The Lost Times
Today, I venture out of my nest away from the mindless staring at the screen and stuck in calls discussing numerous fundings and investments, that I quantify every day. I try to seek out —
What catches my attention and makes my heart full, is seeing numerous students heading out of school post their classes. Students chirping, parents trying to identify their children midst mask faces. Friendship and learning coming back in terms after a year halt.
The pandemic has pushed learning back, forced us into digitisation where digital literacy sharply being the access of the privileged. The marginalized had to endure the pain of the pandemic multitude folds than the privileged. Making year’s of policy implementation and reducing inequality a distant dream.
In the months that I stayed at home, I saw those innocent faces selling vegetables, engaged in numerous odd jobs to support the family engaged in low paid low skilled job -that were lost during the lock down. However, some chirpy eighth-grader bragging about their recently found interest in presenting a decent ppt.
Inequality certainly has widened the gap. Despair has taken a different meaning and plight to sustain livelihood forced to take year’s of efforts into vain. The developing economies are the one which is the worst hit, due to the pandemic.
I try to identify the faces amidst the mask and observe some eyes around me and grins around. I realise the happiness looming around post the school opening. She’s the one who was helping her family meeting their ends meet.
She broadens her smile, as we cross path.
Her bright smile is enough to make my day as I type this. Hoping in the hope the children of our country are never devoid of the access to education, the ability to think, grow, thrive and bloom in their ways.
The Pandemic shall be behind us, within a couple of months or years but perhaps we shall never be able to make up for the number of lost classes and access to education to the marginalized children of our nation. Who are subjected to the poverty trap, deep hunger and lost opportunities to decades to come.
