COVID vaccine may become reality soon but students’ loss of education cannot be compensated: Sisodia

The COVID-19 pandemic will be a thing of the past when the vaccine becomes a reality, but the loss of education suffered by students cannot be compensated, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.

Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s education minister, said while efforts were being made to provide online education as schools remain closed, providing access to these classes to students who lack internet facilities or devices continues to be a challenge.

“Soon, the corona vaccine will be released around the world, and this pandemic would be a matter of history. But the loss of education that our students are facing today cannot be compensated by any vaccine. To minimise this loss, we are consistently working on solutions,” Sisodia said at an event, where tablets were distributed among students of Class 11 of Delhi government schools.

“Due to the closure of schools, efforts were made to provide online education in Delhi government schools. However, it continues to pose a challenge to the students who lack access to the internet or devices to study,” he added.

Sisodia said that due to a slowdown of economic activities, the revenue of the Delhi government has significantly reduced.

“This is why we urged companies to help the students under their CSR initiatives. We are happy that Tata Power-DDL has given 1,059 tablets, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) 543 and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) 300 tablets to the schools,” he said.

Schools across the country were closed in March to contain the spread of COVID-19 and partially reopened in some states from October 15. However, a few states decided to keep them closed in view of a spike in infections. The teaching learning activities have moved online during the period.