politicodiary

Photo courtesy: The New York Times After a two-year break, children were just getting ready to go back to school when Philippines has been hit with another disaster. A terrible storm has devastated life, stopped transportation, curtailed movement and lead to close down of schools, again. The archipelago is said to be hit by frequent storms in the year, but this one has been a little too much, owing to the devastating effects of Covid-19 induced lockdowns and mutation troubles. The tropical storm has affected northern Philippines more severely this time. This has been termed as the Storm Ma-on. On instructions of President Ferdinand Marcos (Jr), classes were suspended for public schools and government work mostly in the densely populated capital region and also in the six outlying provinces as a precautionary measure. It is worth noting that millions of children would again be left homebound after a chance to enjoy face-to-face classes. The provincial capital Tuguegarao was dren...

  Financial crises is one thing. Lebanon's education system is also in doldrums.... Photo courtesy: The Associated Press Since 2019, children have not felt a sense of normalcy. Either it has been political upheavals, the pandemic or the rising poverty that continues to haunt the education system in Lebanon. As of now, thousands of teachers have decided to go on strike, demanding salary adjustments to cope with hyperinflation and the currency’s free-fall. New government has come into action, but overnight change is asking for a bit too much.  Lebanon once known for its medical facilities and top notch educational institutions can now see parents shifting their kids from private institutions to public ones. There is definitely reason behind these strikes. The currency has hit rock bottom, so much so that one month's salary is hardly enough for vehicles to be refuelled.  There are no school buses and heating in schools has become next to impossible. It is sad to note how the...

Biden administration is serious about prioritizing education and they are doing everything possible to get it back on track The Biden administration is taking Covid-19 testing in schools extremely seriously, so much so that they will be investing $10 billion in the whole process. This is being done in order to ensure schools can reopen safely at the earliest. Children have been most affected by the extended periods of lockdown and pandemic spread.   The fund would be allocated towards testing school fraternity staff and student. The Department of Health and Human Services(HSS) has further stated that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as state and local  health  departments will also help schools to set up these programs, and that the final allocations will be made to health departments in early April 2021.     According to HSS and other world health services, testing in the most critical step to prevention of spread and further treatment. I...

Indian Education tech market will go through massive restructuring in 2021 The pandemic had brought about a sudden burst of energy into the education sector- entrepreneurs used the opportunity to create virtual classroom structures, home schooling material, teaching aids, tutorial programme, hobby classes and much more.  But as schools are starting to reopen and the pandemic wave is starting to subside, one wonders what will be the future of all this money and energy that has been invested into such promising teaching and learning tools. The ed-tech startups are wondering how to make their buck after all the dust really settles. If one is to look at the largest gainers, Byju's and Vendantu are classic examples. They clocked massive online hours and made millions too.  It was literally raining online applications. From Unacademy to Skill development websites like Coursera started providing free courses compressed into capsules for those who were either out of work or cooped up ...

  It is more in the pandemic times that we need to make educating the girl child as a top most priority Photo courtesy: The Diplomat website The pandemic has affected different people in different ways. But everyone has been affected. But on the worst receiving end has been children of all age groups and strata of society. Children, especially the girl child is running the risk of dropping out of schools in many parts of the world.  Right to education is a fundamental right and cannot be denied to the girl child either. But the real truth is that most of the times, girls are marginalized and denied this simple right to them.  Girl child education is not given priority in many countries and the Asia Pacific is no exception to this trend. With Covid-19 making formal and physical schooling a challenge, these children do not access to virtual learning either. In most cases, there are financial limitations at play. Many of these girls comes of households where there ...