The Sunshine Within You

One sector which is silently hit by the Covid-19 pandemic the most is the education. As a precautionary measure, schools were the first to be shut even before a formal announcement of lockdown. After all, education doesn't come under the umbrella of essential services.  According to the data from UNICEF, schools for more than 168 million children globally have been completely closed for almost an entire year, and more than 888 million children worldwide continue to face disruptions to their education due to full and partial school closures.  In India, only one in four children have access to digital devices and internet connectivity. There is a large rural-urban and gender divide which is why not everyone is able to benefit the digital revolution. Such vulnerable children unable to access remote learning might never be able to get back to learning even after the pandemic fades away, and could be easily exploited as child labor.  Shifting Classes Online   To those who...

After an exhilarating Holi, comes the boring and haunting board exam, the exam for which no amount of preparation gives an impression of sufficiency. Students across the nation get excited as well as depressed. They are ‘excitingly depressed’. Excited to give the final exam of their school life, to enter into a new world, and depressed thinking what society would say if their marks won't be that good. Sharma Ji’s meritorious child is making things worse. While the level of questions asked in the exams has become easy these days, the quality of students being produced is decreasing, WhatsApp, Social Media and expansion of internet are to blame. The internet and smartphones may help students in their higher studies, but it misfires in case of younger kids. It only serves as a distraction, the biggest of modern times. Earlier, when kids go out to play some sports, it was treated as a distraction from studies. But now, it has been understood clearly that it wasn't seeing the...

We have applauded when an Indian Child Right's advocate and an activist against Child labour Kailash Satyarthi along with Malala Yousafzai got Nobel Peace Prize. The Bachpan Bachao Andolan founded by him has acted to protect more than 83,000 children from 144 countries and still working. Most of us never heard his name because our Politicians and Media ignored his achievement which International Labour Organization recognizes to a great extent. He, in an interview, said: “Politicians didn't find me useful as children are not vote-banks”. When his name finalized for Nobel prize, all Politicians(from their bed) and Media Houses rushed to congratulate Mr Satyarthi who was himself surprised that he soon going to be a Nobel laureate. It is totally shameful that we are doing things just for our own self. Why blame only politicians? We are on the same path and the problem is the mindset. The world is becoming Selfish which I believe need a change so that we can have a peaceful s...