Lockdown: The Divider
Swapnil
The novel coronavirus continues to have a widespread impact on the world, especially on the lives of working class, women and students. In my COVID Diary, I jot down some of the stray thoughts that came to my mind during the lockdown.
As a start, here is my brief introduction: I am a student of History at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, but at the moment, I am at my hometown, which is situated in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Recently, the university administration released a new monsoon academic calendar, simply in order to finish with the formality, as it has no proper framework for conducting classes. The university is also going to complete its winter session and examinations within a month, which leaves no time for proper classes and complete the research work that Masters’ students are supposed to do. It is shameful that the university administration, on the other hand, is solely concerned about conducting lectures on the Ramayana or the Bhagavad Gita.
In so many instances during the lockdown, I was made aware of the class differences between classmates from backward classes, lower middle classes, and upper classes. Those with a sound economic background have been busy with creativity and art, but the students belonging to the lower strata of society are mostly always worried about their future, owing to their poor financial condition. The situation has been especially harder on poor students. It is a lack of class consciousness in our country’s education system that is most visible in these dark times.
Mental Health of Students
Mental health too is another major issue that has been plaguing students in this phase, and it is something that the society has neglected for a long time. One needs freedom and fresh air for newer ideas, but here we are, locked up in our own homes on the one hand or stranded in hostels and rented rooms, on the other. Even before this, students in the university used to go through severe mental illnesses, due to sheer academic pressure and workload, and now, when one cannot focus on research work, it is definitely harder.
It must be noted that the reasons responsible for feeling depressed, in addition to personal reasons, are the things happening around one as well – those which cannot be ignored as students of social sciences. Be it domestic violence that most women and students in the country are facing at home, the vulnerable conditions of workers, and many more. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there has been a 60% surge in cases of domestic violence during this lockdown. The government has neither put in place a mental health helpline nor any counselling session. The state of female students is worse, as most of them are forced to do domestic work along with their academics.
The Government of India’s report for 2015-16 says that 10.6% population struggles with mental health issues and around 80% of them are not under any medical treatment. This was a report which was published before the outbreak of the pandemic and the consequent lockdown was declared. Therefore, we can only imagine how worse the condition must be right now.
Digital Divide
When we speak about a “digital India”, we more often than not, forget we must also think about power cuts and low internet speed that plague the country’s countryside. When only around 40% of the population has an internet connection, how mindless it is to talk of an electronic education system. Even those with an internet connection are not certain whether their personal data will be secure in the hands of giant telecom and social media corporations, which are known for privacy breaches. Do we have any idea on the number of books available on e-platforms and why universities like JNU are yet to make their library collection available online? These are some of the most basic issues in a country where absolutely minimum attention is given to the education sector. Many research scholars have been finding it difficult to continue their work due to inefficient disbursal of funds and fellowships. Despite so many Twitter campaigns and e-mails to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the University Grants Commission (UGC), our voices are still unheard.
Students who want to travel abroad to pursue higher education are now extremely uncertain about their future, since the pandemic has put a break on their dreams with international universities shut and no extension on semester deadlines here. Schools and colleges are closed in the United States for a year and the Indian government has no proper framework for the country. No one knows what will happen after the lockdown and life after COVID-19 seem bleak. The Indian government, most definitely, must take strong actions to make sure that the post-pandemic world doesn’t hit us as badly as we expect, and the country’s progressive forces must join hands in demanding that the government ensures this.
Swapnil is a final year Master’s student at the Centre for Historical Studies of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is also one of the student councillors of the School of Social Sciences.
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