelerates more in this pandemic. Social distancing is going to convert in community distancing, gender and racial distancing. We should adopt humane skills as empathy, bravery and humility at this time.  Strong leadership at every level is necessary whether it is local or national level. A leader must assist us mentally and socially. We need to create a mechanism that people should learn from past epidemic. It means a separate department or syllabus should be introduced to us where we can learn the mistakes and survival strategy from past pandemics. Organizational level awareness, sitting arrangements and campus sanitization must be included in organisation rule book. Livelihood programs and economy should be taken into consideration while combating this endemic. A health network as well as social network must be adopted at local level.

Over all a pandemic is threat to humanity. It is not an end of human race. We shall revive. Evolution has taught us how to survive. Covid 19 is a journey. We need to visualize a post Covid world or no Covid world. But it is sure that we need to sail with it. We never know another pandemic is incubating somewhere. We need to prepare ourselves.

 

 

Death Penalty: Who deserves to be hanged ?

Current News headlines, panel discussions and public opinion on capital punishment or death penalty are on spree and have become a buzz concept to confer. There are two schools of thought on the death penalty. One school of thought, who supports the death penalty, argues that capital punishment is an old and conservative method of punishment. The medieval society had taken this punishment as a state power. Why state should be bloodthirsty or become a murderer? There were three strong reasons behind this act which are supported by the then statesman. The first reason was that the value of human life and humane were least considerable and respected in medieval or primitive societies. There was no progressive thought for societal humanitarian values.  The political system was not democratic at that time. The second reason was to take payback. It means to revenge by killing the murderer. Third and the strongest reason was to exercise the power of the death penalty by the state as a social control mechanism.

Another school of thought rejects the notion of the death penalty. They argue that there is no place for capital punishment in modern “Nation-state”. The nation-state is the opposite of primitive or medieval society. It values human life, promote humanely and respect human as a resource. Death cannot be a punishment. Punishment is given to a living being to realize, remorse, repent and reform. But how does it happen after death?

One of the hypotheses can be drawn here if one convict is awarded the death penalty and is executed. Later on, if the fact reveals that the convict is innocent. What will happen then?  As per a survey, there are 1000 people have been executed by the judgmental errors by the judiciary system in Britain. 14 retired judges wrote to President of India to commute the death penalty of 13 convicts. They were trapped under the wrong decisions or victims of judgmental error. In Mississippi, a judge was in remorse and confessed her error .She declared her as a murderer. Dhanjanya Chatterjee was a victim of this type of error in India.   

In India, death penalty is driven by populist emotion and reflection of public outrage. If somebody wants to spare the accused of the death penalty, it will create an unpopular sentiment. Scholars who are speaking against the death penalty are being disparaged. There is an open-ended discussion on the death penalty.  Those criminals who are warranted severe and meaningful punishment are not in the frame of capital punishment. Rarest of rare cases are hard to define in the Indian Judiciary system. Another philosophical argument that favors the critics of the death penalty is that the individual does not surrender its life to the state when the social contract was made. The social contract is designed for nation and state-building. If we adhere to social contract then the state has no power to take any individual life. The death penalty is never a way out for crime. Some may consider it as a deterrent. Whitlock Cobb says that mercy will not work in the death penalty when the capital punishment system is bureaucratized. Mercy as a facet of compassion is battered by politics.

As per a report from National Law University Delhi, 76% of Indian inmates on the death row belong to marginalized castes or religions.  74% of prisoners sentenced to death were economically backward or poor and 63% were primary of sole bread earners. There is no state policy to give maintenance for the family of the victim who is executed.  So it depicts another side of the story. The death penalty is somehow bureaucratized and socio-politically motivated. Homicides and murder involving sexual violence occur every day and it is amplifying so the death penalty cannot be a deterrent.  The number of convicts for capital punishment has been increasing as far as a murder involving sexual violence is concerned. In 2019, 54 out of 102 convicts are falling in this category.  India currently has more than 400 people in death row. Rape with murder accused is the target convicts.

Justice Verma committee 2012(Nibhaya Case) stood against death penalty. Law Commission in India in its 262^nd Report clearly disapproved the death penalty in 2015. Sociologists believe that the death penalty is not a deterrent that can effectively reduce crime on women. It is just a planned way to divert our attention from structurally embedded misogyny that makes India precarious for women. In another aspect, the death penalty raises victims’ killings instead of lessening social problems like rape. The death penalty is a shortcut method to achieve social reform.

Still we think the death penalty is necessary to curb crimes.  There no need to foster a criminal in jail for a lifelong. These criminals are like tumors if we disregard them and ignore their crime, they will become cancerous for society. To conclude, I would like to say that the history of capital punishment in India is full of judicial fallacies and constant inconsistency. The death penalty is now becoming a political execution. In the future, the judicial system may reform its process. It is also in the debate that the method of execution will be changed from hanging to injecting poison.  104 nations in the UN are against the provision of the death penalty. They think it as a non -humanitarian act of punishment. In India, the Nirbhaya convicts death penalty has become a mockery, a celebration, and an open-ended argument.  A lawyer gives another day to live to the convicts and judiciary fixes some other day to execute. The cycle is becoming more interesting like drama.  Every human life has an absolute right to live and possesses the very potential to reform. Better to change the bungled judiciary system and bring reform to the legal system which favors only privileges.