Are we Covid battered or Covid benefitted? The question demands introspection. Part of the reality of life is hardship. That is not a negative statement. It is simply a statement of fact. Every day brings new challenges. Living with the expectation that life will be difficult makes hard times easier to deal with.
Covid has undoubtedly jolted the entire mankind. Everything has been topsy turvy and life has been a mess for most of us. But who has been the beneficiary and more so the battered ones? The constant background noise of cars, trucks and passersby was abruptly replaced by silence when the government imposed a national lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. This unusual silence was initially only interrupted by the distant din of sirens as health professionals raced to tend to the sick, but an altogether new sound emerged; birdsong and family in conversation. Birds engaged in a veritable bedlam of chirruping has been a common sight of late. Family members spending quality time with each other has been a blessing in disguise.
Needless to say confinement also led to a resurgence of humility in human kind thereby giving even the animal kingdom a reason to rejoice. The self-imposed silence has proved conducive to animals changing their habitats to venture out of "their usual bases". The lockdown and the subsequent impact on wildlife and children's behaviour is a catch-22 situation. "It represents an experience of an exceptional scale, unmatched to date, across an entire country or even a continent".
"Keeping calm and carrying on" is not easy but Covid has enabled us to revive the history of human compassion. Disrupting one's usual routine for the benefit of others may not be upto everyone's liking, but there have been innumerable examples exhibiting how humans have been willing to make sacrifices to protect others. Compassion is always beneficial because it enables people to feel superior and aid group cohesion.
School going children have been cooped up in their parental abode under the protective gear of their loved ones. Many have suffered enormous fear and insurmountable uncertainty but in this ambiguous situation they have also learnt lessons that will certainly make them worldly wise.Parents have unknowingly schooled their wards to exhibit empathy, honesty and compassion by their actions in this unprecedented time. Moral responsibility is a powerful motivator but unfortunately no school tutors the future citizens regarding the same. The importance of practical knowledge over bookish knowledge has been harped upon for ages but unfortunately it has been absent in Indian teaching-learning process.
The Covid-19 pandemic has battered education systems around the world, yet it has given us life lessons that we need to assimilate. There comes a time in one's life when you are challenged beyond what one can ever think one was mentally capable of. People go through situations that can challenge them emotionally, psychologically, physically and financially beyond belief. However we have to see the story of hope. We might not be able to change the situation, but we can change what we do for our children. There have been stories of parents home-schooling their children, taking up a language course together, talking to each other, helping and supporting even strangers.
Our lives have dramatically shifted in two years. We went through every emotion one can think of. We went through up, we went through down, and we circled the abyss. But yet we survived. Our battered children have learnt a life lesson - relearn, retune, readjust but keep going. Wading through the grim situation the learners in the last two years have gained morally. In the end, what counts is how battered human beings stood tall with humongous courage. Covid battered, yet a winner - a class apart adorning the badge of humility.
(The writer is a senior teacher at Delhi Public School, Ranchi and the views expressed in the article are her own)