‘Lockdown extension will affect school education’

TOI INTERVIEW

‘Lockdown extension will affect school education’

National Council of Educational Research and Training director Hrushikesh Senapaty speaks to Manash Pratim Gohain on a range of issues the council is presently working on – from guidelines for reopening of schools to online education. Excerpts:

• How badly has the coronavirus outbreak impacted school education?

The month of April has been a loss. However, at the behest of the HRD ministry, we designed an alternative calendar for a month to mitigate the loss and ensure basic learning outcomes when students were confined to their homes. At present the summer vacation is on and we are preparing another alternative calendar for subsequent months in case the situation remains unviable. If lockdown continues further there will be an adverse effect.

• Despite the hype over online classes, the reality is majority of children don’t have access.

There are no substitute to teachers and technology cannot replace them. Though in this crisis we are taking help of technology, but later it will be supplementary. The government has launched the E-vidya initiative with each class having a dedicated channel. The class-wise content focuses on learning outcomes as textbooks vary from state to state. We will start some national level programme — more of animation, demonstration and interactives. This will be aimed at the under-served sections. We are also building on audio programmes for community radio.

• Are schools ready for blended learning?

Blended learning requires digital infrastructure and it takes time to build infrastructure. Many of our teachers too aren’t aware of online learning, but are now making sincere effort to catch up. During this period, we have learnt many things and we will be future ready to face any challenge any time now.

• Schools reopening is a major challenge now?

The ministry asked NCERT to prepare guidelines which will be issued soon. We have submitted the proposals and the MHRD is finalising it. We have suggested various alternative measures including staggered opening, protocols on social distancing protocol, health and hygiene, and odd-even sort of arrangements.

• MHRD and NCERT have also received feedback from parents and students on over exposure to digital screens?

NCERT has also submitted a set of proposals for online education in schools which the ministry is likely to issue as guidelines. This sudden exposure to digital screens with no standard practice will place physical and mental stress on students. Online teaching is not simply making students sit in front of the screens for long hours. Children’s attention span is short. So online teaching has to be rich in content and activity.

Full interview on www.toi.in

Lockdown Contained, Unlocking In 3 Phases

Lockdown Contained, Unlocking In 3 Phases

Malls, Restaurants To Open June 8, Night Curfew Shrunk, States To Have Big Say

Some Curbs To Stay In Place Till June 30

Bharti.Jain @timesgroup.com

New Delhi:31.05.2020

In keeping with the increasing easing of the lockdown, the Centre on Saturday set out a three-phase “unlock” plan that will restrict curbs to containment zones and permit reopening of malls, hotels and restaurants, inter-state travel and religious places in keeping with rules (SOPs) to be issued by the health ministry.

The MHA sought to underline the shrinking footprint of the lockdown, calling the latest guidelines “unlock 1” and saying “...they will have an economic focus. The new guidelines have been issued based on extensive consultations with states and UTs”. The night curfew has been retained, with a shortened period of 9pm-5am instead of the previous 7pm-7am routine where movement for nonessential reasons is banned.

As Lockdown 4.0 ends, the limiting of curbs to containment zones where only essential services will be allowed, even though the daily count of cases is growing, reflects the Centre’s assessment that the Covid curve is not assuming runaway proportions and can be managed with a focus on hotspots. It is also felt that so far the increase in number of cases due to the return of migrants to the hinterland is not unmanageable and can be monitored.

While shopping malls and eateries can open after June 8, no date has been specified for reopening of international travel, metro rail, gyms, swimming pools, bars, theatres and places of public assembly. Religious, social and political congregations are also banned. Decisions on these activities will await a more detailed assessment of the health situation and the trends regarding the prevalence of the disease in Indian and abroad.

A call will be taken in July, based on consultations with the states, and also discussions the states themselves will conduct, with regard to schools, colleges, coaching and training institutions. Stakeholders such as parents are also to be consulted. Rules will be drawn up by the health ministry and the NCERT is also working to guidelines that aim to ensure social distancing and hygiene in educational institutions.

