Pandemic hit India and many other countries in early 2020. Lock-down was imposed and many industries started Work From Home.
Even after getting some relaxation in lock-down, people prefer buying things online. As per record, 1 crore people lost jobs from the organized sector. Count in the unorganized sector is much much higher than this. 55% of people in India claimed a decline in income. Before the pandemic 6 crores Indians were below poverty line, now count is 13.4 crore as more than 7 crore pushed below poverty.
Schools started teaching online. Private and rich schools were able to adopt online coaching easily. Many government and underprivileged schools turned online on paper, but students as well as teachers keep struggling for quality education. Most students from such schools become happy as there is no punishment, no proper exam and no proper checking of homework!
School study deteriorated, on the other hand, poor parents are struggling to get 2 times the food for their family. In this situation, focus has moved to money from study.
These days I am finding so many young kids selling fruits/vegetables.
Unfortunately,
we don't have an exact count, but in India, millions of students are
studying in underprivileged schools. Out of these millions of kids, how
many will be able to outperform when grown up? The concern here is,
after neglecting study for 16 months, they have adjusted to a new normal.
They have lost interest and charm in study. No enthusiasm
towards study in them.
This led me to a question - What is the new normal? Whatever good or bad situation we adopt due to circumstances, should we count as the new normal? Do we have a recovery plan for people landed in bad situations? It's not just about money, it is a mindset also that has adopted a new normal. If this situation is not handled and neglected, it will create disaster in future!
But, unfortunately, newspapers and Media have to show only positive news.
After this worst condition, tens will outperform and will win a medal for our country in the Olympiad. We will celebrate that victory and feel proud. Yes, we should.
Out of 140 crores Indian, hardly 14 win medals. Out of the same 140 crores Indian 13.4 crores are below poverty line. If we are proud of achievement of one, we should also hold ourselves responsible for a million failures.
