A Disaster-Proofed Education, Economy

As the impact of the coronavirus pandemic gets more widespread, two E’s are most badly hit Education, and the Economy. We will need an innovative approach factoring in the new reality to ensure that all young minds get the opportunity of a nurturing education and a stronger economy can happen if we pull out all the stops to make ourselves a global player

‘We cannot go on adding to the number of graduates and postgraduates without filtering the undeserving. This will increase the problem of unemployment as the so called educated youth will become unemployable as they have not been filtered by examinations‘

We have been living with COVID-19 for more than six months now. It has kept on increasing its spread and impact. It has spread the world over. It has picked up speed so much that now (while writing this column) it has infected more than 35 lakh of our people. The number of deaths is picking up, but the good news is that the recovery rate is also picking up fast. Many vaccine candidates are emerging as trials are going on, but so far there is no certainty that the evil of coronavirus will go away soon. We hope for the best but so far, there is no timeline for getting back to our pre-corona lives. As of today, our lifestyle is being determined by adjustments in living our lives along with it. Lockdowns and phases of unlocking guide our ways of living.

Brakes on education

We are certainly depressed as we are not living the way we want. The most worrisome problem, however, is that ‘education’, ‘educational institutions’ and the very ‘educational system’ are getting affected. Students are the most disturbed lot as their schools and colleges are closed. Examinations are getting postponed.

Competitive admission tests for enrolment in professional colleges have so far not taken place and it may have a serious cascading effect. JEE (Main) and NEET examinations are a testimony of this, as these examinations were twice postponed. As if the problem of coronavirus was not enough, politicians also jumped into the fray for postponing the JEE (Main) and NEET exams. The matter was taken to the Supreme Court on the plea that the lives of more than eight lakh students appearing for JEE alone will be in danger as they will have to travel from far and wide to the test centres. The Supreme Court dismissed the plea and now JEE (Main) has started with a lot of precautions, like three-layered face masks, sanitizers and test centres operating with adequate distancing in the seating of candidates. Students would have lost a year if entrance examinations were further delayed.

Till now students were missing physical classes as they were not going to schools and colleges. Some educational institutions have started e-learning to substitute for the physical classes. It may give some psychological satisfaction that students are not missing education but it is not adequate. School going small children of the pre-primary and primary classes are getting depressed as they do not physically see their schools and teachers. Older students of schools and colleges are not satisfied as they cannot interact with their teachers the way they want. Teachers also cannot recognize whether the students understand their lectures. Virtual classes may be good for postgraduate students as they get exposed to various professors, who otherwise would not have been able to physically come to college due to time constraints. There are practical constraints too in a poor country like ours where all the students do not have access to computers and smartphones.

Because of the pandemic, it is noticed that many institutions are promoting students without conducting examinations. Institutions cannot be blamed as the safety of students was considered more important than the curriculum and schedule of examinations. But the fact remains that conducting examinations is also very important. We cannot go on adding to the number of graduates and postgraduates without filtering the undeserving. This will increase the problem of unemployment as the so-called educated youth will become unemployable as they have not been filtered by examinations. The Supreme Court has now ordered that the final degree examinations must be conducted, and delay, if any, in conducting these examinations should have the approval of the UGC. We cannot ignore that good education and a robust educational system are very important for the development of our country.

We have to realise that education is the most powerful weapon, which can be used to change the world. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest, as education is a passport to the future.

‘All sectors of the economy have been battered except agriculture, which was not affected by the lockdowns. Economists are optimistic and they say that there will be a V-shaped recovery from the bottom, which we have reached’

Contracting economy

The economy is another sector which has also suffered very badly due to the coronavirus. The GDP for the first quarter of FY 2020-21 has contracted by 23.9%, as against the GDP of the preceding quarter. This is the factual evidence of how our economy has been hammered by the coronavirus and its consequent lockdowns. All sectors of the economy have been battered except agriculture, which was not affected by the lockdowns. Economists are optimistic and they say that there will be a V-shaped recovery from the bottom, which we have reached. Both the Union Government and state governments have to join hands to bring the economy back on the rails.

New learnings

Every bad thing has also something good to it and if nothing, at least it gives us solid experience. We try to learn how to live with the evil and in the process, we innovate new ways of living. The coronavirus has taught us as to how we can successfully work from home. To begin with, it was the compulsion of lockdowns but later we realised that to a large extent, businesses and professions can be done working from home. Now after unlocking, many companies have worked out a new system of human resource management as per which a significant proportion of the workforce can render their services from home. This reduces the cost of office space, cost on travelling and also saves a lot of time. It has become a win-win situation for both employers and employees.

Another sector which has tasted good out of the evil of coronavirus is the higher judicial system. Now the Supreme Court and High Courts are functioning without advocates crowding the courts. There are virtual proceedings. Senior advocates who normally attend the higher courts are earning the same amount of professional fees, without wasting time on travelling, even while being located in distant places. We saw that in an important case, where senior counsel Harish Salve pleaded before the Supreme Court and the Rajasthan High Court from London, where he has his chambers. Recently, there was a survey amongst the advocates of the Supreme Court and 99% of them preferred virtual pleading, at least for some more time.

‘Another sector which has tasted good out of the evil of coronavirus is the higher judicial system. Now the Supreme Court and High Courts are functioning without advocates crowding the courts. There are virtual proceedings. There was a survey amongst the advocates of the Supreme Court and 99% of them preferred virtual pleading, at least for some more time’

Mixed matrix

The coronavirus has with it many bad things and such acts of God can visit us in the future too. We have to ensure that at least the two prime sectors of education and economy remain strong so that we will never get derailed like we are witnessing today. For education of the future, we will have to evolve an ideal matrix of both e-learning and classroom physical teaching. We will have to ensure that all students have computers or smartphones. We will also have to see that poor students do not miss their mid-day meals because of e-learning.

There should be an emphasis on the quality of education and not on quantity alone. We have to ensure that we produce employable graduates and that they do not end up as mere uneducated literates. Skill, innovation and passion for research should be the attributes of students. Cramming and vomiting on answer sheets in the examination should not be the objective. Coaching class factories like we see in Kota are not desirable. Our entrance tests should be designed to test the other qualities of students, like their reasoning power, their love for innovation, their scientific bent of mind not on a set pattern for coaching classes to produce parrots.

Why can’t we plan our educational institutions and universities on the lines of the great institutions of ancient India like Nalanda or Taxashila, where students came from all over the world? Today our bright students are going to the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and Europe instead of the other way round. We have to think big, plan big and achieve big. We want more modern Nalandas to become a superpower and the same will ensure us against any future coronavirus- like evil.

Global player

For the economy to be mounted on a strong pedestal, we have to immediately start to become an important player in the global supply chain. If China could do it then why can’t we? We should work hard to boost our export. Our motto should be, as the old adage says, ‘export or perish’. The recently announced policy of the government of being self-reliant (atmanirbhar) is a great policy and we all should try to become its stakeholders.

The economy works on the money. We have to ensure that we pay taxes honestly so that the government gets adequate funds to invest. Our entrepreneurs should invest to widen their business. Our banks should be governed in such a way that they should not hesitate to lend. Honest mistakes in lending should be ignored and there should be no witch-hunt by the vigilance departments. The ease of doing business should improve further and red-tape should be buried, so as to attract foreign funding. Political parties should avoid populism and election time freebies, and instead work for development. No hurricane or typhoon can derail us if we are economically strong. A coronavirus-like evil will never keep coming and going and our GDP will never dive as it happened today. Let us plan and start afresh.