No e-permit needed for inter-state travel

As far as containment zones are concerned, the lockdown stands extended until June 30. However, the individual states and UTs, based on their own assessment, will be free to prohibit certain activities outside containment zones or impose curbs as they feel necessary. Even where it comes to interstate travel, states can, for reasons of public health, impose restrictions as is now the case for travel between Ghaziabad-Delhi and Gurgaon-Delhi.

Night curfew, though reduced, has been retained, as the Centre felt reducing movement from late evening to dawn will be useful in keeping people indoors. Though the 9pm-5am period does not see a large number of people on the move, it will be a disincentive to non-essential movement.

In areas outside containment zones, all activities will be allowed from June 1 except a few that will be opened phase wise, subject to standard operating procedures (SOP). “Phase III activities (international travel, metro, gyms, religious and political congregations) can resume as per assessment of the situation,” a government official said.

There will be no restrictions on inter-state and intra-state movement of persons and goods in non-containment zones, and no separate permission or e-permit will be required except for specified reasons.

Containment zones will be demarcated by district authorities based on health ministry parameters. Only essential activities will be allowed in these areas. States/UTs may also identify buffer zones outside the containment zones, where new cases are more likely to occur, and the district authorities may impose restrictions there as necessary.

Full report on www.toi.in

FULL COVERAGE: P 2-17

PM, Shah discuss lockdown; curbs may be eased further

PM, Shah discuss lockdown; curbs may be eased further

Decisions Likely On Restarting Metros, Opening Malls & Gyms

Bharti.Jain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:30.05.2020

Home minister Amit Shah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to discuss the ongoing lockdown as well as the way ahead post-May 31, amid indications that curbs will be further eased with states being allowed more leeway to impose restrictions with key decisions to be taken on restarting Metros and opening malls and facilities like gyms.

The assessment as lockdown 4.0 ends is that the easing has so far not led to a spike — as distinct from a rise — in Covid-19 numbers while the challenge lies in a few states where cases are growing more steeply. The impact of the return of lakhs of migrant workers on the Covid-19 graph is being watched closely and may take some more time to figure out. However, the current trend of cases, though growing in numbers, is seen to be manageable and could encourage more steps to reopen the economy.

The home minister’s meeting with the PM came a day after Shah reached out to all chief ministers to assess the lockdown situation and seek their views on the future strategy to contain the spread of Covid-19. There is a view that while easing has helped, the night “curfew” between 7 pm and 7 am is a help in terms of maintaining discipline of social distancing.

Sources in the home ministry said Shah briefed Modi in detail on his consultations with chief ministers on how the more relaxed lockdown had progressed and the status of coronavirus infections in their jurisdictions, and their expectations on ‘opening up’ after lockdown 4.0 ended.

According to sources, many chief ministers pitched for extending curbs on activities involving large public congregations but at the same time, favoured opening up economic activity as much as possible to allow people to go back to earning their livelihoods.

The Centre, as per sources close to a CM, is considering leaving it largely to the states to demarcate their containment zones and strategies, as also the extent to which they want lockdown curbs to stay. This may mean that barring a small ‘negative’ list of activities prohibited nationwide, such as international flights and reopening of schools and colleges, everything may be left to the states and UTs which can formulate their policies.

Based on Friday’s discussions between Modi and Shah, the containment strategy and norms are likely to be spelt out in the next couple of days.

Residents wait for a medical check-up at a screening centre set up inside a slum in Mumbai on Friday

S Gopalakrishnan moved to PMO as addl secy in key bureaucratic reshuffle

Senior bureaucrat Arun Singhal has been appointed as the chief executive officer of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), as part of a senior-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected on Friday by the Centre. Singhal is at present special secretary in the department of health and family welfare. S Gopalakrishnan, a 1991-batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, has been appointed as additional secretary in the PMO. He is currently serving as additional secretary, ministry of electronics and information technology. Rajendra Kumar, who was recently appointed as director general, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, will now be additional secretary in the IT ministry in place of Gopalakrishnan. PTI

Man moves HC after waiting for surgery for two months

Man moves HC after waiting for surgery for two months

Ruptured Blood Vessel Requires Immediate Aid

Durgesh Nandan Jha & Abhinav Garg TNN

New Delhi: 30.05.2020

The Covid-19 crisis and pressure on hospitals has hit economically weaker section patients the hardest. This has worsened the plight of those suffering from other serious illnesses.

