Anantapur: Pandemic hits education sector hard

Anantapur: The second wave of Covid pandemic came, conquered many souls but did not totally leave. Its mortal remains are there for everyone to see in the form of a shattered economy.

However, the ghost of corona is still haunting the education sector as the government continued lockdown of educational institutions. Two months after the Covid general lockdown is lifted, the government of late unlocked the secondary school education amidst stringent Covid protocols but intermediate, graduation and post-graduate education continued to be in a state of lockdown.

Only online classes are being conducted. The stakes are very high for stakeholders in the education sector as the students, parents, teachers, schools and college managements are not the only players in the sector but student hostels, students mess, hotels and restaurants, hosts of paying guests and suppliers of vegetables and food groceries and the transport sector that thrives on food provisions transport and the suppliers of milk and drinking water and workers of the above mentioned sector, who lost employment for more than a year is not a scenario of the past.

This is a continued trauma being experienced by the stakeholders as the college education lockdown continues with no early prospects of lifting higher education lockdown. This means that one-third of the society is still in lockdown and in a state of paralysis. This is a multi-crore economy that is in shambles.

The tragedy of lockdown is endless in the education hub of the district. Local computer institutes, photostat shops and the share autos that carry students to the colleges. Thousands of workers who lost their livelihood and the Rs 100 crore economy of the JNTUA education zone in the city is just an example of huge stakes of stakeholders in the entire state of AP.

Lakshmi, a B Sc, B Ed private school teacher who lost her livelihood due to pandemic has settled as a daily wage gardener on a contract basis in a government department. Talking to The Hans India, Lakshmi says she has no plans to return to her private school which pays a pittance. What will happen to me if another Covid wave strikes, she muttered and regretted that teachers are the most exploited lot in private schools.