Test and vaccination rate must be complementary
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: November 05, 2021 -

THE meeting of the Education Department officials held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of commissioner M Harekrishna underscored that the government is most eager to facilitate resumption of normal academic chores.

With almost all sectors opening up, hectic livelihood activities disdaining the existing threat from the virus and the government as well as private events generally ignoring safety protocols prescribed by the health experts, it is apparent that the Education Department authorities are also desperate to give the students the much-needed breather from the protracted closure of educational institutions.

As resolved in the meeting for mandatory vaccination of all school staffers before reopening of schools, department officials are keen to bring back the future pillars of the society to their classrooms at any cost, if the situation permits.

However, it must be remembered that full vaccination of the schools' staffers will not guarantee safety of the kids as contracting the virus from unvaccinated parents, close relatives and transport operators and spreading it to their classmates is still a strong possibility.

It is, thus, desired that the department officials consult with the healthcare professionals and minutely study the ground condition before reopening of the schools and colleges.

For government schools, which have comparatively lower enrolment numbers than the private institutions, resumption of normal classes wouldn't be a major issue for physical distancing norms could be complied with.

But it is the crammed private schools where adhering to the Covid-19 safety rules would be problematic. Nevertheless, no efforts should be spared to restore the conventional teaching and learning process.

If at all, the Education Department authorities believe that vaccination would help resumption of normal academic activities, then due process needs to be initiated.

As it is obvious that there would be voices of utter dissent in case schools and colleges are kept shut on account of low vaccination rate in those areas where prevalence of the virus is negligible, setting healthy vaccination rate as the ultimate criteria for reopening of the educational institutions wouldn't impress every stakeholder. Therefore, preventing further transmission of the contagion remains the surest option to restore normalcy on account of the virus behaving unpredictably and consistently mutating into more virulent variants.

Already, there are reports of newer variants forcing closure of cities in some countries, signifying that there is no room for complacency for both the government authorities and the general population.

Intensity of transmission of the virus in Manipur too has declined in the last few weeks but the low vaccination and testing rates coupled with detection of 50-plus daily cases underscore possibility of the next wave of the pandemic hitting the state anytime if there is absence of collective will and effort to follow preventive measures.

Under no circumstance the confidence derived out of the partial achievements in the battle against Covid-19 should not turn into negligence.

While everybody is keen to enjoy normal life, it is important for the government authorities to track every infected person's contacts in the shortest time and keep the test rate at the level recommended by the experts.