Nagina Sharma, a 51-yearold man from Bihar, was rushed to Lok Nayak Hospital on March 12 after he suffered a rupture in a blood vessel in the brain, an emergency condition that is fatal in about 50% of the cases. He was lucky to survive, but still needed immediate surgery to repair the ruptured vessel.

Though the doctors at Lok Nayak said they would operate on March 18, for some reason the surgery couldn’t be conducted.

“We kept waiting, but on March 24 we were told that due to the Covid-19 crisis surgeries were being put on hold. The doctors advised us to go to GB Pant or RML hospitals. I tried at both places, but failed to get my father admitted there,” Roshan Kumar, the patient’s 22-year-old son, told TOI. Even as the Sharma family was waiting for another chance, on April 4 Lok Nayak and GB Pant were designated as Covid-19 hospitals.

A day before, the patient had been discharged from the hospital. “My father couldn’t eat properly or walk without support. He was crying inconsolably. I didn’t want to take him to Bihar in this situation, so we decided to stay back at a relative’s place in east Delhi and wait for relief,” Kumar said.

A family friend said they approached gover nment officials for admitting the patient in another state-run hospital or getting him operated under EWS category in a private facility, but to no avail.

It finally took a petition in Delhi high court by lawyers Shweta Sand and Brijesh Pandey for Sharma to get a shot at treatment. The plea filed earlier this month sought directions to Lok Nayak Hospital to conduct the surgery immediately. It also requested that if the surgery was done in a private hospital, then the cost should be waived off because the patient, a helper in a cloth shop, couldn’t afford it.

During the hearing, Delhi government told the court that the patient had been referred to Sir Ganga Ram, but the hospital had postponed the surgery. The government then offered to get the surgery done at GB Pant Hospital, adding that it had been taken off the list of Covid-designated facilities. The patient agreed to the offer and 78 days after suffering the emergency condition, he was admitted to GB Pant on May 28.

The hospital, however, said the surgery would involve using equipment costing Rs 1.5-2 lakh. Because the patient was not from Delhi, the state couldn’t pay for it. The patient was forced to move court again on Thursday and Justice Sangeeta Dhingra Sehgal directed the Delhi health secretary to treat this as a special case and pay for the surgery.

“I hope this ordeal ends and I’m able to return to my village with my father,” said Kumar, who was still unsure if his father would be operated upon soon.

PATIENT’S SON SAYS

My father couldn’t eat properly or walk without support. He was crying inconsolably

CM to lay foundation stone for medical college at Paderu soon

CM to lay foundation stone for medical college at Paderu soon

The institution will be set up in 35 acres, says Muttamsetti

30/05/2020, STAFF REPORTER,VISAKHAPATNAM

Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao said that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will lay the foundation stone for the medical college which is proposed to come up at Paderu in Visakhapatnam Agency soon. He said that the medical college will be set up in about 35 acres and orders have been issued for the construction. He was speaking to the media about the government initiatives in Medical & Health and the Tourism Departments, at the VMRDA arena here on Friday.

Mr. Srinivasa Rao said that the State government will set up medical colleges in all parliamentary constituencies in the State, including one at Anakapalle. The college at Paderu will boost medical facilities for the people living in tribal areas, he said.

“Nearly ₹2,280 crore will be spent for construction of medical colleges at Anakapalle and Paderu, Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs),” he said. He also said that after Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy took over as the Chief Minister, about 40,000 people have been benefited by the Arogya Sri. For cancer patients, nearly ₹86.67 lakh was spent, he said. The government is setting up drug de-addiction centres in all the districts, including Visakhapatnam, he said.

‘Fee stipulated by govt. unviable’

‘Fee stipulated by govt. unviable’

Private colleges say they will not admit students in PG courses in 2020-21

30/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,VIJAYAWADA

Stating that the fee structure approved by the government was not viable, members of the Andhra Pradesh Private Medical and Dental Colleges Managements’ Association (APPMDCMA) on Friday announced their decision to withdraw from Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences counselling process for admission to PG Medical/Dental courses.

In a letter addressed to the Special Chief Secretary, Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department, association secretary G. Kasimbi said they would not admit students to PG courses for the academic year 2020-21.

Uniform structure

Drawing the official’s attention to the fact that the association in the past had approached him with a plea to implement uniform fee structure for all categories of students admitted to a programme as enunciated in the apex court judgment in the TMA Pai Vs State of Karnataka (2002), Mr. Kasimbi said the association had urged the authorities to ensure that 85% of all eligible PG seats should have the same fee structure, and a higher fee might be fixed for 15 NRI quota seats.

The association had also made an appeal that fixation of the fee should be based on the books of expenditure as audited, taking into account inflation, furtherance of education and accounts submitted to the Income Tax Department without profiteering.

Mr. Kasimbi said, as per GO No. 56 released on Friday (May 29), the fee structure for PG students of Medical and Dental courses was almost 40% to 60 % below the fee in vogue for the past four years.

“It appears that you have also not taken into account the expenditure incurred on various services provided to the students, depreciation values on equipment, infrastructure, horticulture and other maintenance cost of the institution. From the figures quoted in the fee structure, it is seen that the total annual fee per student does not amount to even 20 % of the stipend paid to the student in pre-clinical subjects and 40 % in para clinical subjects,” the letter said.

Difficult times

Through the letter, the members sought to draw the government’s attention to the difficult period faced by the private unaided non-minority medical and dental colleges in the State due to COVID-19 pandemic.

“The hospitals of the private institutions are taken over by the government for providing services to the COVID patients and non-COVID patients are not admitted, and so no revenue is generated from these hospitals,” they said.

Despite acute financial crisis, the managements had been paying full salaries to the faculty, both teaching and non-teaching and health workers as directed by the government.

Stating that the institutions had been finding it difficult to meet both ends meet, they said the GO 56 was not viable and, therefore, they would withdraw from the counselling process.

The letter was signed by managements of 12 private medical colleges and 13 private dental colleges.

Govt. notifies fee structure for PG medical and dental courses

Govt. notifies fee structure for PG medical and dental courses

GO issued to ensure quota rule is followed: regulatory panel chairman

30/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,VIJAYAWADA

Any deviation from the stipulated fee structure will attract stringent penal action, warns V. Eeswaraiah, Chairman of AP Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission.

Taking into consideration the recommendations of the Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APHER&MC), the government on Friday notified the fee structure for the PG medical courses for all specialities in private unaided minority and non-minority colleges and PG dental courses in private unaided non-minority colleges for the block period of 2020-21 to 2022-23.

The fee structure for PG medical courses of all specialities in private unaided non-minority colleges is as follows:

For a clinical degree in Category A (convener quota), a student will have to pay a fee of ₹ 4.32 lakh, in Category B (management quota) ₹ 8.64 lakh and in Category C (NRI/institutional quota) ₹ 50 lakh. For para-clinical degree and diploma, the fee is ₹1.35 lakh in Category A, ₹ 2.7 lakh in Category B and ₹15 lakh in Category C.

For pre-clinical degree, the fee is ₹61,200 in Category A, ₹ 1,22,400 in Category B and ₹ 8 lakh in Category C.

For PG dental courses, the following is the fee structure: For clinical degree, the fee in Category A is ₹2.97 lakh, in Category B it is ₹ 5.94 lakh and in Category C, it is ₹ 12 lakh.

For para-clinical degree, it is ₹ 2.67,300 in Category A, ₹4,34,600 in Category B and ₹ 7 lakh in Category C.

‘All-inclusive fee’

At a press conference, Chairman of the Commission V. Eeswaraiah said the government had notified the fee structure through GO No 56 and to ensure that reservations were implemented as per the rule book, GO 57 was issued. “If a seat occupied by a Meritorious Reserved Candidate (MRC) falls vacant, it should be filled with a candidate of the same category,” he said.

He said the fee was an all-inclusive annual one, but it did not include hostel, transport and mess charges.

The institutions should collect the annual fee in two half-yearly instalments in advance and stipend would be paid to the PG students on a par with the students in the government PG medical and dental colleges.

Mr. Eeswaraiah said any deviation from the stipulated fee structure would attract stringent penal action.